THE EXTENT TO WHICH REDUNDANCY OF LANGUAGE AFFECTS THE DIFFICULTY OF LEARNING VERBAL MATERIALS FOR CHILDREN OF SEVERAL AGES WAS STUDIED. SAMPLES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE APPROPRIATE TO CHILDREN OF FIRST, THIRD, AND FIFTH GRADES AND ADULTS (AS REPRESENTED BY JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENTS) FROM SIMILAR SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS WERE COLLECTED BY MEANS OF A TAPE RECORDER. SAMPLES WERE ANALYZED FOR QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION. SOURCES OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE FOR THE SAME AGE GROUPINGS WERE ALSO COLLECTED IN ORDER TO (1) ASCERTAIN WHETHER ANY DECLINE IN REDUNDANCY OCCURRED WITH PROGRESSIVE LEVELS OF MATERIAL, (2) DETERMINE PREFERENCE OF CHILDREN FOR MORE OR LESS REDUNDANCY, AND (3) COMPARE UNIFORMITY OF MATERIAL FOR THE VARIOUS GRADE LEVELS OF CONCERN. AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF REDUNDANCY UPON A VERBAL LEARNING TASK, SIMILAR TO THE TASK OF READING, WAS ALSO CONDUCTED. A COMPARISON OF WRITTEN AND SPOKEN LANGUAGE WAS UNDERTAKEN TO EXAMINE VARIOUS LEARNING DIFFICULTIES WHICH ARISE BECAUSE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO. CONCLUSIONS SUGGESTED THAT IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO ENTERTAIN THE THEORY THAT WRITTEN LANGUAGE IS MERELY A TRANSLATION OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE INTO VISUAL SYMBOLS. TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING SHOULD THEREFORE BE DIFFERENT FOR WRITTEN AND SPOKEN LANGUAGES. (WB)