New Hampshire Foundations of Reading Practice Test

In the semi-phonetic stage of spelling development, students show what kind of understanding?

1. Complete mastery of letter-sound relationships

2. No understanding of letter-sound relationships

3. Some letter-sound relationships are used

4. Only applying patterns they have learned through memorization

The correct answer is: Some letter-sound relationships are used

In the semi-phonetic stage of spelling development, students demonstrate an emerging understanding of letter-sound relationships. This stage is characterized by the use of some letters to represent sounds in words, indicating that students are beginning to grasp how letters map to phonemes, although their application may not be consistent or complete. For instance, while a child might correctly spell the initial sound of a word, they might struggle with middle or ending sounds, reflecting the developmental nature of their understanding. The key element in this stage is that students are actively engaging with the alphabetic principle—beginning to make connections between sounds and their corresponding letters—though they do not yet have full mastery of these relationships. This gradual progression in recognizing and applying letter-sound pairs is vital for their literacy development, laying the groundwork for more advanced stages where they will refine and expand their spelling skills.