THE PRIMARY INVESTIGATION CONCERNED THE EFFECT OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS, STYLE, AND INTERPRETATION OF READING METHOD ON PUPIL READING ACHIEVEMENT SCORES BOTH IN JANUARY AND JUNE IN THE FIRST-GRADE YEAR. AN ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE DESIGN WAS USED. FOURTEEN TEACHERS COMPLETED A QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGNED TO DISTINGUISH TWO BASIC KINDS OF BEGINNING READING INSTRUCTION EMPHASIS--(1) "DECODING" (ORAL READING AND SOUND-SYMBOL) OR (2) "MEANING" (SILENT READING AND INTERPRETATION). EQUAL NUMBERS OF MEANING AND SOUND-SYMBOL EMPHASIS TEACHERS WERE REPRESENTED IN THE SAMPLE, AS WELL AS EXPERIENCED AND INEXPERIENCED TEACHERS WITHIN EACH EMPHASIS. THEIR ACTIVITIES WERE THEN STUDIED IN 12 CLASSES FOR ONE SCHOOL YEAR, FOLLOWING THE READING PROGRAMS EACH HAD USED PREVIOUSLY. PRINCIPAL DATA WERE COLLECTED FROM RATINGS OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM AND FROM BATTERIES OF READINESS AND ACHIEVEMENT TESTS GIVEN TO PUPILS AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR, RESPECTIVELY. THE STUDY SUPPORTED IN A PRELIMINARY WAY (BECAUSE OF THE LIMITED SAMPLE AND AMOUNT OF ANALYSIS) THE OBSERVATION THAT TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND THE WAYS IN WHICH TEACHERS IMPLEMENT A GIVEN METHOD DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE READING ACHIEVEMENT OF THEIR PUPILS. THERE WAS ALSO SOME EVIDENCE THAT A THINKING APPROACH TO LEARNING, A SOUND-SYMBOL EMPHASIS WITHIN A BASAL READER APPROACH, THE USE OF THE APPROPRIATE DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF LESSONS RELATE POSITIVELY TO READING ACHIEVEMENT. (WN)