This paper analyzes some of the conditions affecting the introduction of innovations in reading instruction in post-war Britain. The relationship between these innovations and research is explored. Section one presents background information and discusses possible causes for the influx of innovative techniques in reading instruction in the 1950s and 1960s. "General Conditions Affecting the Introduction of Innovations in Reading," section two, discusses surveys conducted primarily in the 1940s and 1950s. Section three, "Specific Innovations in Reading," looks at some of the more recent approaches to teaching reading. Included are phonetic approaches, linguistic approaches, language experience programs, programed reading schemes, the Initial Teaching Alphabet, the Diacritical Marking System, Words in Color, Color Story Reading, the Color Phonics System, the English Color Code, teaching machines, television, and remedial reading services. The last section summarizes the preceding material and discusses researchers' inability to draw any significant conclusions. (WR)