In what stage are beginning readers when they struggle with CVCe words?

Beginning readers are in the pre-alphabetic stage when they struggle with CVCe (consonant-vowel-consonant-silent 'e') words. In this stage of reading development, children typically have not yet acquired an understanding of the alphabetic principle, which is the concept that letters represent sounds and that these sounds can be blended to form words.

At the pre-alphabetic stage, readers often rely on visual cues, memorization of whole words by sight, and contextual clues rather than understanding phonics or letter-sound correspondences. CVCe words, which include a silent 'e' that affects the vowel sound, are particularly challenging for these learners since they lack the necessary phonemic awareness to decode these words effectively. They may not yet understand that the silent 'e' at the end changes the pronunciation of the preceding vowel from a short sound to a long sound (e.g., "cap" vs. "cape").

Thus, encountering difficulties with CVCe words indicates that the learner has not progressed beyond the pre-alphabetic stage and has not yet developed the skills required to decode based on phonics principles.