A study of second language learning processes had three goals: to establish a grounded theory on the role of tension, both euphoric and dysphoric, in the formal language learning process; to provide a comprehensive ethnography of the 7-week intensive beginners' class in the French School of Middlebury College (Vermont); and to demonstrate how a well-designed and well-executed qualitative study can illuminate the language learning process. The first section gives an overview of the study and describes the Middlebury curriculum and the concepts of euphoric and dysphoric tension. After a review of related research, a series of research questions is explained and presented, and the study's methodology is described. Findings are then detailed concerning the school's learning environment, its program design and curriculum, learning processes, formal classroom opportunities for learning, student expectations, student personality changes during the Middlebury experience, and students' coping strategies. Theories emerging from the study are outlined, and recommendations and comments on the quality of tension, Middlebury's environment and formal curriculum, student placement and transfer, and the role of teacher-student dialogue in second language learning are offered. The French School's guide for beginning students is appended. Contains 26 references. (MSE)