This study examined oral-reading characteristics associated with language development in second-grade children, working on the suppositions that oral syntactic proficiency influences a child's use of syntax while reading and that this influence can be seen in oral reading, particularly in the contextual appropriateness of errors. It was also presumed that statistical control of word-recognition ability would help expose syntactic proficiency in reading by, in effect, equating subjects on the ability to use graphic cues and allowing the ability to use symbols to vary independently. Using 90 second-grade subjects, the research design had two parts: the exploration of the relationships among language development, reading ability, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and sex; and the correlation of oral reading behavior with language development when the influence of word recognition ability and intelligence is controlled. Results suggested that oral syntactic proficiency as measured by Chomsky's Linguistic Instrument does not relate to contextual appropriateness of oral-reading errors but, rather, to correction behavior. (HOD)