TRUE FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY BY THE INTERNALIZATION OF THE ENTIRE GRAMMAR OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE PLUS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION. ADHERENCE TO EITHER OF THE METHODOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS THAT UNDERLIE TODAY'S AUDIOLINGUALLY-ORIENTED PROGRAMS WILL LEAD STUDENTS TO NOTHING MORE THAN A LEARNING PLATEAU. THE "PRACTICAL" ASSUMPTION, IMPLICIT IN CURRENT AUDIOLINGUAL MATERIALS, TREATS ONLY THE SURFACE STRUCTURE AND NEGLECTS THE DEEP STRUCTURE OF THE GRAMMAR. BY FIRST INTERNALIZING THE SURFACE STRUCTURE AND THEN DRILLING THE DEEP STRUCTURE THAT IS ULTIMATELY TESTED WITH TRANSFORMATION DRILLS, STUDENTS CAN BE ASSISTED IN INTELLECTUALIZING THE BASIC SYNTACTIC PATTERNS ESSENTIAL TO LISTENING AND SPEAKING NUCLEATION. INVOLVED IN THE TEACHING PHILOSOPHY OF THE DIRECT VERSUS THE INDIRECT METHOD AND THE COORDINATE VERSUS THE COMPOUND SYSTEM IS THE "NATURAL" ASSUMPTION, WHICH CANNOT, REASONABLY, BE EFFECTIVE IN THE ARTIFICIAL, UNICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM WHERE THE NATIVE LANGUAGE IS AT VARIANCE WITH THE TARGET LANGUAGE NOT ONLY IN CONCEPT BUT ALSO IN STRUCTURE. BY MEANS OF NUCLEATION FOLLOWED BY INTENSIVE WORK IN AUDIO-COMPREHENSION AND READING, STUDENTS CAN BE TAUGHT SUCCESSFULLY TO CONTROL THE AUDIOLINGUAL SKILLS INHERENT IN THE CONTROL OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN "THE FLORIDA FL REPORTER," VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3, SPRING 1966, PAGES 13-14. (AB)