Various trends in linguistics research as they are currently applied to reading instruction are described. The rationale of both Bloomfield and Fries stressing the alphabetic principle of sound-letter correspondence is evaluated, and research comparing the effectiveness of applying this principle with other approaches to beginning reading is presented. The studies of Chomsky and Halle stressing a deeper phonological explanation for the relationships between the sounds and spelling of English suggest that the traditional spelling of a word can give, in addition to the sound of a word, syntactic and semantic clues. Several studies analyze oral reading errors of beginning readers at various linguistic levels, including morphological structure, syntactic acceptability, and semantic appropriateness in the sentence and the entire passage. Generally, very high use of context is found. Biemiller notes three phases of errors in which first graders moved in a fairly regular progression from heavy reliance on context, to nonresponse strategy, to greater flexibility in word identification strategies. Labov's studies of Negro speech are summarized, and implications for adjusting reading instruction are pointed out. The influence of linguistics research on college and adult reading is also discussed briefly. A bibliography is included. (CM)