Students’ understanding of different text types: strategies to identify
and enhance students’ conceptual understanding
La comprensión de los estudiantes de los diferentes tipos de texto:
estrategias para identificar y mejorar la comprensión conceptual de
los estudiantes
Hiart Hernández Tellaeche
Park Lane International School, Prague
hiart.hernandez@parklane-is.com
ABSTRACT
This article evaluates students’ conceptual understanding using the think-aloud method. The
participants, four students who were studying the last year of the Spanish ab initio course in
an international school in Prague, volunteered to take part in the think-aloud protocols. The
results show that the think-aloud method helps to get a better sense of students’
understanding of different text types.
Keywords: think-aloud, ab initio, Spanish, text types, conceptual understanding
RESUMEN
Este artículo evalúa la comprensión conceptual de los estudiantes mediante el método de
pensamiento en voz alta. Los participantes, cuatro estudiantes que cursaban el último año del
curso ab initio de español en un colegio internacional de Praga, se ofrecieron a participar en
los protocolos de pensamiento en voz alta. Los resultados muestran que el método de
pensamiento en voz alta ayuda a tener una mejor idea de la comprensión de los estudiantes
de diferentes tipos de texto.
Palabras clave: pensar en voz alta, principiantes, español, tipos de texto, comprensión
conceptual
Revista Nebrija de Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas (RNAEL) ISSN 1699-6569
Vol. 16 Núm. 32 (2022) doi: 10.26378/rnlael1632463
Recibido: 30/01/2022 / Aprobado: 20/03/2022
Publicado bajo licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento Sin Obra Derivada 4.0 Internacional
1. INTRODUCTION
In this study we will evaluate students’ conceptual understanding using the think-aloud
method. Understanding will be measured based on research findings of the following
questions: What are students’ understanding of different text types? Why is it
important to teach different text types in the classroom and how is it taught? Are these
efficient ways of teaching text comprehension? Does the think-aloud method help to
get a better sense of students’ understanding? What evidence of understanding does
think-aloud provide?
Findings will help evaluate to what extent using think-aloud activities can be beneficial
to improve teaching practices around genre within the Language ab initio IB course.
Looking at the framework adopted by IB, it is very important for language acquisition
courses to understand and demonstrate conceptual understanding because it allows
students to develop both disciplinary and interdisciplinary understanding. Students
need to understand the meaning of the task in order to apply the appropriate register
and tone to the context, choose the correct text type for the purpose and audience
and incorporate conventions of the chosen text type. The think-aloud method could be
an effective technique to model how to use comprehension strategies before, during
and after reading the task. The application of this method can help students to learn
through the process of sharing ideas and answering the teacher’s questions. Not only
makes them internalise the dialogue and reflect on the task, but it also lets the teacher
monitor the students’ comprehension and knowledge. For Piaget (pp. 123-128,
Barnes, 1992) learners must ‘construct’ models of the world, but the experiences on
which they are based do not come from nowhere. They are responses to activities and
talk that they have shared with other members of the community.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
There are different ways of learning but without perception and understanding,
students would not be able to comprehend anything. Understanding is a continuum
process where senders and receivers of spoken or written messages modify or acquire
new knowledge. Learning more about how students think and process information
helps teachers to gain a better understanding and allows them to develop new
techniques of helping students to deal with their learning difficulties.
According to Bakhtin (1986), understanding is essentially a dialogic process because
life is dialogic and a shared event. For Vygotsky (pp. 123-128, Barnes, 1992) people
learn to participate not only in activities but also in the meanings which inform them.
However, understanding, which can occur in dialogue, is a more complex and
extensive cognitive activity. It requires critical thinking, learning and problem solving.
The ability to think critically about a concept is what help us to evaluate the accuracy
and truthfulness of statements and information we read and hear. For Locke (1960),
understanding is based on experience, it is a form of mental representation. Schulz
(2018) also argues in his book Efficient Cognition that representational decision
making is more cognitively efficient than non-representational decision making.
