A systematic model for accelerating the process of developing the word decoding skills and building the vocabularies of bilingual adults was used among prison populations in Rockland County, Dutchess County, Suffolk County, and Essex County, New York, as well as in work-study programs in community centers in New York City. Literacy levels of the subjects ranged from nonreaders to fourth grade reading ability. Many spoke some English but were not equipped with vocabulary for job training. Students were trained to locate, independently, the number of syllables in printed words, known and unknown. These efforts were supported by visual aids, large enough to be hung on a wall. Tutorial aids were cassette tapes with individualized lessons, workbooks containing individualized lessons matched to the corresponding cassette tape, and vocabulary enrichment books containing basic words and phonetically simple words. The plan used was a systematic, cumulative, spiral approach to word decoding that provided for development and enrichment of vocabulary and comprehension at a more accelerated pace than permitted by traditional methods of word attack. (HOD)