Think alouds are valuable tools for academicians, test developers, and practitioners as they provide a unique window into a respondent's thinking during an assessment. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight novel ways to use think alouds as a means to gather evidence about respondents' thinking. An intended outcome from this special…

Response process validity evidence provides a window into a respondent's cognitive processing. The purpose of this study is to describe a new data collection tool called a whole-class think aloud (WCTA). This work is performed as part of test development for a series of problem-solving measures to be used in elementary and middle grades. Data from…

Over the last three decades, there has been increased attention on the collection and interpretation of "response processing data" to inform claims of learners' knowledge and skills (e.g., see Ercikan et al., 2010; Kobrin & Young, 2003; see also, Leighton, 2004). Response processing data are perhaps most consequential in the…

Keystroke logging has become instrumental in identifying writing strategies and understanding cognitive processes. Recent technological advances have refined logging efficiency and analytical outputs. While keystroke logging allows for ecological data collection, it is often difficult to connect the fine grain of logging data to the underlying…

The judgement processes underpinning examination marking are central to achieving fair assessment but are under-researched. This article draws on existing literature and uses additional analysis of data collected in a previous article "Exploring the nature of examiner thinking during the process of examination marking", to start to piece together…

This book presents a novel approach to discussing how to research language teacher cognition and practice. An introductory chapter by the editors and an overview of the research field by Simon Borg precede eight case studies written by new researchers, each of which focuses on one approach to collecting data. These approaches range from…

Verbal reports are a common method of data collection in studies of mathematics learning, often in studies with a longitudinal component or those employing microgenetic methods where several observations of problem-solving are made over a short period of time. Whilst there is a fairly substantial literature on reactivity to verbal reports,…

The use of verbal report procedures as a research tool for gaining insight into the language learning process is discussed. Specifically, having second language students complete think-aloud protocols when they take cloze tests can provide useful information about what is being measured and how it has been learned. Use of such introspective…

This study investigated the kinds of knowledge and strategies beginning second-language readers used when reading texts to build their own consistent patterns of meaning and experience. Specifically, it looked at how readers' knowledge grew, where their ideas originated, and when and how their ideas were used. Subjects were five college students…