Thinking Aloud in Expository Text: Processes and Outcomes

Abstract

This study examines three questions: What kinds of think-aloud statements, in particular what kinds of inferences, are made by middle school students while reading expository text? Does thinking aloud affect comprehension as measured by recall and answers to questions? Does thinking aloud add value to the assessment of comprehension beyond what is learned through recall and question answering? Sixty-eight middle-school students read expository texts and thought aloud on one segment and did not think aloud on another segment. After completing each segment, the students recalled the texts and answered comprehension questions. The content of think-alouds and recall was examined using Trabasso and Magliano's (1996a) clausal coding scheme and inferences were differentiated as explanatory, predictive or associative. Students primarily paraphrased the text as they thought aloud and made associative inferences using text information. Thinking aloud was associated with more associative inferences in recall, which correlated negatively with the ability to answer comprehension questions. The content of think-alouds may provide a more sensitive picture of readers' processing than unaided recall or answers to questions.

Lower Intermediate Readers and Their Use of Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies

“…This indicated that students misused Comprehension cognitive strategy. This is in line with research that indicated low proficient language learners could not properly make use of cognitive strategies (Caldwell & Leslie, 2010;Wade, 1990). Wade (1990) found that good readers were more meaning-based and used inferences more properly, whereas poor readers resorted to prior knowledge and made hypothesis for every segment of the text.…”

“…Wade (1990) found that good readers were more meaning-based and used inferences more properly, whereas poor readers resorted to prior knowledge and made hypothesis for every segment of the text. Elsewhere, Caldwell and Leslie (2010) found that most readers with high scores on question and few inferences in their recall have resorted to paraphrasing the text instead of inferencing and building mental model of the text.…”

“…Caldwell and Leslie (2010) used think-aloud protocol analysis to investigate the nature of reading construct. Cohen and Upton (2007) examined different strategies both native and nonnative speakers used to answer the reading section of the TOEFL test.…”

How EFL Learners Fill in the Blanks of an X-test: Think-Aloud Protocol

“…Meanwhile, there are many studies in the literature that attempts to measure learning strategies in different contexts with various data gathering procedures (Schellings, 2011;Scott, 2008). One of these strategies which has been frequently applied and specifically related to learning from text is think aloud (Caldwell & Leslie, 2010Fox, 2009Greene, Robertson, & Croker Costa, 2011).…”

High School Content-Area Teachers’ Responces to an Exploratory, Investigative, and Experimental Professional Development Program for Content Area Literacy

“…These "shared text interactions" are thought by many researchers to be one of the top, most effective strategies to improve the outcomes of struggling students. Other researchers in the field of comprehension instruction such as McKeown and Gentilucci (2007), Bereiter and Bird (1985), Caldwell and Leslie (2010), Ehlinger andPritchard (1994), andOster (2001), cite think-alouds as one of the single most effective learning and teaching strategies that can help students learn to comprehend what they read. This is because think-alouds allow teachers to model several comprehension strategies simultaneously to help students develop metacognitive strategies that enhance critical thinking, metacognition and learning (Berkeley, stated that comprehension strategies are procedures that involve active mental efforts which successful readers use with automaticity, before, during and after they read to construct meaning and interact with text.…”