7.3 Comprehension Strategies and Text Structures

ALTA Competency Exam for Multisensory Structured Language Education CALT

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1 Introduction & Exam Overview

1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 Eligibility and Therapy-Level Training 1.3 Registration, Prometric, and Study Plan

2 Language Development: Oral and Written Continuum

2.1 Oral-to-Written Language Continuum 2.2 Receptive and Expressive Oral Language 2.3 Receptive and Expressive Written Language

3 Language Development: Phonological Processing & Research

3.1 Atypical Literacy Development and Remediation 3.2 Phonological Processing Components 3.3 Research on Language Development

4 Structural Linguistics: Phonology

4.1 Continuum of Phonological Skills 4.2 Phonemes, Graphemes, and Morphemes 4.3 Articulatory Gestures

5 Structural Linguistics: Alphabetic Principle & Syllables

5.1 Alphabetic Principle and Sight-Word Recognition 5.2 Six Syllable Types 5.3 Syllable Division Patterns

6 Structural Linguistics: Accent, Morphology & Orthography

6.1 Accent Placement and Sound-Symbol Influences 6.2 Morphology: Roots and Affixes 6.3 Orthography, Affixing Rules, and Etymology

7 Structural Linguistics: Syntax, Semantics & Comprehension

7.1 Syntax, Sentence Structure, and Punctuation 7.2 Semantics and Pragmatics 7.3 Comprehension Strategies and Text Structures

8 Structural Linguistics: Written Language & Research

8.1 Handwriting and the Writing Process 8.2 Research on Structural Linguistics

9 Dyslexia: Definition, Brain & Neurology

9.1 Defining Dyslexia and Instructional Impact 9.2 Brain Anatomy and the Reading Network 9.3 Neurological Aspects of Learning Disabilities

10 Dyslexia: Related Issues, Comorbidity & History

10.1 Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Issues 10.2 Comorbid Disorders 10.3 Historical Pioneers in Dyslexia

11 Dyslexia: Research & Executive Function

11.1 Research on Dyslexia and Related Disorders 11.2 Executive Function and Dyslexia

12 Psychoeducational Assessment: Foundations

12.1 Assessment Terminology and Purposes 12.2 Essential Components of a Dyslexia Evaluation 12.3 Formal and Informal Assessment Instruments

13 Psychoeducational Assessment: Interpretation & Error Analysis

13.1 Interpreting Standard Scores, Percentiles, and Stanines 13.2 Using Results to Guide Services 13.3 Error Analysis of Work Samples 13.4 Psychoeducational Research

14 MSL Strategies: Multisensory, Systematic & Analytic

14.1 Simultaneous VAKT Multisensory Strategies 14.2 Systematic and Cumulative Instruction 14.3 Synthetic vs Analytic Instruction

15 MSL Strategies: Direct Instruction, Automaticity & Diagnosis

15.1 Direct vs Indirect Instruction 15.2 Automaticity in Literacy Development 15.3 Diagnostic Teaching

16 MSL Strategies: Program Principles & Theoretical Models

16.1 MSLE Program Content and Principles 16.2 Metacognition and Learning Environments 16.3 Simple View of Reading 16.4 Scarborough's Reading Rope

17 Federal Laws: IDEA, Section 504 & ADA

17.1 Federal Disability Law Landscape 17.2 Federal Eligibility Guidelines 17.3 Documentation Decisions and Accommodations 17.4 Historical Development of Disability Law

18 Professional Ethics: ALTA Code of Ethics

18.1 ALTA Code of Ethics Overview 18.2 Confidentiality, Competence, and Credentials 18.3 Ethical Standards with Parents and Colleagues

19 Professional Communication

19.1 Professional Student Reports 19.2 Strengths- and Needs-Based Language 19.3 Communicating with Parents, Students, and Colleagues

7.3 Comprehension Strategies and Text Structures

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Comprehension metalanguage (inferencing, summarizing, predicting, monitoring, analyzing, and related terms) is required knowledge under objective 2.F.5.

Metacognitive techniques such as KWL charts, graphic organizers, self-questioning, annotating, and think-alouds are core instructional strategies for 2.F.6.

Comprehension progresses from word meanings to sentence propositions to paragraph/discourse models; therapy should teach each level explicitly (2.F.7).

Identifying and teaching text structures (sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, description) improves understanding and summarization (2.F.8).

