This volume, one of eight in a series entitled "Encyclopedia of Language and Education", examines spoken language as a field of study, looking at the various ways in which the place of talk can be theorized in education, and examining the way talk is actually done in educational settings. Given the centrality of literacy-based practices in schools, a book focusing on talk brings quite different and important perspectives to the study of education. Talk is something that has often been devalued and taken for granted. What becomes evident throughout the papers included in this volume is that talk is of central importance in establishing identities and the cultures in which those identities are located. However, because people are unused to reflexively examining the way they talk, there is a serious disjuncture between what they believe talk should achieve and what can be seen to be achieved in actual talk in educational settings. This book should interest those involved in teaching, and should be especially relevant to teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and for researchers interested in spoken language in educational contexts.