This article addresses the relationship among theories related to classroom language and literacy events by first examining the researcher's theoretical perspective on discourse and sociocultural theories of learning development. The analytical heuristic for a microethnographic approach using a variety of theoretical tools is discussed and supported with empirical data. This article provides evidence from the data collection and analysis involving research regarding how students make sense of text in a first-grade, inquiry-based classroom to show how discourse analytical methodologies account for language identity and power as socially situated and co-constructed phenomena.