In which stage of reading development do students begin to decode unfamiliar words?

The choice identifying the early reading stage is correct because this stage is characterized by students' initial efforts to make sense of printed words. During this developmental phase, children are typically gaining foundational skills such as phonemic awareness and phonics, which are critical for decoding unfamiliar words. They learn to connect letters with their corresponding sounds, enabling them to sound out words they have not encountered before.

In the pre-reading stage, children may engage with books and develop an understanding of print but are not yet actively decoding words themselves. As they progress into the fluent reading stage, students generally become more proficient readers, capable of reading more complex texts with ease and fluency, often relying less on decoding unfamiliar words and more on sight recognition and context clues. The advanced reading stage refers to a period where students are able to analyze and comprehend more sophisticated materials, building upon the skills acquired in earlier stages, including decoding.