This paper examines dialogue in the higher education classroom. Instigated by my teaching experiences and the paucity of empirical studies examining dialogue in the higher education classroom, I present a re-examination of data I collected in 1996 for an ethnographic study focusing on the experiences of the participants in an ethnic literature course. I return to this data in order to cast further insight into my own teaching. After discussing the findings of this study--speaking (or not) as a cultural practice and translating dialogue to democracy--I reflect on how these findings inform my own teaching practice as an untenured assistant professor.