On the basis of evidence from general linguistic theory and psycholinguistic research, it is argued that the working hypotheses of the audiolingual habit theory are inconsistent with studies of human verbal learning tasks, and that transformation grammarians have shown convincingly that structuralist views of language are too narrow in scope. It…

Discusses research supporting the contention that listening fluency should be taught first and oral response delayed because languaqe acquisition takes place without any overt performance. Includes extensive bibliographic references. (PMJ)