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Using the Think-Aloud in Reading Instruction

© Julie Coiro

As a member of the RTEACHER listserv, I've noticed many recent questions about the use of a process known as "Thinking-Aloud" during reading instruction.  This concept has caught the attention of many elementary and middle school teachers who are asking questions like...What is a think-aloud?...When do I model the use of this think-aloud behavior?  For those teachers that break their reading instruction down into different segments, you may find yourself asking questions like...do I interrupt my regular read-aloud time (when my students are listening pure enjoyment) or do I use this more during shared or guided reading time?  Others are wondering...can I expect my students to also think-aloud or is this just something I continue to model as a strategy that good readers (or listeners) use as they interact with text?  These and other good questions have inspired me to focus this month's issue on locating relevant online resources that may assist teachers seeking answers for how to effectively use think-aloud strategies in their reading instruction.

What is a Think-Aloud?

The think-aloud is a technique in which students verbalize their thoughts as they read and thus bring into the open the strategies they are using to understand a text.  Typically, "teachers model this technique by thinking aloud as she or her processes a text, thus making explicit skills that normally cannot be observed" (Gunning, 1996).  Montgomery Public Schools offers a nice introductory summary of a think-aloud.

The think-aloud can be used as both an instructional tool and as an assessment tool with students at almost any grade level. Interestingly, think-alouds were originally used as a research technique for studying reading processes (see Katilin, 2000); yet, as more and more teachers are asked to consider how different children interact on a personal level with the books that they read, think-alouds have become a practical and relatively easy classroom tool.

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Think-Alouds as an Instructional Tool

Research has shown that good readers monitor their comprehension during reading; "they know when the text they are reading or listening to makes sense, when it does not, what does not make sense, and whether the unclear portions are critical to the overall understanding of the piece" (Keene & Zimmerman, 1997, p. 43).  The think-aloud is a practical way for teachers to model some of the monitoring strategies that they use to make sense of what they read; later, when teachers ask students to think-aloud it allows the reader the opportunity to take control of his/her own thinking