title: The use of think-aloud protocols to compare inferencing abilities in average and below-average readers.
abstract: In this study, we examined whether think-aloud procedures would uncover differences in the kinds of inferences generated by average and below-average readers. Participants were 40 third-grade children who were divided into groups of average and below-average readers. All participants completed measures of nonverbal IQ, reading, language, and working memory, and a story comprehension task that consisted of two conditions: listen through and think aloud. The major findings in this study were that (a) average readers generated significantly more explanatory inferences than below-average readers, and (b) comprehension performance as measured by story recall was significantly better for both groups in the think-aloud condition than in the listen-through condition. The discussion addresses the implications of these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communicative Disorders, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa 35487-0242, USA.
authors.forename: Sandra P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Laing
authors.forename: Alan G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kamhi
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013850:Thinking