FREE CALT Structured Lesson Plan Design and Implementation Questions and Answers

Question 1

The principle of "diagnostic and prescriptive" teaching in a structured literacy lesson primarily means that the therapist:

Accepted Answer

Continuously analyzes student responses to inform and adjust the immediate next steps of instruction.

Answer

Diagnostic-prescriptive teaching is a dynamic cycle where the therapist constantly observes and analyzes a student's performance (diagnostic) and uses that data to make immediate, informed decisions about what to teach, how to teach it, and what to review (prescriptive). It is the opposite of following a rigid, pre-determined script.

Question 2

Which component is most essential in a daily structured literacy lesson plan for building automaticity and ensuring long-term retention of skills?

Accepted Answer

Systematic and cumulative review of previously taught skills.

Answer

While all parts of a lesson are important, the systematic and cumulative review is foundational to the success of structured literacy. This constant spiraling back to previously learned material ensures that skills are solidified, moved to long-term memory, and become automatic for the student, preventing them from forgetting past concepts.

Question 3

A therapist introduces the digraph 'ch'. The therapist says /ch/, the student repeats it, they look at the letters 'c' and 'h' on a card, and then the student traces the letters in a sand tray while saying /ch/. This sequence primarily engages which sensory pathways?

Accepted Answer

Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Tactile (VAKT)

Answer

This sequence is a classic example of a VAKT (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Tactile) approach. The student sees the letters (Visual), hears and says the sound (Auditory), and feels the motion of forming the letters in the sand (Kinesthetic/Tactile). Engaging multiple pathways simultaneously creates stronger neural connections for learning.

Question 4

When designing a lesson to introduce a new grapheme, such as 'f' for the sound /f/, what is the most logical first step in the instructional sequence?

Accepted Answer

Elicit the phoneme /f/ in isolation and have the student identify how it is produced.

Answer

In a structured literacy approach, instruction typically moves from sound to symbol. The first step is to establish phonological awareness of the new sound in isolation, helping the student hear it and feel its articulation (e.g., teeth on lip, air pushing out) before linking it to the visual symbol (grapheme).

Question 5

During the 'New Learning' portion of a lesson, a student is consistently making errors and showing frustration. The most effective immediate action for the therapist is to:

Accepted Answer

Increase the level of scaffolding by providing more direct modeling and breaking the skill into smaller steps.

Answer

When a student struggles, the therapist's role is to adjust instruction immediately. Increasing scaffolding—providing more support, direct modeling, breaking the task into smaller steps, and providing corrective feedback—allows the student to achieve success. This is a core tenet of diagnostic-prescriptive teaching.

CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist Practice Test

CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist Practice Test

FREE CALT Structured Lesson Plan Design and Implementation Questions and Answers