The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of two teacher-administered rewards, money and praise, on reading subskills of 32 adult illiterates enrolled in adult basic education classes. These subskills were word recognition and paragraph comprehension. Correct responses were rewarded immediately with money, praise, or both, after a no-reward baseline period. These responses were also recorded during a subsequent post-reward period. The performance of correct responses on reading tasks was substantially higher when followed by money (five cents per response) or by money combined with praise than when followed only by verbal praise. This effect persisted after withdrawal of rewards. The success of specific incentives for acquiring skills in reading may depend heavily on teacher acceptance of those rewards. (Author)