1: Introduction and Background.- Academic Achievement.- Social Interaction.- Verbal Behavior in the Multiethnic Classroom.- This Experiment and the Study of Children's Language.- Categories of Verbal Behavior: Some Comments on their Rationale and Background.- 2: Method.- Population.- In-service Teacher Training.- Implementation.- Classroom Observations.- Dependent Variables:.- Pupil Academic Achievement.- Videotape Films of Pupils' Behavior.- Categories of Social Interaction.- Categories of Verbal Behavior.- 3: Results.- Academic Achievement.- Social Interaction.- Verbal Behavior.- Relationship between Pupil Behavior in the Discussions and their Academic Achievement.- 4: Discussion.- Academic Achievement.- Cooperative Learning, Achievement and Motivation.- Levels or Kinds of Achievement.- Cognitive Strategies and Pupils' Achievement.- The Relationship between the Discussions and Academic Achievement.- Verbal Behavior.- Cognitive Strategies.- Educational Environment as a Variable Affecting Children's Language.- Summary.- References.

Language and Learning in the Cooperative Classroom reports the results of an experiment on the effects of cooperative learning. The authors address the following questions in detail: Is the effect of cooperative learning on achievement more salient for pupils from the majority or minority ethnic groups? Do pupils who study with the Group-Investigation method display more extensive verbal interaction with their peers than pupils who study with the Whole-Class method? Is the pupil's verbal interaction in groups related to his/her academic achievement? The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for classroom instruction, for different theories of language behavior and language research, and for issues regarding ethnic relations in multi-ethnic classrooms.