Which term describes readers who understand that print contains a consistent message, recognize high-frequency words, and use pictures to help predict meaning?

• A. Early Readers
• B. Functional Reading
• C. Emergent Readers
• D. Morphemes

Answer: (C)

Understanding that print carries a message and using pictures to help predict meaning marks the earliest stage of reading development. This describes emergent readers, who are just beginning to explore books. They notice that words convey the story, can recognize some high-frequency sight words, and rely on illustrations to guess what the text says. They are also starting to grasp basic features of print, like reading from left to right and top to bottom, and they use pictures to support understanding as they learn that text and pictures work together to convey meaning. The other terms refer to different aspects of literacy development or usage: morphemes are the meaningful parts of words, functional reading focuses on practical reading tasks, and early readers are a bit more advanced and begin to decode and read with growing fluency.