Ethnomethodology is a qualitative research methodology developed as an alternativepossibilityfor social scientists investigating the different ways in which reality is socially constructed. Fortheorists and researchers of language acquisition and language use in educational settings,ethnomethodology makes it possible to examine social discourse and participation structures inand out of school that are tied to success or failure in language learning. As Gumperz explains,with the help of ethnomethodology we study how knowledge is acquired, what role differencesinhome and ethnic background play in the acquisition process, and how the acquisition processinteracts with evaluational progress and the child's motivation to learn.