Learning to read is a complex task for beginners of English. They must coordinate many cognitive processes to read accurately and fluently, including recognizing words, constructing the meanings of sentences and text, and retaining the information read in memory. An essential part of the process for beginners involves learning the alphabetic system, including, letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns, and learning how to apply this knowledge in their reading (National Reading Panel, 2000). Systematic phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use to read and spell words (Harris & Hodges, 1995). Although phonics instruction is primarily designed for L1 beginners in the primary grades and for children having difficulty learning to read, it can be applied to L2 learners to make use of sound-symbol, vocabulary, and meaning to decode and comprehend texts (Bernhardt, 2000). This paper reviews critical notions in regard to phonics instruction in order to provide sufficient background information for those new in this topic. Some useful pedagogical instructions are also presented, which could be applied to L2 learners.