In this book, teacher educators and researchers show how classrooms can come alive when talk is used constructively. Following an introduction by Donald L. Rubin, the articles include: "Speaking Creatures in the Classroom" (Judith Wells Lindfors); "Oral Language and Learning" (Douglas Barnes); "Negotiation, Language, and Inquiry: Building Knowledge Collaboratively in the Classroom" (Cynthia Onore); "Asking Questions about Questions" (Theresa Roger and others); "Play Talk, School Talk, and Emergent Literacy" (Lee Galda and A. D. Pellegrini); "Talking Up a Writing Community: The Role of Talk in Learning to Write" (Anne Haas Dyson); "Talking in Writing Groups" (Anne Ruggles Gere); "Reading and Response to Literature: Transactionalizing Instruction" (Stanley B. Straw);"Teacher/Student Talk: The Collaborative Conference" (Muriel Harris); "Talking Life and Literature" (Susan Hynds); "Student Performance of Literature" (Elizabeth C. Fine); "Dramatic Improvisation in the Classroom" (Betty Jane Wagner); "Learning to Listen and Learning to Read" (Sara W. Lundsteen); "Oral Activities in the English Classroom" (Phil Backlund); "Language Diversity and Learning" (Lisa D. Delpit); "Bilingual/ESL Learners Talking in the English Classroom" (Sarah Hudelson); and "The Silent Sounds of Language Variation in the Classroom" (Jerrie Cobb Scott). (MG)