Reported is a study of relationships between teacher's perception of pupils and classroom verbal behaviors among 34 inner-city and 38 outer-city fifth grade science teachers in a large Midwestern city. The Perception of Pupils Adjective Checklist was used. Ten inner-city and ten outer-city teachers were selected from the population for observation. Each group consisted of five positive and five negative perceivers. Classroom verbal interactions of about 100 minutes were recorded for each teacher and analyzed by the Flanders system. Results obtained showed that classroom verbal behavior was significantly related to teachers' perception of their pupils. Teachers' use of indirect influence was dependent on their positive perception. Indirect teacher influence increased with pupil manipulation of materials in pupil-initiated activities. Outer-city pupils initiated more talk and talked longer, while inner-city classrooms had significantly more pupil-initiated activities and made greater use of materials. Effects of teacher background characteristics on the currently studied relationships were also investigated. (Author/CC)