Well technically that is phonics, you see a new word, as a learner, you know how to sound it out. Compared to the Whole Word learning method where somebody has to teach you what a word says. English is a nasty mess of both.

Sure your country’s high grammar might be consistent, but the general day-to-day would have influences from other languages that can’t be so neatly categorised, and their pronounciation would differ from region to region