Which skill is primarily focused on during the novice reader stage?

During the novice reader stage, the primary focus is on decoding simple text. This stage is crucial for developing foundational reading skills, which involve recognizing letters, sounds, and the relationship between them to read words. Decoding allows novice readers to sound out and identify words, enabling them to progress to more complex reading tasks later on.

Understanding complex text comes into play at more advanced stages of reading development, where readers are expected to comprehend intricate ideas and themes. Summarizing stories and creating original narratives also require a higher level of reading comprehension and synthesis ability, which novice readers have not yet fully developed. Thus, decoding simple text is essential as it provides the basis for further literacy skills, making it the correct choice for this stage.