The primary focus of this paper is on black children and the relationship between their productive and receptive language competencies. The solutions which have been proposed to solve the dilemma of black pupils' poor reading achievement are discussed. It is noted that none of the proposed solutions has the unqualified support provided by a mass of empirical data. The eradication theory, which is based on the premise that black language is deficient and that black children must learn to use standard English exclusively, is impractical. The bidialectical or biloguial theory suggests providing instruction in an alternative dialect while recognizing the importance of the native dialect. When and how to teach this second dialect are the problems connected with this theory. Beginning readers written in a black dialect may not be an accurate representation of the dialect of the learner. If the language experience approach is used, the syntax should be recorded as dictated, or a white middle class bias against the child's dialect may produce negative responses from the children. Another position is that Black English is perfectly valid and should be taught as a second dialect to speakers of standard English. (MKM)