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Article
Comprehension of Expository Text: Insights Gained from Think-Aloud Data
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
  • Sandra Gillam, Utah State University
  • Jamison D. Fargo, Utah State University
  • Kelli St. Clair Robertson, Champion Partners in Rehabilitation
Document Type
Article
Publisher
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Abstract

Purpose: To examine the kinds of explicit and implicit statements generated by school-age children with and without language impairments during comprehension of expository texts and to determine the relationship of these statements to comprehension performance. Method: Forty 4th-grade children with and without language impairments participated in individual think-aloud sessions (verbalizing thoughts aloud). During the sessions, children were asked to listen to expository passages 1 sentence at a time, make comments after each sentence, and then answer questions and recall the passages. The comments or verbal protocols that children generated during the think-aloud sessions were transcribed and analyzed. The relationship of verbal protocols to comprehension performance was evaluated. Results: Findings suggested that the ability to paraphrase passages was closely related to measures of expository text comprehension. Conclusions: The use of data obtained during think-aloud sessions may be useful to supplement information gained from traditional measures of comprehension for children with and without language impairments.

Citation Information
Gillam SL, Fargo JD, St. Clair K. Comprehension of expository text: Insights gained from think-aloud data. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2009;18:82-94.