Oral reading fluency (accuracy, rate, prosody) frees working memory for meaning, but fluency alone cannot create comprehension without language skills (2.F.11).

Last updated: July 2026

Comprehension as a Structured Language Skill

Reading comprehension is not a single strategy called "trying harder." Within ALTA Domain 2, objectives 2.F.5–2.F.8 and 2.F.11 require CALT candidates to identify comprehension terminology, describe instructional techniques, demonstrate the progression of comprehension from words to sentences to paragraphs, identify common text structures , and explain the connection between oral reading fluency and comprehension.

This cluster sits on Scarborough's rope and the Simple View of Reading: once word recognition is underway, language comprehension —vocabulary, syntax, background knowledge, and verbal reasoning—determines how much meaning a reader can build. MSLE therapists therefore teach comprehension with the same explicitness they bring to phonics, while never assuming strategy work can replace decoding for students who still cannot read the words.

Quick frame: Comprehension grows from accurate word meanings → sentence propositions → paragraph/discourse models. Text structure and fluency are tools that make that climb efficient. If fluency is laborious, working memory is spent on word reading and meaning collapses.

Comprehension Terms You Must Identify (2.F.5)

Objective 2.F.5 expects fluent use of comprehension metalanguage. Know what each process is and what evidence looks like in student performance.

• Term What the reader does Quick check
• Predicting Anticipates content using titles, pictures, prior knowledge "What might happen next? Why?"

Making connections Links text to self, other texts, or world knowledge Text-to-self / text-to-text / text-to-world

Inferencing Combines text clues + background knowledge for unstated meaning "How do you know, even though it doesn't say?"

Drawing conclusions Forms a judgment based on gathered evidence "What can we conclude about the character's motive?"

Summarizing Briefly restates main ideas in one's own words Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then; main idea + key details

Analyzing Examines parts (craft, structure, argument) to understand the whole "Why did the author use this comparison?"

Monitoring / clarifying Notices confusion and applies fix-up strategies Reread, ask a question, check a word meaning

• Visualizing Creates mental imagery from text "What do you see/hear in this scene?"
• Evaluating Judges quality, credibility, or personal response with reasons "Is this argument convincing? Why?"
• Questioning Generates questions before, during, and after reading Thick vs. thin questions

Exam items often contrast literal (explicitly stated) versus inferential comprehension. A student who answers only "right there" questions may need explicit inference instruction—not more independent silent reading.

Instructional Strategies and Metacognitive Techniques (2.F.6)

Objective 2.F.6 focuses on strategies that engage metacognition —thinking about one's own understanding—and other techniques for teaching comprehension.

Strategies with strong MSLE fit

KWL charts (Know / Want to know / Learned): Activate prior knowledge, set purpose, and consolidate after reading. Especially useful before informational text.

Graphic organizers: Story maps for narrative; Venn diagrams for compare/contrast; cause-effect chains; problem-solution frames. Organizers externalize structure so working memory is not overloaded.

Questioning ourselves while reading: Teach students to pause and ask Does this make sense? and What is the author saying here?

Annotating: Underlining key claims, starring evidence, writing margin gist notes—with scaffolds for students whose handwriting or spelling is weak (sticky notes, oral annotation first, partner scribe).

Reciprocal teaching roles: Predicting, questioning, clarifying, summarizing—rotated with heavy modeling before independence.

Think-alouds: Therapist models inference or repair in real time, then gradually releases responsibility.

Sentence-level comprehension drills: Paraphrase a complex sentence; identify who did what to whom; match pronouns to antecedents—bridging syntax (2.E) into comprehension.

Vocabulary pre-teaching and during-reading support: Front-load critical words, then revisit them in context (ties to 2.F.1/2.F.3).

Explicit gradual-release pattern

I do: Therapist reads a short passage, thinks aloud an inference, and records it on an organizer.

We do: Choral or partner reading with shared annotation and guided questions.

You do: Student applies the same strategy on a controlled text at an appropriate readability level.

For students with dyslexia, controlled text matters: comprehension strategy lessons fail when the passage is packed with untaught decoding patterns. Choose or rewrite text so word recognition is manageable while language demands remain appropriately challenging.

Progression of Comprehension Skills: Words → Sentences → Paragraphs (2.F.7)

Objective 2.F.7 requires you to demonstrate that comprehension is hierarchical and cumulative .

