The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any significant difference in the improvement of basic communicative skills between students enrolled in the second semester of freshman college English taught by the traditional classroom approach and students in the learning laboratory who received individualized instruction involving the use of special diagnostic and corrective equipment. Data were collected from 46 students enrolled in freshman English at a junior college, who were randomly divided into two groups, a control group which received traditional classroom instruction and a treatment group which was assigned to the freshman English program with incorporated learning laboratory experiences. The two groups were evaluated by means of pre- and posttesting. A significant difference in the improvement of basic communicative skills between students in the control and treatment group was evident by the results, and it was concluded that community colleges could justify the establishment of learning laboratories which incorporate individualized instruction by the use of special diagnostic and corrective equipment with the basic concepts of freshman English. (Author)