A think‐aloud study of strategy use by EFL college readers reading Chinese and English texts

This study used a think‐aloud approach to compare reading strategy use in the first language (L1) and non‐native language (L2) among 36 English as a foreign language (EFL) college students at different reading levels. The participants took an English proficiency test and participated in two individual sessions in which a reading test and a think‐aloud task were administered separately in Chinese and English. Cross‐language transfer theory and the linguistic threshold hypothesis were used to conceptualise the similarities and differences in L1 and L2 reading strategies. This study found more frequent and diverse strategy use in English than in Chinese. Similar patterns of meta‐cognitive strategy use were evident in both languages. The applications of certain meta‐cognitive and support strategies served as indicators that differentiated more‐proficient from less‐proficient readers. The present study extended previous questionnaire studies and suggested that English reading instruction should be informed by this line of research to provide instruction on effective reading strategy use for EFL learners.     

Learning by exploration: Thinking aloud while exploring an information system

The aim of the current research is to examine the ability of people to learn a computer system by exploration and to asses the efficacy of a user interface with properties that are supposed to support exploration. The study described in this paper used the think-aloud method to obtain detailed information about the goals of the user and their realization during the initial learning phase. The focus here will be on discussing the role of thinking aloud and reflection during performing complex cognitive activities. In one condition of the experiment described here an interface was used with exploration-supportive properties. In the other condition these properties were removed from the interface. Subjects (university students) solved a number of (e-mail) tasks with these interfaces, without training, and had to think aloud during the first half. After solving the tasks a knowledge test about the interface was presented. The results on the three kinds of measures (think aloud measures, task performance and performance on the knowledge test) broadly were in favor of exploration-supportive interface. In the discussion attention is paid to the positive influence of thinking aloud, probably occurring because subjects were encouraged to use the available information on screen in the exploration-supportive condition. The consequences and potential disadvantages of display-based, exploratory learning in relation to planning are also discussed.     

Using the Attribute Hierarchy Method to Make Diagnostic Inferences about Examinees’ Cognitive Skills in Critical Reading

The purpose of this study is to apply the attribute hierarchy method (AHM) to a subset of SAT critical reading items and illustrate how the method can be used to promote cognitive diagnostic inferences. The AHM is a psychometric procedure for classifying examinees’ test item responses into a set of attribute mastery patterns associated with different components from a cognitive model. The study was conducted in two steps. In step 1, three cognitive models were developed by reviewing selected literature in reading comprehension as well as research related to SAT Critical Reading. Then, the cognitive models were validated by having a sample of students think aloud as they solved each item. In step 2, psychometric analyses were conducted on the SAT critical reading cognitive models by evaluating the model‐data fit between the expected and observed response patterns produced from two random samples of 2,000 examinees who wrote the items. The model that provided best data‐model fit was then used to calculate attribute probabilities for 15 examinees to illustrate our diagnostic testing procedure.     

Thinking aloud: children's interactions with text

This article describes a small‐scale exploratory study in which young children were taught to think aloud as they read, revealing some of their thought processes as they made sense of the text. The children spontaneously made predictions, adjusted their understanding, entered imaginatively into the characters' feelings and related their reading to events in their own experience. They had difficulty, though, in appreciating a surprise ending. The think‐aloud method proved fruitful for research purposes and could offer valuable insights to teachers.     

The rhetoric and reality of e‐learning: using the think‐aloud method to evaluate an online resource

This paper reports the findings of a small‐scale study that investigated student nurses’ use of an online resource in Biology. The think‐aloud method was used to explore in detail the ways in which students engaged with this resource and to evaluate the ways and extent to which it might enhance their learning. The students generally expressed positive views about the resource, which they used in a variety of ways to supplement more traditional learning activities. They placed particular emphasis on the benefits of using the resource to reinforce lecture materials and to aid revision for exams. Less frequent, however, were references to deepened understanding of the subject matter, raising questions about the type of learning that students were engaged in. The possibility is discussed that ‘surface’ rather than ‘deep’ learning may be encouraged by this type of resource, and the potential tension is highlighted between the rhetoric of constructivism, which is prevalent in e‐learning, and the information transmission model of learning, which is highly influential and often favoured by students.     

Student‐generated assignments about electrical circuits in a computer simulation

In this study we investigated the design of assignments by students as a knowledge‐generating activity. Students were required to design assignments for ‘other students’ in a computer simulation environment about electrical circuits. Assignments consisted of a question, alternatives, and feedback on those alternatives. In this way, subjects were encouraged to engage in processes such as ‘generating questions’, ‘discriminating between examples and non‐examples’, and ‘generating feedback’. The resulting assignments were analysed and different types of assignments were identified. Information on the design process was collected from think‐aloud protocol data. Results showed that students not only designed assignments about facts or procedures, but also about observations made with the simulation. During the design process, subjects actively used their prior knowledge. Students seemed to strengthen their domain knowledge by retrieving and explaining problem‐solving steps, and focus on the dynamic characteristics of the simulated circuits.     

