This discussion on spelling and phonics focuses on beginning reading vocabulary (phonology and graphemics of high utility words), factors in word perception (their recognition in teaching word perception skills), premises and principles of phonics (their relation to curriculum content and to methods), phonic rules or spelling patterns (their validity and hazards), and letter names (knowledge of letternames as one predictor of readiness for reading and fact or myth regarding value or learning). Appended is a bibliography which can serve as a springboard for educators and researchers committed to the serious study of orthography as a roadblock to reading, an index to the diversity of problems to be solved before commitment to an initial learning medium or to spelling reform, and a survey of opinions and facts regarding spellings as representations of language. (HOD)