Level 1 — Words

Readers must access accurate meanings for critical vocabulary (including morphology-based guesses for unfamiliar words). Without word meanings, higher processes have nothing to operate on. Therapy implication: never skip vocabulary for "strategy time."

Level 2 — Sentences

Readers integrate words into propositions using syntax: Who did what? When? Under what conditions? Complex sentences with relative clauses, passives, or multiple modifiers require the syntactic competencies from 2.E. A useful probe: ask the student to paraphrase one sentence at a time before discussing the whole paragraph.

Level 3 — Paragraphs and extended text

Readers link sentences into a coherent mental model: main idea, supporting details, referents across sentences ( this result , these findings ), and logical relations (cause, contrast, sequence). Summarizing and analyzing live primarily at this level.

Clinical progression example

Passage topic: a short informational paragraph about pollination.

Pre-teach pollen , transfer , nectar .

Read sentence 1; student retells in own words.

Read sentence 2; identify causal link signaled by because .

Complete a cause-effect organizer for the paragraph.

Produce a two-sentence oral summary, then write it with a frame.

Skipping straight from decoding practice to open-ended "What's the main idea of the chapter?" questions leaves intermediate levels unsupported—especially for language-impaired students.

Text Structures (2.F.8)

Text structure is the organizational pattern authors use to arrange ideas. Objective 2.F.8 asks you to identify structures such as chronological/sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, and description. Teaching structure improves both comprehension and written expression (written genres deepen further in 2.G).

• Structure Signal words / features Best graphic support
• Chronological / sequence first, next, then, finally, in 1920 Timeline or numbered steps
• Compare / contrast alike, unlike, however, both, on the other hand Venn diagram or T-chart
• Cause / effect because, therefore, as a result, so Cause → effect arrows
• Problem / solution problem, challenge, solved by, response Problem box / solution box
• Description / list Sensory details, attributes, for example Web or bulleted attributes
• Main idea / details Topic sentence + supports (common in textbooks) Hierarchy map
• How to teach structure explicitly
• Preview: "This article will compare two habitats—listen for contrast words."

During reading: Highlight signal words in one color; record ideas on the matching organizer.

After reading: Retell using the structure's frame ( Both… / But… / So… ).

Transfer to writing: Student composes a paragraph that follows the same structure with a frame, then with fading support.

Students with language disabilities often miss signal words and treat every text as a loose list of facts. Making structure visible is a high-leverage intervention that also supports summarizing (2.F.5).

Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension (2.F.11)

Objective 2.F.11 addresses the connection between oral reading fluency and comprehension. Fluency is typically described as accuracy, rate, and prosody. When word reading is slow or inaccurate:

• Working memory is consumed by decoding
• Fewer cognitive resources remain for inference, monitoring, and integration
• Prosody suffers, so phrasing no longer reflects syntactic units
• Comprehension—and motivation—decline

Conversely, fluency without language comprehension still fails (a student can read quickly and understand little). The CALT must hold both truths:

Improve decoding and automaticity so fluency can develop (links to 2.B and Domain 5 automaticity objectives).

Build language comprehension (vocabulary, syntax, strategies, background knowledge) so fluent reading yields meaning.

Therapy implications

Use repeated reading, echo reading, and phrased reading on controlled text to build fluency and point out punctuation/prosody cues from 2.E.3.

Check comprehension after fluency practice; do not assume speed equals understanding.

If a student reads accurately but slowly, target automaticity; if the student is fast but inaccurate, prioritize accuracy first.

If fluency measures look adequate yet comprehension is weak, investigate semantics, syntax, background knowledge, and pragmatic/inferential skills rather than adding more speed drills alone.

Integrating 2.F Comprehension Objectives in Assessment Thinking

When reviewing a student's profile:

Weak word reading + weak comprehension → prioritize structured literacy for decoding while keeping oral language rich through read-alouds.

Adequate word reading + weak comprehension → emphasize vocabulary, syntax, strategies, and text structure (this section's heart).

Adequate silent comprehension but weak oral reading fluency → address automaticity and prosody; confirm anxiety or performance factors.

Strong literal answers, weak inferential answers → teach inference routines with think-alouds and text-clue evidence.

On the ALTA exam, choose answers that keep comprehension language-based, explicit, and cumulative , and that recognize fluency as a bridge—not a substitute—for meaning.