This study examined the effectiveness of pattern drill relative to (a) the reduction of phonological and grammatical variations from the standard South Midland dialect, and (b) the promotion of reading ability. The sample consisted of 120 rural-Appalachian first grade students enrolled in six intact classes. For a six week period, three randomly assigned classes received pattern instruction, designed to modify subjects' rural Appalachian dialect. The remaining three classes served as controls. Posttest data, consisting of frequency of phonological and grammatical variations from standard provided by a panel of judges and scores on the Word Reading subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test, were analyzed initially by a 2 × 3 × 3 mixed model analysis of variance. Results indicated that subjects receiving pattern practice were better able to approximate the grammatical patterns of the standard Southern Midland dialect (p.