A structured elicitation technique, convergent communication, was investigated as a means of constraining the range of linguistic data from children in K-3 without unduly constraining the naturalness of the conversation context. The convergent communication situation is a two-person problem-solving task which ensures that all communication is verbal since the participants are seated on opposite sides of a visual barrier. The subjects, one pair of Anglo students in each grade K-3, were given tasks involving matching and sequencing pictures. The kindergarteners did not complete the tasks, and data from their interview has been excluded. The linguistic aspects investigated were the use of the copula, the use of questions, the use of possessives, and the use of comparative constructions. The relative frequency of these uses was compared with a study by Legum which elicited data from black children by naturalistic observation. The convergent communication technique appears to have value for use by those studying dialects. (MKM)