The cognitive levels of instruction of professors from the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Agricultural Sciences (PGSAS) and the cognitive levels of thought among students were studied. The classes of 4 of 16 PGSAS professors were selected for analysis, and researchers recorded the frequency of observable teacher behaviors from each level…

Reports a study that identified the underlying cognitive processes employed by problem solvers. Researchers coded think aloud protocols from 40 undergraduate elementary education majors who were asked to solve analogous problems. Results indicated that the successful problem solvers differed from unsuccessful ones in three significant ways. (SM)

Reports on a study on how English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language (ESL/EFL) writers use their first language (L1) when composing their second language and how L1 use is affected by second language proficiency and writing tasks. Chinese EFL learners were asked to compose aloud on two tasks--narration and argumentation. Analyses of their think-aloud…

Examines the strategies spontaneously used by Norwegian university law students as they tried to understand multiple expository texts as part of their normal reading and studying. Finds that students' strategic processing changed over time, with some of the changes associated with changes in students' perception of the nature of the reading task.…

Describes Project PACE (Physician-based Assessment and Counseling for Exercise), a system of matching physician counseling with patient readiness for physical activity. It targets known, modifiable determinants of physical activity such as self-efficacy, social support, and perceived barriers to action. (SM)

Reports findings from a think-aloud protocol study of reading, writing, and persuasive processes in legal discourse during an actual appellate court case. Discusses three aspects of advocates' use of persuasive techniques in written appeal briefs. Focuses on specific persuasive techniques utilized by attorneys. (HB)

This study of 30 gifted and 30 average secondary level readers assessed their reading processing strategies using think-aloud protocols. Gifted readers used such strategies as rereading, inferring, evaluating, predicting, and relating to content area, whereas average readers exhibited word pronouncing concern and inaccurate summarizing.…

Combines methods to probe the learning strategies of two unsuccessful learners as they completed four activities (an interview, a verb exercise, a cloze passage, and a composition). These unsuccessful learners, when viewed through a task demand model, emerged as active strategy users, though they sometimes applied strategies inappropriately. (38…

Reviews research and instruction using think alouds. Notes that teachers using think alouds to model strategies implies a model of learning in which teachers construct knowledge and transmit it to their students. Suggests that using students as think aloud models represents a more recent theory of knowledge as socially constructed and represents…

The causal network model of P. Van den Broeck and T. Trabasso (1986) was used to analyze the inferencing processes induced from verbal protocols from reading and thinking-aloud tasks. Results from 66 Dutch 10- and 11-year olds show no correlation between reading and think-aloud performance and comprehensive scores of a closed comprehension test.…

Describes an investigation of students' problem-solving strategies as seventh-grade students (n=10) attempted to design a solution to a technological problem. Concludes that novice designers use highly iterative rather than linear strategies, develop their ideas using three-dimensional materials rather than two-dimensional sketches, and develop…

Introduces the Knowledge Digraph Contribution (KDC) data-analysis methodology for quantitatively measuring the degree to which a given knowledge digraph can account for the occurrence of specific sequences of propositions in recall, summarization, talk-aloud and question-answering protocol data. Notes the applicability of this approach to the…

Explores the dynamics of writing college application essays. Analyzes four high school seniors' think-aloud protocols as they composed the essays and college admissions officers' remarks as they read the essays. Finds that successful essayists were able to balance the requested self disclosure and the unstated deep institutional concern for…

Attempted to address two methodological problems found in current investigations of the role of awareness in second language behavior: defining what constitutes awareness and operationalizing and measuring different levels of awareness and their effects on second language behavior. (Author/VWL)

Examines the influence of language proficiency and comprehension skill on situation-model construction during narrative comprehension. Studies 12 college students who thought aloud reading French and English stories for comprehension and who performed a verb-clustering task after reading each text. Finds that the students generated more…