THIS RESEARCH CONSIDERED THE TEACHING OF SPELLING AS A PHENOMENON MORE OR LESS ISOLATED FROM THE OTHER AREAS OF LANGUAGE ARTS INSTRUCTION THAT PROBABLY CONTRIBUTE TO SPELLING PERFORMANCE. THE MAJOR OBJECTIVES WERE--(1) TO DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, AND TEST MECHANICAL DEVICES FOR THE TEACHING OF SPELLING, AND (2) TO CARRY OUT AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION OF THE TEACHING DEVICES AND MATERIALS DEVELOPED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF MORE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH UTILIZING SIMILAR TECHNIQUES. THE TEACHING MACHINES DESIGNED FOR THIS RESEARCH PROVED TO BE SATISFACTORY AND DURABLE IN OPERATION, BUT LEFT MUCH TO BE DESIRED IN THE CONTROL OF CHEATING, SECURITY OF THE TEACHING MATERIALS, AND GENERAL CONVENIENCE. FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES, A FORM OF TEACHING MACHINE THAT ALLOWS SIMPLE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS AND EASE IN REVISION IS DESIRABLE. THE DESIGN OF SUCH A DEVICE IS SUGGESTED. OVERALL LEARNING OUTCOMES FROM THE TEACHING MACHINE TREATMENTS WERE GENERALLY COMPARABLE TO THOSE FROM THE USUAL CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL, WITH SOME SUGGESTION OF SUPERIORITY FOR THE MACHINE TEACHING. WITHIN THE LIMITED FRAMEWORK OF THIS RESEARCH AN INTERESTING NEW TEACHING METHODOLOGY HAS BEEN TRIED WITH PROVOCATIVE RESULTS, AND SOME STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SPELLING AS A SUBJECT AREA. (GC)