To discover whether the typical college reading course repairs students' phonic disabilities to a significant degree and whether students who are severely phonically disabled benefit from the treatment provided in such courses, a study was undertaken involving students in 14 classes. Instruction for those students in the developmental reading classes (the experimental condition) focused on vocabulary development, reading rate, comprehension, and study skills. Those in the English classes (the control condition) received instruction in grammar, usage, and composition skills. No specific or discrete instruction in aural decoding skills or phonic analysis was provided in any of the classes. It was found that both groups achieved statistically significant gains while the difference in gains between the groups was not significant. However, the total gain in the reading class was such that the average student who exhibited serious phonic disablement before the experiment was still classified as seriously phonically disabled upon completing the class. (TJ)