Conditions under which using computers can help improve the study of foreign languages are discussed. Attention is limited to a consideration of a language course that aims at giving students a high level of accuracy in listening comprehension, oral expression, reading comprehension, and written expression. The following questions are addressed: (1) Will computerized instruction reduce the number of language teachers? (2) How can we measure the effectiveness of computerized instruction? (3) Under what conditions will a student decide that the computerized materials are valuable? (4) What gains can the student expect? (5) How can the foreign language teacher develop materials? (6) What are the implications for the future of computerized instruction in second language acquisition? The following minimum requirements for working with computerized materials are advocated: When beginning to work, the student should be returned to the exact point that the last session ended; the student should be free to interrupt an exercise and proceed to another one; at the beginning of each exercise, the student should be told what the purpose of the exercise is and how many sentences it contains; the student should have the option of typing the answer or viewing the correct answer; and if the student types an incorrect answer, the student should be guided into correcting errors with the minimum of help. It is suggested that TUTOR, the computer language used on the PLATO system is superior to other computer languages now in general use but it still lacks some of the features necessary to facilitate the performance of essential operations such as separating roots from affixes. (SW)