A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE FROM THE VERBAL RESPONSES OF READERS THE TYPES OF CONTEXTUAL AIDS THAT SERVE AS CLUES TO THE MEANINGS THAT MIGHT BE ATTACHED TO SIMULATED WORDS AND TO CLASSIFY THESE CONTEXTUAL AIDS ON THE BASIS OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE VERBAL CONTEXT THAT WAS UTILIZED BY THE READER. AN INTROSPECTIVE TECHNIQUE WAS USED IN COLLECTING DATA. SUBJECTS WERE 12 ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENTS PURSUING PH.D.'S IN EDUCATION. TWENTY READING SELECTIONS WERE CHOSEN FROM "THE SATURDAY EVENING POST" AND THE "READER'S DIGEST." THE PARTICULAR CONTEXTUAL SITUATIONS TO BE ANALYZED WERE RANDOMLY CHOSEN--EVERY 50TH WORD IN THE TEXT, PROVIDED THAT WORD WAS AN ADJECTIVE, AN ADVERB, A NOUN, OR A VERB. A CLASSIFICATION SCHEME OF CONTEXTUAL AIDS CONTAINING 14 DISTINCT CATEGORIES WAS DEVISED. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO PLACE THE TYPES OF CONTEXTUAL AIDS THAT READERS USE INTO A CLASSIFICATION SCHEME OF SUBSTANTIAL RELIABILITY. TABLES AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE "READING RESEARCH QUARTERLY," VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1, FALL 1966. (RH)