The primary purpose of this study was to determine if training in syntactic structures would increase reading performance of junior high school students. A total of 46 students in a predominately white middle class suburban school district who were reading at least two years below grade placement were divided into two groups: 24 students were given syntactic training and 22 students received remedial reading instruction. Pretests and posttests using both the Metropolitan Achievement Test and A Test of Sentence Meaning were administered to all students. Results showed that syntactic training increased reading performance to the same extent as remedial techniques, that both instructional approaches increased scores on the word knowledge subtest to a greater extent than on the reading subtest, and that training students in syntactic structures does not improve understanding of these structures. (Author/JM)