Reading strategy use between Chinese good and poor readers: a think‐aloud study

This study aimed to explore the differences between Chinese good and poor readers in their strategy use by using a think‐aloud method. Eight grade 7 students in Hong Kong, four good readers and four poor readers, received a think‐aloud task and an interview in the study. Consistent with the Western studies, findings of this study indicated that Chinese good readers used more strategies and had better ability and knowledge of strategy use than did poor readers. In addition to the cognitive deficiencies, poor readers were also found to have poorer intrinsic motivation than did good readers. The combined problems of poor reading ability and motivation made them reluctant to process the text at a deeper level and they gave up easily when they encountered reading difficulties. Implications of these findings for studying the reading problems of Chinese students and implementing effective reading instruction in Hong Kong Chinese language teaching are discussed.     

Theorising the value of collage in exploring educational leadership

This article contributes to theorising the value of collage as a methodological approach. It begins with a discussion of the methodological difficulties of exploring hidden meanings and individual experience through the research process. The illuminative potential of arts‐based methodologies in qualitative research is then investigated. The article makes the case for the specific advantages of using collage to explore the experience of leadership, through a discussion of two collage‐based studies. It proposes a variant of the ‘think aloud’ process, used in conjunction with collage, as a route to producing deep understandings of the multiple ways in which leadership is experienced and understood as a social process. The argument is made that collage enables the accessing and sharing of profound levels of experience not accessible through words alone, and considers the impact of the physicality of collage on its potential to release these profound insights. A five‐stage process for the analysis of collage is then set out. The article concludes by offering a theory of the value of collage as a methodological approach to exploring experiences of leadership, through use of the concepts of physicality, wholeness and participant agency.     

A Critical Review of Some Qualitative Research Methods Used to Explore Rater Cognition

Internationally, many assessment systems rely predominantly on human raters to score examinations. Arguably, this facilitates the assessment of multiple sophisticated educational constructs, strengthening assessment validity. It can introduce subjectivity into the scoring process, however, engendering threats to accuracy. The present objectives are to examine some key qualitative data collection methods used internationally to research this potential trade‐off, and to consider some theoretical contexts within which the methods are usable. Self‐report methods such as Kelly's Repertory Grid, think aloud, stimulated recall, and the NASA task load index have yielded important insights into the competencies needed for scoring expertise, as well as the sequences of mental activity that scoring typically involves. Examples of new data and of recent studies are used to illustrate these methods’ strengths and weaknesses. This investigation has significance for assessment designers, developers and administrators. It may inform decisions on the methods’ applicability in American and other rater cognition research contexts.     

Can Good Concept Mappers be Good Problem Solvers in Science?

Problem solving is an enduring issue in science education, ostensibly because science itself is basically concerned with problem solving—exploring the universe and seeking answers to intriguing phenomena in nature. Remarkable strides have been made in psychology about recording the minutiae of problem solving as a cognitive process. Concept mapping, a metalearning tool, is appearing on the scene as a potential pathway for promoting the acquisition of problem‐solving skills. Drawing 40 subjects from a pool of students who experienced cooperative and individualistic concept‐mapping experiences for six months and adjudged to be good concept mappers, this study found the concept‐, mapping group to be significantly more successful in solving three biological problems than 20 subjects who served as control. Written and think‐aloud procedures and interviews were conducted as part of the administration of the Biology Problem Solving Test. No statistically significant difference was found between students who mapped concepts cooperatively and those who mapped individually. There were mixed results for gender. The implications of the findings for further research and for improving problem‐solving abilities of students are drawn.     

An inquiry into the efficiency of WhatsApp for self‐ and peer‐assessments of oral language proficiency

Social networking applications such as WhatsApp have been extensively used for language research; however, they have rarely been applied for language assessment purposes. To explore the efficiency of WhatsApp for assessment purposes, 30 Iranian English learners doing self‐ and peer‐assessments on WhatsApp are studied. The changes and the reasons for the changes in their attitudes towards the two assessment types are also investigated. In a multi‐phase study, the participants were trained on the new concepts of mobile‐assisted self‐ and peer‐assessments. They were also involved in the concurrent tasks of self‐ and peer‐assessments as well as think‐aloud protocols and filled out four attitude questionnaires before and after their involvement in the two assessment types. Finally, they were interviewed for the reasons of change(s) in their attitudes. The t‐test and think‐aloud results show that though the participants assigned different grades to themselves and their peers, this is not a procedural difference. The questionnaire results show that the participants generally adopted negative attitudes towards mobile‐assisted assessments after being involved in them. They also gave various reasons for the change(s) in their attitudes. The results can substantially contribute to the ongoing debates on the use of alternative assessments through mobile device applications.     