Considering Locke and Schulz’s arguments, using mental representations of the
context, the intended audience and purpose, provides a way to help to accurately
describe details and deliver the message effectively. This way, learners develop a
deeper understanding of a text than when they just process words, phrases, and
clauses in the text (Bos, L.T., de Koning, B.B., van Wesel, F. et al.2015).
Some studies (Broer, Aarnoutse, Kieviet & Leeuwe, 2002) show that teachers in
primary education provide little guidance on reading comprehension and studying.
Although students are given the opportunity to practise reading strategies, they are
often not taught actual approaches to reading. The same happens with text
production. Students need to be provided more direct guidance to write successfully.
There is evidence that mental representations are needed to, for example, tell a story
or identify a theme in it. They also enhance writing descriptions or idea generation in
creative writing work (Bos, L.T., de Koning, B.B., van Wesel, F. et al.2015). Therefore,
it is very important to use effective strategies in the classroom in order to help
students to increase their reading comprehension, text production and critical
thinking. For example, the think-aloud strategy used in this study has been identified
as an effective instructional tool because it fosters the development of critical thinking
and involves the articulation of the thinking process by helping students to clarify
their mental representation of the situation under consideration. It also requires the
learner to stop periodically, to reflect on how a text is being processed and
understood, and to relate orally what reading strategies are being employed
(Baumann, Seifert-Kessell & Jones, 1992; Block & Israel, 2004). Molly Ness (2016)
explores in her investigation how to better prepare early career teachers to conduct
think-aloud in their classrooms. She says that an essential element in teaching
children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led-think-aloud. Wilhelm
(2001) describes the process including the following steps:
1. Select a short section of a text.
2. Select a few relevant and purposeful strategies.
3. Explain the purpose for reading and a deliberate focus on particular strategies.
4. Read the text aloud to students while modeling the chosen strategies.
5. Make students to annotate the text.
6. Brainstorm of cues and strategies used.
7. Teach students to generalise the strategies.
8. Reinforce think-aloud with follow-up lessons.
Another recommendation is to make predictions, develop mental images, link prior
knowledge and monitor comprehension (Ness M., 2016). The think, pair and share
strategy, which was used in this study, is also beneficial because while students work
together to solve a problem or answer the questions assigned, teachers can monitor
and support them. This task allowed students to brainstorm together and learn from
their partners, explain, interpret, compare and make connections between facts and
ideas. These performances of understanding activities also let students demonstrate
and develop their understanding of important knowledge and skills (Cerbin B., Kopp
K., 2004-2014).
There are a few factors like content, form, intended audience, medium or channel,
that influence the nature and construction of a genre; however, it is primarily
characterised by the communicative purposes that it is intended to fulfil (Bhatia V.
K., 2014). Bhatia suggests to consider some of the following steps in order to
undertake a comprehensive investigation of any genre: know the layout of the
personal and professional text types, define the speaker/writer of the text, the
audience, their relationship and their goals, identify the topic/subject/extra-textual
reality which the text is trying to represent, study the conventions (linguistic, social,
cultural, academic, professional) that govern the use of language in such institutional
settings. V. K. Bhatia (2014) also proposes to place the genre-text in a situational
context by looking at one’s prior knowledge or experience of the world. Bhatia’s steps
have been applied in this investigation as the structural aspects of texts plays an
important role in text comprehension and enables the learner to identify the main
ideas of the texts. Research under primary and secondary school children shows that
learners can understand and remember texts in a better way if they have knowledge
of different text structures (Broer, Aarnoutse, Kieviet & Leeuwe, 2002).
In order to investigate students’ understanding of text types, it is important to
consider that one of the objectives in language acquisition courses in the IB diploma
programme is to understand, analyse and reflect upon a range of written, audio,
visual and audio-visual texts. Students can address this objective by demonstrating
their conceptual understanding, for example, by responding appropriately in written
tasks using a variety of text types and developing a coherent and organised response
on a range of topics. Looking at the Language ab initio guide (IBO, 2020), learning
language through conceptual understanding is fundamental to successful
communication and should be developed in language acquisition courses. Teachers
should encourage students to think about language and culture, thus IB syllabus
includes some questions in case teachers want to use them as tools. The questions
are based on the following criterions:
● Audience: students understand that language should be appropriate for the
person(s) with whom one is communicating.
