Very interesting. I agree that decoding is only part of the process, but as soon as a child can decode he can read to the extent of his spoken command of the language. In any event, without facility in decoding you never get to the next levels.
You've identified my disconnect between successful use of phonics to decode Welsh while not understanding what I'm reading. I'm still learning the language. I haven't started from the position of having a verbal command of the language. The same applies to kids raised in a Spanish speaking household. If they don't have a verbal command of English, the phonics skills don't necessarily translate to any kind of facility in reading. My father had a huge vocabulary. He used it and I learned a large vocabulary as a young child. If a child grows up in an environment where the parents have a restricted vocabulary, the limited facility with the language will also manifest itself in poor reading comprehension.
I joined a DeMolay chapter in 1973. Many of the members were already in college and had a great command of English. One of the advisors assigned from the lodge was a very nice guy who barely managed to graduate from high school. It showed in his vocabulary. We met one evening to plan a party. He thought we would enjoy some good food and socialism. The persons assembled had the learned social graces of not embarrassing a man who was volunteering his time to help, but it did draw a knowing smile.
I have a daughter with speech problems. She actually reads better than she can speak. Decoding helps her with the speech aspect and reading.
Her decoding is still low, and she is in an multi-sensory reading phonics based reading program this year to help her improve her decoding skills. She can memorize words easily, but without the decoding she won't be able to move to that next level.
Of course, the public school would not provide the reading program, and we switched her to a private school that would. We looked into homeschool, and hiring a tutor. However, tutors are very expensive ($50-$100/hr) and it seemed like a better bang for the buck to invest in the private school ($7500/yr). (
The training for the multi-sensory reading program is very intensive, and is very costly. That didn't make sense either since I would only be doing it for 1 child.