Miguel Guhlin linked to this 2019 article today. It's the most clearly written on the debate between phonics and alternative methods of learning to read that I've seen. Phonics is contrasted with 'three cuing', proposed in 1967 by education professor Ken Goodman, where students are focused on what the word means, not what it sounds like. My take on reading this is that phonics really works when we already know the spoken language or are in a situation where we can practice it a lot. We already know the meaning, so associating a word with a sound is a quick route to comprehension. When learning a second language, however, we don't have this advantage, and we don't want to spend five or six years fully immersed in the spoken language before learning to read it. So there is much more emphasis on meaning. And no matter how you learn, to have advanced comprehension you're going to need much more than phonics.
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