CALT CALT Vocabulary Development and Word Knowledge 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which approach to vocabulary instruction is most aligned with the multisensory structured language framework used by CALTs?
- Incidental exposure through reading
- Explicit teaching of word parts including prefixes, roots, and suffixes (Correct answer)
- Contextual guessing from surrounding text
- Memorization of word lists
Correct answer: Explicit teaching of word parts including prefixes, roots, and suffixes
CALTs use explicit, systematic instruction of morphemic elements to build vocabulary and decoding skills simultaneously.
Question 2: A CALT is teaching a student the Latin root 'scrib/script.' Which word group best demonstrates application of this root?
- Describe, prescribe, inscribe, manuscript
- Subscribe, scribble, describe, ascribe
- Transcript, describe, scripture, scribble (Correct answer)
- Prescription, describe, scribble, subscript
Correct answer: Transcript, describe, scripture, scribble
Transcript, describe, scripture, and scribble all directly derive from the Latin root 'scrib/script,' meaning to write.
Question 3: Tier 2 vocabulary words, as defined by Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, are best described as:
- Basic words known by most young children
- High-frequency words used across many content areas by mature language users (Correct answer)
- Technical words specific to a single academic discipline
- Sight words that must be memorized
Correct answer: High-frequency words used across many content areas by mature language users
Tier 2 words are high-utility academic words that appear across disciplines and are essential for reading comprehension in mature texts.
Question 4: Which vocabulary instructional technique involves students creating a visual representation, a definition in their own words, and example sentences for a new word?
- Semantic mapping
- Frayer Model (Correct answer)
- Word sorting
- Keyword mnemonic
Correct answer: Frayer Model
The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer that guides students to define a word, describe its characteristics, and provide examples and non-examples.
Question 5: When a CALT teaches a student that the prefix 'un-' means 'not,' this directly supports which aspect of vocabulary acquisition?
- Phonological awareness
- Morphological awareness (Correct answer)
- Syntactic awareness
- Pragmatic awareness
Correct answer: Morphological awareness
Understanding prefixes like 'un-' is a component of morphological awareness, which helps students decode and infer the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Question 6: Semantic feature analysis is most useful for helping students with dyslexia understand:
- Phoneme-grapheme correspondences
- Relationships and distinctions between related vocabulary words (Correct answer)
- Syllable types and division patterns
- Spelling rules for adding suffixes
Correct answer: Relationships and distinctions between related vocabulary words
Semantic feature analysis uses a grid to compare how related words share or differ in features, deepening conceptual understanding of word meaning.
CALT CALT Vocabulary Development and Word Knowledge 1
Which approach to vocabulary instruction is most aligned with the multisensory structured language framework used by CALTs?