The "Four Strands" approach maintains that we need to provide our students with more time to practice through meaning-focused input (Reading & Listening) and output (Speaking and Writing) as well as "fluency training" by having them read, write, speak and hear material that they already understand. It states that 75% of student learning should be devoted to practice with only 25% of the time spent on frontal teaching or studying grammar or vocabulary. This session will discuss what this means in practical terms bringing recent research to support Nation’s contention.