The Role of Surface Text Processing in Centrality Deficit and Poor Text Comprehension of Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Think‐Aloud Study

The present study employed a think‐aloud method to explore the origin of centrality deficit (i.e., poor recall of central ideas) in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Moreover, utilizing the diverse think‐aloud responses, we examined the overall quality of text processing employed by individuals with ADHD during reading, in order to shed more light on text‐level deficiencies underlying their poor comprehension after reading. To address these goals, adolescents with and without ADHD were asked to state aloud whatever comes to their minds during the reading of two expository texts. After reading, the participants freely recalled text ideas and answered multiple‐choice questions on the texts. Compared to controls, participants with ADHD generated fewer responses that reflect deep, efficient text processing, and reinstated fewer prior text ideas, particularly central ones, during reading. Moreover, the proportions of deep processing responses positively associated with participants’ performance on recall and comprehension tasks. These findings suggest that individuals with ADHD exhibit poor text comprehension and memory, particularly of central ideas, because they construct a low‐quality, less‐connected text representation during reading, and produce fewer, less‐elaborated retrieval cues for subsequent tasks after reading.     

Process mining techniques for analysing patterns and strategies in students’ self-regulated learning

Referring to current research on self-regulated learning, we analyse individual regulation in terms of a set of specific sequences of regulatory activities. Successful students perform regulatory activities such as analysing, planning, monitoring and evaluating cognitive and motivational aspects during learning not only with a higher frequency than less successful learners, but also in a different order—or so we hypothesize. Whereas most research has concentrated on frequency analysis, so far, little is known about how students’ regulatory activities unfold over time. Thus, the aim of our approach is to also analyse the temporal order of spontaneous individual regulation activities. In this paper, we demonstrate how various methods developed in process mining research can be applied to identify process patterns in self-regulated learning events as captured in verbal protocols. We also show how theoretical SRL process models can be tested with process mining methods. Thinking aloud data from a study with 38 participants learning in a self-regulated manner from a hypermedia are used to illustrate the methodological points.     

The importance of word and world knowledge for the successful strategic processing of multiple texts online

This article is based on part of a case study looking into how sixth form students search for goal related information online for an open‐ended task. Qualitative data was gathered through think‐aloud protocols; analysis was informed by Afflerbach and Cho's ( 2009 ) Hypertext reading strategies. From the perspective of multiple documents literacy and the Documents Model of reading comprehension, this case study suggests that language competence and general knowledge play a significant role in the successful construction of meaning from multiple texts in an online environment.     

Developing Students as Writers Through Collaboration

Revision is recognised as a key and complex element of the writing process. Despite this, research shows that students find it difficult effectively to revise their own writing due to a lack of metacognitive awareness and understanding of the processes they undertake when writing. The first part of this inquiry studies nine students’ understanding of the writing process and the revision strategies they employ using think‐aloud protocols and follow‐up interviews. Although the students all agreed that revision was an important part of improving their writing, they could not, or found it difficult to, articulate reasons for the changes they made to their writing. Therefore, the second part of the study explores the potential of collaborative writing to encourage and facilitate metacognitive talk through the implementation of a strategy where students are paired with a ‘writing buddy’. Observations of classroom work and interview responses of students showed that the scheme was successful in providing students with an experience of writing which was social, flexible and holistic, where talk is used to externalise thinking in order to develop a metacognitive understanding of the writing process.     

A situative metaphor for teacher learning: the case of university tutors learning to grade student coursework

In the continuing concern about academic standards in the higher education sector a great deal of emphasis has been placed on quality assurance procedures rather than on considering how university tutors learn to grade the quality of work produced by students. As part of a larger research project focused on how tutors grade student coursework, this paper offers a new metaphor for such tutor learning, based on a sociocultural perspective. The research project used think‐aloud protocols recorded as university tutors graded student coursework, and this was followed by semi‐structured interviews. The voluntary participants consisted of 25 lecturers in four contrasting domains—humanities, art and design, medicine and teacher education—in three universities, two teaching‐led and one research intensive. We developed a metaphorical framework that helps to understand the work and learning of the lecturers and tested it by applying it to analysis of the tutor interview data. Grading, writing feedback, second marking and moderation are important situated professional learning opportunities for tutors to debate and reach agreement on the academic standard demonstrated by student coursework. The metaphor considers professional learning as interplay between the vertical domain of public knowledge and the horizontal domain of teachers' practical wisdom. The metaphor presented in this paper is proposed for critical consideration and wider use by academics, teachers, academic developers and teacher educators as an aid to better understanding of teacher's professional learning.     

Reading aloud in Lewisham: an exploration of adult reading‐aloud practices

This paper analyses initial findings of a qualitative pilot study of the reading‐aloud practices of 17 adults in the London Borough of Lewisham. Although the dominant contemporary image of reading is that of a silent activity and within literacy provision it is frequently assumed that reading aloud is not a ‘natural’ ‘real life’ adult practice, anecdote suggests that adults do indeed read aloud, but these practices are overwhelmingly undocumented. This study is the first stage in developing a better understanding of contemporary adult reading‐aloud practices. Semi‐structured interviews were used to ask adults whether, what, where, how and why they read aloud. Initial findings reveal the ubiquitous nature of reading aloud in adult life, across a range of life domains (spiritual life, family life, work and learning) and for different self‐selected purposes (to memorise, to understand, to write and for fellowship). Initial findings reinforce the importance of expanding our definitions and conceptualisations of reading to recognise the diversity and changing nature of real life practices, and suggest implications for our understanding of the role of reading in adult life, for literacy education and for future research.