During which stage of reading development do students begin to decode?

The stage of reading development where students begin to decode is the "Learning to read" stage. During this crucial period, typically occurring in early elementary grades, students transition from recognizing letters and sounds to actively decoding words. In this phase, they develop foundational skills that enable them to read simple texts and make sense of them.

Decoding involves translating written symbols (letters and words) into sounds, which is essential for gaining fluency in reading. Children learn to connect phonemes (the sounds of speech) with graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds) and apply this knowledge to read unfamiliar words.

Although the pre-reading stage focuses on building vocabulary and enhancing comprehension through listening to stories, it does not involve the actual process of decoding. Similarly, transitional reading is characterized by students moving from learning to read to becoming more fluent readers, and the reading to learn stage occurs later, when students use reading as a tool for acquiring new information and deepening their understanding of various subjects. In contrast, the "Learning to read" stage is specifically where decoding skills are fostered, making it the correct choice for this question.