This paper summarizes studies conducted on ethnography and bilingualism that illustrate the occurrence of events in context, conducted using ethnographic methods, thereby permitting a fuller, more in-depth understanding of language acquisition and development. Studies reviewed include examples of English language acquisition by a 5-year-old Taiwanese male, an Australian family raising their children in a bilingual household, bilingual education in a Chinese community, a Mexican-American community in California, and four families in arctic Quebec. Ethnographic studies offer the various forms, functions, and literacy values within the cultural framework. Findings from such studies evidence why ethnographic case study designs have been strongly supported in recent applied bilingual education. (Contains 18 references.) (NAV)