Speaking is a critical skill in learning a foreign language. While immersion in the culture, and interactiono with natives build fluency, interactive multimedia products are an important tool to initiate and maintain language skills. The current state of SR technology in conjunction with careful instructional design strategies offer a challenge and great potential for including speaking skills in the computer based products. A government panel of researchers, language designers, and instructors will share their vision, experiences, and requirements to meet the needs of the language learning community. Col. La Rocca, from West Point will describe a Pentagon study outlining shortfalls in the military language skills and will point to their needs. Melissa Holland from Army Research Lab will outline some of the DARPA projects as they relate to applications of SR in language tools. Anita Kuleman from DoD will describe government communicative teaching methodology, and Kathleen Egan from ORD will point to existing current SR applications, gaps, and future potential in the multimedia language learning tools.