After a discussion of the code-emphasis versus phonics-emphasis controversy, strategies for improving the teaching of decoding skills are presented. It is recommended (1) that only those phonic generalizations that are of high utility be taught, and revisions of phonics generalizations be made to make them even more inclusive and useful; (2) that auditory and visual discrimination be stressed early and throughout the grades, with particular emphasis on letters of the alphabet, phonic elements, and word recognition skills; (3) that greater use be made of context clues and analysis of word structure; and (4) that strategies for working with dictionaries should focus on teaching the schwa sound and having smaller sets of different dictionaries available in the classroom. Technologically assisted instructional innovations used in reading instruction are briefly discussed, including the talking typewriter, teaching machines, and the computer. Two linguistic viewpoints, the regular spelling approach and the structural linguistics approach, as they relate to decoding are also described. A bibliography is included. (CL)