● Context: students understand that language should be appropriate to the sit-
uation in which one is communicating.
● Purpose: students understand that language should be appropriate to achieve
a desired intention, goal or result when communicating.
● Meaning: students understand that language is used in a range of ways to
communicate a message.
● Variation: students understand that differences exist within a given language,
and that speakers of a given language are generally able to understand each
other.
Boyd and Ikpeze (2007) examined one seventh-grade teacher’s instructional
approach for teaching students about the integration of Little Rock’s Central High
School by using multiple text types to enhance their conceptual understandings. Their
findings suggest the teacher’s use of multiple text types required a systematic and
strategic juxtaposition of texts along with questioning, resulting in a teacher-centred
approach. Nevertheless, a teacher-centred approach neither facilitates nor empowers
a learner’s autonomous study-skills and subsequently lifelong learning skills (Trilling
& Fadel, 2009). If students want to know and understand the appropriate purpose,
audience and register of texts, multiple text types must be reviewed and observed
from different angles and taught in a way where students collaborate and
communicate with one another.
3. RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1 Method
The think-aloud method was used in this qualitative research in order to answer the
questions of this study and maintain and improve the cognitive abilities of the
participants. This method is most suited since the research involved descriptive and
explanatory questions to understand students’ cognitive processes. Using the think-
aloud strategy helped to monitor students’ thinking as they read different tasks and
improved their comprehension of the task by explaining the thoughts and ideas that
came to their minds.
The think-aloud method is considered as one of the most effective ways to assess
higher-level thinking processes as it allows to capture the individual’s immediate
thoughts (Özcan, Imamoglu & Katmer Bayrakli, 2017). It also helps to determine
specific areas of weakness in students processing skills, different types of errors and
strategies used during problem solving. Özcan, Imamoglu and Katmer Bayrakli
(2017) used the think-aloud method in their study to investigate students’
mathematical problem-solving processes and their performance at solving the
problem. According to these authors, using the think-aloud method to investigate
students' mathematical problem-solving processes empowered the result of their
study. They also suggested that thinking-aloud could be used as a teaching method.
Sönmez and Sulak (2018) examined the effect of the thinking-aloud strategy on the
reading comprehension skills of 4th grade primary school students. According to their
findings, the teaching of the thinking-aloud strategy developed the reading
comprehension skills of the students. However, there are some studies that question
the validity of data obtained from think-aloud. As claimed by Someren, Barnard and
Sandberg (1994), the think-aloud method introduces two threats to the validity of
the verbal processes: incompleteness due to synchronisation problems and invalidity
due to problems with working memory. Therefore, a written assessment was
integrated in this study as well in order to collect more accurate data and analyse it
in a proper way.
3.2 Sample
Four participants were involved in this study who were selected from an International
School in Prague, Czech Republic. The participants were students from year 13 who
have been studying Spanish ab initio and preparing for the IB examinations in May
2021. The age of the participants was 17 years.
3.3 Data collection and procedure
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the think-aloud session had to be conducted by zoom
and students were put in two break-out rooms to work in pairs. Each session lasted
10 minutes approximately. First, as Gibson (1997) suggests, students were given
some guidance about the think-aloud process to reduce the ‘cold start effect’ and
encourage them to take part in the research and achieve and produce the expected
outcomes. The think-aloud process was recorded and transcribed which helped not
only to identify the information that was concentrated on during the discussion, but
also to have a better understanding of students’ responses and thinking processes.
According to Hopkins (1995), recording is one of the most popular teacher research
methods and the transcripts were excellent for this situation because it was a
particular interaction between the teacher and two students. The recordings were
used only for the purpose of this study. Students were given a past Spanish ab initio
paper that consisted of a writing task of 70-150 words from a choice of three tasks
and a choice of three text types for each task. In pairs, students were given time to
think-aloud and choose the correct text type for each writing option. There were some
guided questions that students needed to answer and that helped them to make
decisions when undertaking the task. The questions were as follows:
− Which text type do you think is more appropriate for the context, purpose and
audience?
