A 4-YEAR LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM WAS BEGUN ON GUAM USING TWO NEW APPROACHES. IT WAS FELT THAT THE PRIMARY GRADES LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM SHOULD INCLUDE (1) A YEAR OF CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH, FOLLOWED BY THE USUAL READING ACTIVITIES IN GRADES TWO AND THREE AND (2) ONE-HALF YEAR OF CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH FOLLOWED BY THE USUAL READING ACTIVITIES. IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT BOTH OF THESE APPROACHES WERE SUPERIOR TO THE STANDARD METHOD, NAMELY, THE EARLY INTRODUCTION OF FORMAL READING IN THE FIRST GRADE, AND THAT THESE SUPERIORITIES WERE APPARENT BY THE END OF THE THIRD GRADE, OR POSSIBLY THE FOURTH. AT THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR, A TEST OF ORAL ENGLISH AND THE SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT TEST WERE GIVEN TO ALL PUPILS. DURING THE SPRING OF THE THIRD YEAR, THE CALIFORNIA ACHIEVEMENT TESTS AND THE PICTURE SECTION OF LADO'S TEST OF AURAL COMPREHENSION WERE GIVEN. FINALLY, THE READING SECTION OF THE CALIFORNIA ACHIEVEMENT TEST WAS GIVEN TOWARD THE END OF THE FOURTH YEAR. IT WAS RECOMMENDED THAT A LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM SHOULD INCLUDE A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME DEVOTED TO TEACHING CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH, AND THAT THIS WOULD IMPROVE THE SUBSEQUENT LEARNING OF READING AND LISTENING SKILLS. (JL)