A study investigated how oral discourse affects the communicative process of teaching and learning and how that process influences and is influenced by the goals and expectations of college instructors and college students. Three college classes were observed for one semester. Data were collected in the form of field notes, cassette tapes of classes, interviews with instructors and volunteer students, and a compilation of student and instructor writing, handouts, and sample text assignments. Interviews revealed participants' perceptions of and expectations for the course and the teaching/learning process. Interview data were compared with transcripts and other collected data for consistency between espoused theories and observed behaviors. Analysis of the data revealed that, as in elementary and secondary classrooms, instructor talk usually dominated. Instructors usually originated and controlled the patterns of talk and the meanings exchanged. Two levels of meaning, related to content and process, were communicated directly or indirectly in all three courses. Students had to discover those instructor meanings and commit themselves to performing or producing what was expected in order to succeed in the course. Although some evidence of a constructive model of interaction and learning appeared in the interview and transcript data, all three courses' patterns of interaction and linguistic profiles favored a transmissive model. (Author/DF)