This study was conducted to explore the idea that the Negro dialect operates as a source of interference in the acquisition of reading skills by Negro children. Two first grade classes from an Oakland, California, inner city school were chosen to participate in this experiment. The pupils were all pretested. Half of them were then randomly chosen to be the experimental group and subsequently received special dialect lessons in certain features of standard English. The control pupils received no special lessons. It was hypothesized that (1) in 8 weeks, Negro children could be taught to use elements of standard English dialect which did not occur in their native dialect; (2) this knowledge would have a positive and significant influence on their word reading scores; and (3) dialect lessons would have a positive and significant influence on scores of word reading tests in which the relationship between letters and sounds was controlled. Posttests were administered to all the pupils at the conclusion of the program. On the basis of this testing, all three hypotheses were rejected. (WD)