An exploration of student participation in the second language classroom looks at teacher expectations for classroom participation and examines factors constraining interaction, based on personal experiences with learning and teaching a second language. First, common definitions of student participation are examined, and personal styles of student participation are discussed. Factors affecting student participation are then detailed, with distinctions made between teacher-and-student-affected factors, factors specifically attributable to students or to teachers, and outside influences. The experiment in encouraging student participation is described. During an internship in English-as-a-Second Language in India, a teacher focused on identifying and monitoring different forms of participation and interaction, students' previous learning experiences and cognitive styles, and target language competency, and assessing the effectiveness of different activities for encouraging participation. Reflections on this experience are presented. It is concluded that the experiment brought heightened awareness of student response types, increased self-confidence, forced examination of one's teaching style, and revealed areas of interest for further research. A brief bibliography is included. Contains 11 references. (MSE)