AN EXPERIMENTAL, COLLEGE-LEVEL, ELEMENTARY FRENCH COURSE WAS ORGANIZED, IMPLEMENTED, AND EVALUATED. THE COURSE WAS APPROXIMATELY EQUIVALENT TO TWO ELEMENTARY AND TWO INTERMEDIATE SEQUENCES IN THE CONVENTIONAL PATTERN, ALLOWING 15 CREDIT HOURS FOR AN AVERAGE WORKING PERIOD OF THREE ACADEMIC SEMESTERS. THE EMPHASIS OF THE COURSE WAS ON INTENSIVE LINGUISTIC EXPOSURE AND SELF-INSTRUCTION. SELF-PACING GAVE THE MORE GIFTED PARTICIPANTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPLETE THE COURSE IN TWO SEMESTERS AND GAVE THE SLOWER STUDENTS FOUR SEMESTERS OR MORE, REDUCING THE PROBABILITY OF THEIR RECEIVING FAILING GRADES. STUDENTS TAKING THE COURSE PARTICIPATED EACH WEEK IN (1) ONE PERIOD OF GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS IN GROUPS OF UP TO 60 STUDENTS, (2) TWO DISPLAY SESSIONS EMPHASIZING STUDENT-TEACHER AND STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTION IN GROUPS OF 2 TO 4 STUDENTS, AND (3) A MINIMUM OF 9 PERIODS OF INDIVIDUAL WORK IN A LANGUAGE LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT. OVER A 3 1/2-YEAR PERIOD, THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL COURSE WERE COMPARED TO THOSE OF CONVENTIONAL INSTRUCTION SESSIONS. OBSERVED DIFFERENCES APPEARED TO BE CAUSED BY DISCREPANCIES IN COURSE CONTENT AND EMPHASIS RATHER THAN COURSE ORGANIZATION. RELATED REPORTS ARE ED 010 464 THROUGH ED 010 466. (JH)