Without immersing myself into the whole phonics debate (life is too short) I am still not sure about the best way to read. Here's what I mean: the presumption in this article is that you look at words and by converting them into sounds in your mind (or by reading aloud) you come to understand what they mean. Now I was taught to read using phonics, so that's how I do it, at least when I'm in relaxed mode. And that's generally how I write as well, reversing the process. But what's interesting is that I don't do this with pictures, diagrams, or illustrations. I just comprehend them directly. That's proof to me that there's nothing special about converting text into sounds. And when I'm speed reading, I skip that step entirely. So I don't see 'encoding' as necessary for reading. But it does appear to be sufficient.
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