This volume, part of a series on research methodologies in second language acquisition(SLA), describes contributions that conversation analysis (CA) makes to the field. Markee arguesthat CA, which provides microanalyses of moment-by-moment “talk-in-interaction”(Schegloff, 1987), makes visible learners' efforts to speak and understand a new language.He questions the tendency in SLA toward theory-driven and largely experimental research at theexpense of theory-building and naturalistic methods.