This paper explains how and why the author involved her undergraduate sociolinguistics students in doing field research in a local Texas elementary school. She notes that a continuing concern for linguistics education has been the viability of undergraduate linguistics programs. She agrees with other researchers and argues that one way to strengthen these programs is to involve undergraduates in making a direct contribution to the field through research. She advocates implementing procedures for community-based learning by providing students with real opportunities to learn by doing research outside the classroom in real-life situations. Accordingly, she supervised 38 undergraduates in her upper level sociolinguistics course as they interviewed 132 elementary school children, seeking to investigate the attitudes of the students directly affected by bilingual education. This pedagogical process included devising the research question, designing the survey instruments and questionnaires, and discussing techniques for interviewing the children. They were then instructed in how to analyze their data and present their findings. It is concluded that this was a very useful and successful teaching technique for undergraduate education, and in contributing to the field as a whole. (KFT)