This study presented a model which described and classified incoming students and recommended the type of instruction they should receive in the initial speech course. The sample population used was 104 university students in a basic speech course. Conclusions reached are: (1) There was a direct relationship between explicitness of instruction and learning; (2) The relationship between entering behavior and performance on the final speech appeared direct; and (3) An inferred relationship between entering behavior and stimulus-explicitness was shown. (Author/DB)