Recent research in psycholinguistics shows that experience with language in its communicative function is essential for learning to speak a second language. A suitable linguistic environment provides for the development of strategies for aural comprehension and for the acquisition of means of expression. A different approach to curriculum is involved, in which the learning of concepts and facts occurs while the acquisition and development of the second language is taking place, and provision is made for members of the group to share information with each other. This permits language to become a vehicle of communication rather than a study in itself. Research is presented that shows that the results of a group of 12-year-olds in an activity-centered program on a battery of tests for auditory comprehension, reading comprehension, and oral production were not significantly different from those of a similar group in a teacher-centered program, although the activity-centered group had spent only 60 percent as much time in class. Cognitive, linguistic, and affective factors help to explain the success of the activity-centered learning. It appears that the activity-centered approach satisfies the implied requirements of Piaget's theory of the acquisition of knowledge. (Author/AMH)