Controversies over the best way to teach word recognition in beginning reading instruction have raged for generations. The goal has been to acquire automatic skills for recoding written language into speech. At this time, a popular theory suggests that phonics is better than the look-and-say method; however the evidence does not support this conclusion. Several factors related to the mismatches of speech and writing are: self-defeating phonic rules, variable relationships between speech sounds and letters, and unreliable realtionships between spellings and etymology. A defensible position regarding this controversy is to legitimize phonics by reducing orthographic irregularities. This paper also discusses questions concerning word perception, the alphabetic principle, and perceptual learning. The need for knowledge of the structure of orthography and the structure of language are emphasized. Several phonic methods are discussed: letter phonics, syllabic methods, spelling patterns, phonetic methods, blending, phonics countdown, respelling by word patterns, and syllable phonics. The various sight word methods discussed are pictured word cards, flash cards, lists of common words, and tell the child the word method. Areas for research are suggested. (MKM)