The book outlines, for second language teachers, how students can be helped to attain both fluency and a high level of accuracy. It explores language learning theory and research and a variety of classroom instruction issues and techniques. The discussion begins with an overview of theories, models, and methods of classroom language learning and teaching. The currently popular "communicative classroom" approach is criticized for its lax attitudes toward linguistic errors, and language teaching "fads" are examined. The second section offers perspectives on language transfer, interlanguage, student errors, surface and deep error correction, and the role of native language in second language instruction. Subsequently, several proposals and suggestions for classroom methodology are offered. These include: an examination of assumptions behind and procedures for a method based on cumulative mastery theory; the distinction between English as a local language and as a "remote" language, and instructional implications; more effective integration of human and material teaching resources; and development of grammars that are more appropriate for teaching than the current theory-oriented grammars. Appended materials include data on the effectiveness of the cumulative mastery method in two colleges, and a plea for further research on second language teaching. Contains 92 references. (MSE)