About this pillar
Decoding is the active application of phonics to unfamiliar words. The reader who knows the rules and freezes on “consequentialist” has phonics without decoding. The reader's toolkit — syllable chunking, morphology, the six syllable types — is what makes adult-level reading possible. Each successfully decoded word becomes an instantly recognizable sight word the next time. Decoding is the engine of vocabulary growth, not its obstacle.