Despite a large number of studies dealing with the relation of dialect to the teaching of reading, little attention has been given to the relevance of dialect studies to the preparation of materials for teaching spelling.1 It is by now quite generally agreed that the most efficient reading materials are those which allow the child to relate written English to the spoken English he already commands. This implies that the early reading vocabulary should be drawn from the word stock common to all dialects of English (or, according to some theorists, from the child's dialect specifically) , and that the grammar and phonology assumed by the lessons should as fully as possible reflect the language the child knows.2 In general, it is now taken for granted that the best materials for instruction in reading are those which