The author suggests that the starting point of improved language teaching can be found in the language classroom itself and not in the theoretical considerations of the linguist or the theories of learning advocated by the psychologist. At the same time, however, both linguistics and psychology can be extremely useful to the language teacher, not because they furnish principles which can be extrapolated into the language-teaching situation, but because they are tools necessary for a meaningful analysis of the teaching process and of teaching experience. Elaborated upon is a simple example of the use of linguistic and psychological principles as tools of the analysis of the teaching process. A master teacher's performance in teaching contrast in English mass nouns vs. count nouns, and "want" vs. "hope" is observed and analyzed according to--(1) frame of reference, (2) reward of correct response, (3) use of a variety of stimuli, (4) gradual withdrawal of control stimuli, and (5) use of concept learning (grammatical explanation). Such analyses may provide a model that can be defined, studied, and replicated in other teaching situations. What is more important, the author feels, is that once the elements of the psycholinguistic model have been identified, the model itself can be made the subject of research; the teacher variable can be eliminated through using the model in programed instruction. (AMM)