This volume contains an edited version of the papers presented at a 1969 conference called by the Center for Applied Linguistics in an effort to provide information to researchers, teachers, and administrators from various fields who have seen social dialects as contributing to the complexity of their disciplines. Ten scholars represented the following fields: speech/communication, psychology, education, sociolinguistics, and linguistics/anthropology. One scholar from each field presented the research assumptions of his field; a second scholar presented a response. The papers and responses are as follows: (1) "Social Dialects and the Field of Speech" by F. Williams, response by O.L. Taylor; (2) "Developmental Studies of Communicative Competence" by H. Osser, response by V. John; (3) "Social Dialects in Developmental Sociolinguistics" by S.M. Ervin-Tripp, response by C.M. Kernan; (4) "Approaches to Social Dialects in Early Childhood Education" by C. Cazden, response by R.D. Hess; (5) "Social Dialects from a Linguistic Perspective" by W. Wolfram, response by W.J. Samarin. In addition, "The Inadequacies of the Linguistic Approach in Teaching Situations" was presented by S. Engelmann. (Author/AM)