Producing a high level of student involvement in the foreign language classroom depends on four common elements under the teacher's control: (1) teacher expectations and their modeling in class; (2) classroom atmosphere; (3) instructional formats; and (4) teaching activities. Students are more consistently involved in using the target language in classes where the teacher expects the target language to be the dominant if not sole means of communication from the first day of class. It is the teacher's responsibility to model behaviors expected of students. Classroom participation is a public performance in which each student risks embarrassment and failure. Developing a low-stress environment while keeping students on task and aware is difficult, but can be aided by positive reinforcement. Research indicates that the smaller the group of students working together, the more teacher-student interaction is exhibited. Thus, while there is a place for large-group instruction, paired student activities, which reduce the number of human variables the speaker copes with, offer optimal language use. Class activities that require little preparation and can be used spontaneously are often preferred, and some activities have been found to promote active student involvement consistently. (MSE)