A study using four groups, each of 25 first graders, indicated that letter-naming ability does not facilitate learning to read words composed of the same letters. One group was taught to discriminate between four artificial graphemes by identifying them with different geometric forms. The second group was taught to give the graphemes the letter names "S,""M,""E," and "A." Two control groups were used, one with the related task of learning the names for animal pictures. All four groups were tested, and the mean number of times it took each subject to complete a perfect trial of saying four words made up from the graphemes was recorded. The compared results indicated no significant differences between the performances of the groups and did not support the results of many correlational studies. When the experiment was repeated 1 year later lumping the control groups, the results were again insignificant. It was concluded that a 1967 study presenting the same four graphemes with left-right reading, phonic blend, and letter-sound training indicated a more meaningful correlation between letter-sound identification and reading ability acquisition; it was suggested that the social-economic status of a child may explain the meaningful relationship found between letter-name knowledge and reading ability acquisition in other studies. References are included. (BT)