THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE METHODS WERE COMPARED FOR DEVELOPING READING READINESS IN SPANISH-SPEAKING FIRST GRADE CHILDREN. THE METHODS USED WERE (1) ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION WITH AUDIOLINGUAL TECHNIQUES, (2) SPANISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION WITH AUDIOLINGUAL TECHNIQUES, AND (3) LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION USING THE SAME MATERIALS AS METHODS ONE AND TWO, BUT WITHOUT AUDIOLINGUAL TECHNIQUES. SAMPLE FIRST GRADE CLASSROOMS WERE ARBITRARILY ASSIGNED TO ONE OF THE THREE TREATMENTS (A TOTAL OF 28 WAS USED). THE "METROPOLITAN READINESS TEST", ORIGINALLY DESIGNED FOR MEASURING READING READINESS FOR AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING POPULATION, WAS USED IN THIS PROJECT TO SECURE PRE-AND POST-TEST CRITERIA SCORES. THIS INSTRUMENT, HOWEVER, PROVED INVALID FOR MEASURING THE EFFECTS OF INTENSIVE ORAL LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. IN ADDITION, NO OTHER USABLE INSTRUMENT WAS FOUND AVAILABLE FOR ASSESSING LEVELS OF ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT FOR THE PROJECT POPULATION IN EITHER ENGLISH OR SPANISH. THIS FACTOR RESULTED IN A HIGHER MEAN ON THE FINAL CRITERION SCORES FOR THE CHILDREN WHO HAD NO AUDIOLINGUAL TRAINING. A LARGE NUMBER OF ZERO SCORES WERE ATTAINED ON THE PRETESTING EXERCISES WHICH CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED, AS WELL, THE INAPPROPRIATENESS OF THE STANDARDIZED TEST FOR THE SAMPLE GROUPS. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TREATMENT GROUPS ON THEIR POST-TEST MEAN SCORES WERE NOT SIGNIFICANT. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT ADDITIONAL RESEARCH CLEARLY NEEDED TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE FIELD. (JH)