SOME VIEWS ON THE ROLE OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE IN THE DESIGN OF READING MATERIALS AND THE TEACHING OF PRIMARY READING ARE CONTRASTED. FOUR AREAS OF LINGUISTIC STUDY RELEVANT TO READING ARE EXAMINED BRIEFLY--(1) THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPEECH SYSTEM, (2) THE STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHIC SYSTEM, (3) THE RELATIONSHIP OF GRAPHOLOGY TO PHONOLOGY, AND (4) THE COMPARATIVE SYNTAX OF SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH. SOME CLASSICAL ARGUMENTS AS TO THE RELATIONSHIP OF LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION ARE REEXAMINED IN TERMS OF PROBLEMS IN DESIGN OF AN INITIAL READING CURRICULUM. THE ADAPTATION OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDENT PARTICIPANTS WAS VIEWED AS A CENTRAL PROBLEM OF EDUCATION AND OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION (CAI) PARTICULARLY. THE STANFORD CURRICULUM IN CAI IN BEGINNING READING IS BASED ON THE FOLLOWING SEVEN PSYCHOLINGUISTIC TENETS--(1) TEACHING SPELLING AND READING INDEPENDENTLY, (2) INITIATING READING WITH A DECODING STAGE, (3) ASSOCIATING SIGHT TO SOUND BETWEEN LETTER PATTERNS AND VOCALIC CENTER GROUPS (VCG), (4) SCALING THE DIFFICULTY OF THE VCG UNITS FOR PRESENTATION, (5) PRESENTING GRAPHIC PATTERNS AS MEMBERS OF A RHYME AND ALLITERATION SET IN A MATIX FORMAT, (6) PRESENTING WORD ITEMS IN VARIOUS CONTEXTS, EMPHASIZING THE MORPHOLOGICAL, SYNTACTIC, AND SEMANTIC FUNCTIONS, AND (7) PRESENTING WORDS IN VARIOUS CONTEXTS IN WHICH PRONUNICATION, GRAMMAR, AND MEANING CONVEY THE WRITER'S INTENT. THESE TENETS ARE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF CONTEMPORARY PEDAGOGICAL OPINION, RELATED EMPIRICAL RESEARCH, EXPERIMENAL INVESTIGATIONS BY THE STANFORD GROUP, AND PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES IN CURRICULUM MATERIALS. A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND A TABLE ARE GIVEN. (BK)