A symposium of language learning specialists reviewing C.C. Fries' Oral Approach to English language instruction developed and used at the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan is summarized. The thesis of the symposium was that the basic Oral Approach concepts had and continue to have a profound and far-reaching, though largely unacknowledged, effect on the teaching and learning of English as a second language. Participants examined Fries' underlying assumptions, focused on the intensive course that has emerged at Michigan, and compared it with contemporary methodologies to identify the influence of the basic concepts. The Oral Approach has been extended in many directions, but has also been confused with concepts and points of view that are really antithetical to its fundamental principles. More extensive empirical analysis of the approach's effectiveness is recommended. (MSE)