Noting that the recent development of reliable, high-performance, low-cost speech recognizers--devices that can distinguish among spoken words--holds potential for education, such as early reading instruction, this technical report describes a study which investigated two principal questions: (1) Does an inexpensive, microcomputer-based speech recognizer perform reliably enough on young children's speech to permit application to reading instruction?; and (2) What are the main human factors attending such use? The Dragon System Mark II Isolated Word Speech Recognizer was used in the study, which included four stages. The first phase took place in June 1984 and involved 17 kindergartners; the second phase took place in November l984 and involved 7 kindergartners and 8 first graders; the third phase took place in late December and involved l0 kindergartners; and the fourth phase took place in August 1985 and involved 6 students who had completed kindergarten and were about to enter first grade. The results of the study indicated that speech recognition technology holds potential for such educational applications as beginning reading instruction. Findings also suggest that human factors, such as microphone handling, responses to recognition errors, responses to prompts and remarks, and need for adult supervision are crucial ingredients in the effective application of speech recognition technology in education. (Seven tables of data are included and a short bibliography is attached.) (NH)