A limited analysis of alternative approaches to phonemic-level word attack instruction is provided in this document. The instruction segment begins with training in letter-sound correspondences for which mastery of certain skills is assumed. Instruction ends with the decoding of novel items having a consonant-vowel-consonant construction. Contents outlined consist of the following: preliminary assumptions, terms and definitions, associative training items, rules and hypotheses, instructional paths, and training-testing item universes. (JM)