The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of specific instructional strategies in listening upon the reading comprehension of first grade pupils. Listening instruction was hypothesized to positively affect reading comprehension. Eighteen first grade classrooms were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: (1) specific listening instruction in which each class received daily three- to five-minute skill lessons in listening for specific purposes administered by the teacher to each total class unit; (2) nonspecific listening in which each class experienced a comparable amount of time per week in listening without specific purposes administered by the teacher to each total class unit; (3) no special time allotted to listening activities. From the results it was concluded that some type of listening instruction appears superior to no listening instruction, that listening instruction produced significant gains in reading comprehension, and that a program of listening instruction within the elementary reading program may lead to increased reading comprehension abilities. (Author/WR)