As recent years have seen increasing- attention being paid by second language (L2) researchers to learner strategies, renewed respect for introspection has arisen as a vital methodology for obtaining invisible insights from learners. Part I of this article is concerned with a description and a survey of verbal-report data on L2 learners' cognitive processes and introspective research methods currently being employed in the field of L2 research. First, verbal reports were classified into two types, concurrent and retrospective, on the basis of Ericsson and Simon's (1984) model of information processing, and the four major verbal-report techniques currently being used in L2 research, namely, thinking-aloud, questionnaires, interviews, and diary-keeping, were explained. Thinking-aloud is the method of producing concurrent verbalizations, while retrospective verbal-report data can be elicited by questionnaires, interviews, and diary-keeping. Second, past L2 studies which employed these introspective methods were briefly summarized. The survey has revealed the following fact: the think-aloud procedures have been used mainly to investigate L2 learners' cognitive processes and strategies in translation, reading, writing, and test-taking; the questionnaire techniques have been employed largely in studies of learner strategies, and learner belief, attitudes and perceptions (i.e., learners' metacognitive knowledge about L2 learning); the interview techniques have also been used to investigate L2 learning strategies, learners' metacognitive knowledge as well as to explore the processes of L2 reading, writing and listening; and the diary-keeping techniques currently being employed in L2 research have primarily been concerned with exploring the affective dimensions of the learning/acquisition processes.
View full abstract