Concurrent verbal reports on text comprehension: A review

Ericsson and Simon's theoretical framework for verbal reports on cognitive processes is described. Current theories of text comprehension are reviewed to identify Information to which people pay attention during comprehension of text. Predictions for the extent and content of subjects' verbal reports during comprehension are dem ed. In an empincal review of studies in which verbal reports on reading and text comprehension were collected, these predictions are evaluatedt and empincal results are summarized for several categories of studies with different verbd-report procedures. Studies using unconstrained reading are distinguished from studies using sentence-bysentence reading, and studies in which subjects' report on actual thoughts during text comprehension are separated from those in which subjects* comment on their comprehension of texts. Studies of reading aloud and of comprehension of specialized texts, such äs problem descriptions and legal case descriptions, are discussed and related to thegeneralmodelofverbalization of comprehension processes. Concerns and future directions for research on text comprehension with the verbal-report methodology are discussed.