FTCE Reading K-12 Practice Exam

Students who use context and initial letters to figure out unknown words are typically in which phase of word recognition?

1. Full-alphabetic phase

2. Partial-alphabetic phase

3. Pre-alphabetic phase

4. Contextual phase

The correct answer is: Partial-alphabetic phase

The correct choice refers to the partial-alphabetic phase of word recognition. In this phase, students are starting to connect letters to sounds but are not yet fully proficient in using all the letters in words. They often rely on context and initial letters to decode unfamiliar words. This includes using surrounding text clues and the first letter of a word to make educated guesses about its meaning, which showcases emerging decoding skills without complete understanding of phonemes. Students in this phase might recognize some letters and sounds but have not developed the full set of skills needed to decode words independently. Their reliance on context illustrates that they are still building a robust phonetic understanding and are not yet in the full-alphabetic phase, where students systematically use all letters of words for decoding. The other phases, pre-alphabetic and the contextual phase, do not quite capture the same level of emerging phonetic ability that is highlighted in the partial-alphabetic phase.