The hypothesis that students will express no preference between carrels and open table type of accommodation in a language laboratory was tested in a four-week study. Two identical rooms, one containing carrels and the other containing open tables, were connected to a single control room and used by 1,080 university students (enrolled in language courses) who served as subjects. The students were observed in four week-long phases in which their behavior in selecting and using laboratory accommodation was observed; a verbal instrument designed to solicit factors in their selection of laboratory accommodation was administered; a questionnaire to determine each subject's normal choice of accommodation, whether he attended sessions alone or with a friend, and the effects of restricting him to one or the other of the rooms was completed by each student. Another observation procedure which identified subject choices by sex and a short questionnaire designed to identify preference, isolation, social, and interference variables were completed. Findings were that while students verbally preferred carrels, they actually used tables, that students at carrels were more easily disturbed, and that female students were more decisive in their choice of open tables and were more likely to attend with friends. (A nine-item bibliography is included.) (SP)