Chapter 5. Verbally mediated data

Abstract

This chapter explores how think-alouds (TAs) and stimulated recalls (SRs) have been used to study cognitive processing, with a particular focus on writing processes. We describe the two types of verbal report and discuss the kinds of research questions that each is well-suited to answer, as well as considerations to be addressed when deciding which one to use in a given research design. We then discuss the validity of TAs and SRs and assess the robustness of findings from empirical studies on the writing process that have used TAs and SRs. We conclude by providing some future directions for research to move the field of L2 writing processes forward.