This report presents a comprehensive discussion of issues affecting the use of ethnographic research methods in bilingual education classroom research. Quantitative methods alone have not provided an adequate understanding of how the bilingual classroom operates, the meaningful features of the classroom, how children learn, and what cultural/community contexts affect that learning. Issues covered include (1) the scope of an ethnographic approach, (2) methodological issues in dealing with ethnographic information, and (3) implications and suggestions for applying ethnographic methods in future bilingual education research. Appendices present the goals, attendees, and agenda of the Conference on "Current Issues in Applying Ethnographic Methods to Bilingual Classroom Research" (1980) and an inventory of variables relating to bilingual classrooms. Charts discuss (1) the methodological characteristics of ethnographic and quantitative approaches, (2) technical equipment in ethnographic field work, (3) the contributions of videotape, (4) selected applications of videotape recording in classroom settings, (5) a summary of considerations for determining observer agreement and reliabilities, (6) a sample prose protocol of a classroom microethnographic study, and (7) a framework for symbolic interaction research. (JK)