Over past decades, there has been a paradigm shift in WL instruction, moving away from traditional, grammar-based programs and toward instruction that promotes student proficiency in the target language. Despite this growing attention to proficiency-based instruction, few studies have investigated the relationship between proficiency-based…

An experimental university program in first-year French is described in which a self-instructional, programed text was used. Students proceeded at their own rate and were allowed repeated attempts to meet the minimal requirement of 75 percent mastery. Results indicated a higher level of performance but less material covered. (Author/RM)