The simple view of reading says that we read for meaning at the same time as we decode. Can't get much simpler than that, or indeed more obvious. Read Write Inc builds meaning checks into all of its materials from the outset. At a more advanced level, I once gave the Schonnell reeading test to a grammar school pupil, who scored very highly, but did not know what most of the words meant after a reading age of around 8. He was using what I term phonics "second wind", where the phonically regular features of longer words, mostly derived from Latin and Greek, make them easier to work out from the letters than shorter words, such as answer, which retain historical elements in their spelling.
There is a distinction to be drawn between fully developed reading, and how reading develops, to which the key remains K Perera's U Manchester thesis of 1989, downloadable here. The key issue is the movement from accurate reading of individual words, sometimes known as barking at print, to grouping them into meaningful phrases, which requires accurate reading of around 60wpm - see the thesis for detail. This movement has already been accomplished by fluent readers, though with varying degrees of success. It remains one of the key development points in the teaching of reading, and it is a great pity that Professor Perera was promoted to Pro-Vice-Chancellor, and ceased to conduct research.
So, if the simple view is that we need to pay attention to meaning as well as phonics, no-one can really argue, and it may be that this is not obvious to those who have never considered the matter. Its value in reading development remains limited, unless the additional factors set out here, and in the Reading Rope, are also part of th process.