Abstract
The paper gives an overview of the basic methods of teaching initial reading at primary schools in England, which has traditionally been ranked at the top of the scoreboards in international reading literacy testing. These results are probably related to the fact that the local government has set a national priority to improve reading literacy (ie, reading literacy).
The aim of teaching initial reading is both the ability to decode individual words and to understand their meaning - the methods of teaching initial reading at primary schools in England are therefore focused on both word decoding and reading comprehension. The paper presents the interconnection of the ability to decode individual words and their understanding of the meaning (The searchlight model of reading) and also describes the methods of teaching the initial reading used in primary schools in England (e.g.
Guided reading, Independent reading, Modeled reading, Shared reading) with the emphasis on the Phonics method.