What developmental expectation is common for Beginning Readers?

Beginning readers are typically expected to develop the skill of associating letters with sounds, known as phonemic awareness. This foundational skill is critical in the early stages of literacy development, as it enables children to decode words, understand the relationship between written letters and spoken language, and begin to read with greater confidence. Mastery of this concept allows beginning readers to form the building blocks necessary for further reading development, such as blending sounds together to make words and ultimately advancing to more complex reading tasks.

On the other hand, understanding complex narratives, reading advanced literature, and recognizing abstract concepts are significantly more advanced skills that require a higher level of cognitive development, vocabulary, and comprehension abilities, which are typically beyond the reach of beginning readers. Therefore, the emphasis on letter-sound association is what makes it a common expectation at this stage of reading development.