Which stage involves a child beginning to understand letter-sound correspondence and using single letters to represent words?

The semi-phonetic stage is characterized by children beginning to develop an understanding of letter-sound correspondence and using single letters to represent whole words or syllables. At this stage, children are not yet fully aware of the phonetic rules that govern how sounds correspond to letters but are starting to demonstrate an awareness of how letters can represent sounds. This stage is crucial as it marks the transition from simply using symbols to express meaning to a more systematic approach where they attempt to map out their spoken language onto the written form.

In this stage, it is common for children to write a single letter to stand for an entire word, showing their early understanding of how letters function to represent sounds. The semi-phonetic stage indicates that a child is actively engaging in the process of learning how to read and write, making it an important period of development in literacy.