A study of the communication strategies used by beginning language learners and their interviewers centered on the analysis of videotaped interviews of 53 beginning French students at the University of Delaware. The students had been instructed by either the total physical response or the strategic interaction method. Observed communication patterns were rated according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service scale for the oral performance of elementary students. The results were statistically analyzed, and the findings showed that the higher the student's proficiency rating, the lower his use of communication strategies was. The method of instruction was also found to have an important effect on the students' and interviewers' use of French and on the students' proficiency rating. Students instructed by the strategic interaction method received significantly higher proficiency ratings and used fewer communication strategies to impart meaning. Interviewers reacted to this group by using fewer strategies themselves. Two possible interpretations are suggested: (1) that strategic interaction facilitated students' development of underlying linguistic and interactional competencies, and (2) that students' diminished use of communication strategies in the strategic interaction group indicates a higher degree of control over the activity. (Author/MSE)