Issues in Applied Linguistics

This paper examines the relationship between micro and macro perspectives on the organization of participation structure, and considers how both perspectives can be useful to the ethnographer of interaction. It suggests that understandings of the organization of participation may be considered forms of tacit knowledge, or cultural schemas, which may differ cross-culturally. Examples are drawn from a study of Navajo preschool, and supported by a substantial body of classroom ethnography in other Native American communities. I argue that participation structure at the macro level of speech event is largely negotiated through and dependent upon cultural schemas for participation structure at the micro level of interaction.