The major purpose of this study was to explore the effects of different word recognition teaching methods for lower grade elementary school students. The subjects were two classes of second-grade students. One of the classes adopted the orthographic classified word recognition teaching method, and the other class adopted the distributed word recognition teaching method. After 8 weeks experimental teaching, the result were as follows: The orthographic classified group student’s overall ability of word recognition was better than distributed group on both immediate and delayed tests. Especially on the effects of radicals and orthographic knowledge, the orthographic classified group student’s performance was better than the distributed group’s. The boys were better than the girls on the delayed post-test of Chinese Graded Word Recognition Test.