This fourth book in the Urban Language Series is concerned with the relationship of language to reading. Literacy must be based on the language the child actually uses. In the case of ghetto children, materials in their dialect must be prepared so that their task of associating sounds and words with written symbols is not complicated by lack of correspondence between these sounds and words and the students' normal speech. These materials must include forms the child uses and hears, and exclude forms he does not hear and use. They must avoid complex constructions and ambiguity and make use of natural redundancy. Further, they must use language appropriate to the context in the experience of the child. Examples of the kinds of materials that can be developed are included in two of the articles. Authors of the various papers (written between 1964 and 1968) are Joan Baratz, Ralph Fasold, Kenneth Goodman, William Labov, Raven McDavid, Roger Shuy, William Stewart, and Walter Wolfram. (MK)