A small college in Iowa (Westmar College) undertook an experimental program to determine an experimental program to determine reading skills of underprepared students. Subjects were 20 students reading below the 12th grade level, of whom 9 were chosen randomly and offered a beginning German course instead of remedial reading. All elected to take German, and became a special section of a first year course. These students received no reading instruction, while the other 11 students were given intensive instruction in reading improvement. The two groups had nearly identical mean American College Testing Program and reading pretest scores. The German teaching method was adapted from the Lozanov method, using relaxation and self-concept building techniques. The experimental class covered the same material as the regular section, took the same tests, and were graded by the same standards. All nine students received a C grade or better. At the semester's end, a retest of all 20 students' English reading skills showed that both the experimental and control groups raised their reading skills by one grade level, but the German-instructed group had a significantly better attendance pattern. At the end of the fourth semester, 8 of the 9 students in the experimental group remained at the college, while only 6 of the 11 control group students remained. While the group of subjects was too small for generalization, results support the positive effect of foreign language study on academic success. (MSE)