The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to determine the knowledge of basic language constructs between novice and career teachers in upstate South Carolina regarding their differences in knowledge of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphology as measured by the Basic Language Constructs Survey among those who received a bachelor's degree from a private university versus a public university. The population for this research included elementary teachers from six upstate South Carolina school districts. The study included 24 elementary schools between the six districts and three counties. Teachers completed an online survey containing questions related to the basic language constructs. The researcher used a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the potentially significant differences between the years of teaching experience, type of university attended, and knowledge of basic language constructs. The results from the two-way ANOVA analysis indicated that the interaction between years of experience and college type does not statistically affect teachers' knowledge of the basic language constructs. However, the analysis showed statistical significance for years of teaching experience in terms of the knowledge of basic language constructs. Researchers can use the results from this study to equip teacher preparation programs to provide the knowledge teachers need to teach students to read. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]