DISSECTING THINK ALOUD METHODS (TAM) (PART I): validity, reactivity, veridicality and reliability: the concept, advantages and the loopholes

Abstract

This paper delves into one of the most prominent research methodologies, the Think Aloud Methods that has evolved in the field of first language research and branched onto second and foreign language and reading comprehension. Essentially, reviews and revisit the Think Aloud Methods – TAM, on its main aspects and applies TAM in a study and test its validity in an EFL multilingual context in Mozambique. The present paper thus intends to provide a review of the method and additional ground to the understanding of Think Aloud Methods (TAM) and its use for a variety of purposes, exploring the history of the concept and look into the major hurdles that one can have when using TAM, mainly reactivity and veridicality and discuss possible definitions for reactivity and veridicality, concepts that lack clear and straightforward definitions in the TAM literature so far and thus useful to understand TAM and its use in FL. The ways EFL participants vary in their linguistic competence, their background knowledge relative to a target text and others, and their specific individual experiences in the interpretation of texts is of paramount importance in TAM studies (Smith and King, 2013) and of invaluable importance for us to comprehend the field of reading in EFL.