Noting that classroom communication is a central issue in school systems, because spoken language is the medium by which much teaching takes place, this book investigates classroom discourse within the framework of applied linguistics, and discusses research drawn from elementary, secondary and postsecondary classrooms. The first section deals with talk with the teacher, and includes chapters on sharing time, the structure of lessons, variations in lesson structure, differential treatment, and classroom discourse and student learning. Talk with peers is the focus of the second section, which contains chapters on cognitive processes and contextual influences of peer interactions. The third section reviews ways of talking in the classroom, and includes chapters on the teacher-talk register and the student-talk register and an afterword. Sixteen pages of references, a subject index, and an author index conclude the book. (SKC)