The author proposes his theory on language learning: "...children learn pitch, stress, and juncture along with the more individual voice patterns which we might call tone, much earlier and more easily than they learn segmental phonemes and morphemes." This theory, which the author feels gains some confirmation from the learning processes of animals, is illustrated by observations of the authors' grandaughter between the ages of one and two and a half years. He observes that the very young child, given an environment conducive to learning, seems to learn without being taught. He suggests that every teacher of English (to whom this lecture is particularly addressed) should ask himself seriously (1) Do I understand how language works and how it is learned? (2) What can I trust my students to learn without my help? (3) What can I do to help my students learn what they need most? (AMM)