IMPROVING THE READING ABILITY OF CHILDREN OF THE "HAVE-NOT" POPULATION, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS, REQUIRES THE TEACHER'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHILD'S SPOKEN LANGUAGE. CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED AND CULTURALLY DIVERGENT CHILDREN HAVE PRONUNCIATIONS AND VOCABULARIES DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF AVERAGE STUDENTS, BUT THE TEACHER SHOULD RESIST CONFUSING AND ALIENATING THESE CHILDREN BY URGING THEM TO CONFORM TO "MIDDLE CLASS" ENGLISH. INSTEAD, HE SHOULD EMPHASIZE SUCH ELEMENTS COMMON TO ALL SPEECH AS STRESS AND PITCH AND SHOULD TEACH THE CHILD TO SEE THE PRINTED PAGE AS AN EXTENSION OF HIS SPEECH. THE TEACHER SHOULD GUIDE THE CHILD TOWARD SEEING PHONOLOGICAL PHRASES AND WORD GROUPINGS INSTEAD OF INDIVIDUAL WORDS BY (1) EMPHASIZING INTONATION, (2) ILLUSTRATING THE NATURE AND VALUE OF RHYTHM, (3) DRAMATIZING READING, AND (4) TEACHING THE MEANINGS OF WORDS IN CONTEXT. (THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN "LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS, AND SCHOOL PROGRAMS, PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPRING INSTITUTES, 1963." CHAMPAIGN, ILL., NCTE, 1963.) (LH)