Trap setting is a concept based on a psycholinguistic explanation of the acquisition of second language skills emphasizing cognitive and creative processes over the auditory, visual, and imitative. It proposes that opportunities for repeated attempts at solving new problems through constant testing and retesting of creative hypotheses bring the learner closer to understanding the linguistic system and the cognitive strategies that work most effectively in it. It differs from both cognitive and communicative approaches by focusing more on experiential aspects of learning. The teacher can provide experiences to aid the learner to become progressively more conscious of his mental processes and the linguistic system, anticipating through the instructional materials the types of experiences the learner will have when solving a particular communicative problem. In these materials a problem situation is provided in which the student finds both confidence-builders or giveaways and traps to induce him to test and adjust his hypotheses. Trap setting materials can contain attractive challenges for students as well as a profitable learning experience. The technique increases the possibility of a more distinctive encoding of both the information given and extensions of that information. In designing materials it is important that the strategies used lead to both conceptual and linguistic distinctiveness and that the challenges have both structure and conceptual significance to be effective. (MSE)