Final answer:
The student is likely in the early phonetic stage of word recognition, connecting sounds with letters. The activity of underlining letters that represent certain sounds helps to reinforce this fundamental reading and writing skill.
Step-by-step explanation:
The stage of word recognition the student may be in could possibly be the early phonetic stage where students begin to make the connection between letters and sounds. This is illustrated by showing a picture of an object (like a ball) and a letter (like B) that represents the first sound of the word. In such exercises, students are usually tasked with underlining or identifying the letters that correspond to certain sounds within words, as they learn to recognize and spell the sounds in the English language.
In the specific activity mentioned, students are shown a series of words and are instructed to underline the letter(s) that spell [b], such as in 'able', 'scribble', and 'bubble'. This helps to reinforce their understanding of how sounds correspond to letters and letter combinations, which is vital for their development in reading and writing skills.