The time for argument has passed. Electronic and mechanical assistance in the foreign language classroom is rapidly becoming as accepted and respected as such previously radical innovations as the book, the pen and pencil, and the blackboard. And, as previously, the initial fright on being confronted with something new and different, with something that requires a change from old comfortable habits, is giving way to serious consideration of the possibilities for improving the teaching process that this new tool might bring. For it is a tool. And it will help bring to fruition only those ideas guided by only those goals which are conceived in the minds of its masters. The successful or unsuccessful teaching process remains inseparably associated with a good or poor teacher, regardless of the tools he chooses. The romanticists among us may still dream of returning to the pure methods of Socrates as the only really humanistic teaching process, but the rest of us, faced with hordes of eager youngsters, will seek whatever help we can find in reaching our goals, whatever they may be and however they may differ. It might be well to reiterate at first the basic function of the language laboratory. Whether it be simply a tape recorder in the classroom or a complex arrangement of recorders, monitoring equipment, and sound-proofed booths, the laboratory serves primarily as a second or assistant teacher with quite limited duties, usually those of the drillmaster. Untiringly it elicits certain planned responses from the students, freeing the master teacher for more creative tasks and, especially, for giving individual help to those who require it without depriving the other members of the class of any active learning time. The function of this second teacher may be merely supplemental. A variety of voices may be brought into the classroom at the flick of a switch. Music and poetry of high quality in performance may be added. Masterful readings, often by the authors themselves, may add life to the printed page. Missed dictations or other oral work may be made up by absent students without consuming the teacher's valuable time. Extra practice and instruction for the slow and the gifted is available. The supplemental aspects are endless. Of course, most of this is nothing new. We have been bringing