Neither phonics nor word sight is a complete solution. Too many contradictions and exceptions for phonics and word sight too limiting in vocabulary.
There is no easy or “one size fits all” solution to teaching English as we know it. Sort of know it anyway.
Pretty much why English is a required subject for 12 years of primary school.
Right. Phonics is essential but it works best on words with fairly simple spellings. It doesn’t help, for example, with the multiple ways to pronounce “ough”. Those kinds of words have to be memorized so they are recognized by sight. (Or is it “site”, or is it “cite”?). Of course, when a person has true fluency of reading, it’s all by sight.
Agreed. My brother explained the phonics principle to me. But most of my reading was based on whole word recognition. For years, I had a vocabulary of words the pronunciation of which was somewhat vague to me. So it’s not either phonics or whole word, it can be both. And individuals will find different strategies best for them.
Phonographix is a great method that encompasses the exceptions and decoding them. I highly recommend.