This book offers direction for the teacher who wants to know what can be done to improve the effectiveness of language and reading instruction. Part 1 focuses on the issues in teaching black children to read and provides the teacher with an orientation to some of the specific problems in the field such as the question of the existence and nature of black dialects, whether black English speakers should be taught standard English, and what teachers need to know to be effective in the classroom which includes dialect speakers. Diagnostic tools are described in part 2 so that the teacher can identify the language base on which to build individual programs. Articles in part 3 suggest classroom strategies for teaching oral standard English to nonstandard speakers. Part 4 provides materials which guide teachers in assisting dialect speakers in their special problems with correspondence between spoken forms and written symbols in beginning reading. Part 5 contains the edited transcripts of the proceedings from a conference which provide a framework for understanding the questions that black English raises in the teaching of reading. Two special resources for teachers, including an annotated bibliography of materials on language, dialects, and reading, comprise part 6. (HOD)