− Do you need to use formal or informal language?
− Who is the audience?
− What are some of the conventions you need to use for the chosen text type?
It has been proven in other studies that without some demonstrations and practice
students may not report their thought processes frequently or thoroughly enough to
meet the researcher’s needs. Thus, the strategy of retrospective questioning
encouraged effective think-aloud responses. Sugirin (1999) used a KEEP TALKING
sign to remind participants to verbalise all thoughts without addressing them in
speech which might interfere with those thoughts (Charters E., 2003). Students were
just remained to think aloud by using hand signals and informal written notes were
taken about what was being verbalised.
After this initial investigation, students were asked to complete the writing task to
see if they had demonstrated further understanding. The collection of this data
allowed for comparison of the results and for more complete information (Fonteyn M.,
Kuipers B., Grobe S., 1993).
3.4 Ethics
Some ethical issues could have arisen because the study took place in a school-setting
and involved the participation of students of 17 years old. The areas of ethical concern
were: the informed consent process, anonymity and confidentiality. In order to
prevent these issues, it was necessary to use an assent protocol and ask for consent.
The Principal and students were informed via email about the investigation for their
consent and approval. In order to protect students’ privacy and ensure their
anonymity, no personal data relating to age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation or
sexuality was collected. The generated data like the recordings and transcripts were
kept securely until the completion of this study and it was used purely only for the
purposes of the research project. It was important to let students know that the
investigation could be effective and beneficial for their examinations as it might have
helped them to have a better and deeper conceptual understanding.
4. FINDINGS
The findings of the think-aloud session and written assessment helped to answer the
questions of this research. Table 1 shows the three writing tasks that students were
asked to think-aloud.
Table 1. Writing tasks
First, students, in pairs, read the selected passages aloud to monitor their
understanding, clarify the meaning of the unknown and look for context clues. There
were some questions about some vocabulary words but, in general, the
comprehension of the texts was good.
Questions
Session 1 students’ observations
Session 2 students’
observation
Do you have any
questions about
the vocabulary?
(Teacher)
Not really…. te has mudado but
otherwise I think I get pretty much
what is about (Student 1, task 1)
Eh… cuenta cómo te sientes. You
have to write about your new routine
and what is new (Student 1, task 2)
Te has mudado (Student 3,
task 1)
Not sure what mudado is
(Student 4, task 1)
Maybe acabas de (Student
4, task 2)
Table 2. Session 1 protocols
It can be seen from table 2 that three students weren’t sure about the meaning of te
has mudado (you have moved). Student 1 did not know the meaning of the sentence
cuenta cómo te sientes (tell how you feel) while student 4 was not sure about the
meaning of the expression or verbal periphrasis acabas de llegar (just arrived). The
link between vocabulary and comprehension is strong throughout students’ education
and can often be attributed to differences in their comprehension capabilities. When
students do not have access to the meaning of words representative of the concepts
and content of what they read, it can cause difficulty in their comprehension of texts,
limits their ability to make a connection with their existing background knowledge,
inhibits their capacity to make coherent inferences, and impacts their ability to
reason. Thus, it is very important to teach vocabulary to students because it expands
and refines their existing conceptual knowledge and enhances their comprehension
and understanding of what they read (Rupley, Nichols, Mraz & Blair, 2012).
Since students did not encounter many unfamiliar words, they were asked then to
verbally express their thoughts about the appropriate text type for each task taking
into account the context, purpose and audience of the task. The four students
demonstrated good conceptual understanding. The choice of the text type was
appropriate for each task, however, students in session 2 had two possible options
for task 1.
Table 3 shows that students in session 1 selected firmly the blog for the first task
while students in session 2 were doubting between the blog and the personal diary.
Strategic questions were addressed in order to help students to improve their
conceptual understanding and complete the task successfully. It can be seen that
students 3 and 4 gained a better understanding of the text and chose the blog for the
specific context, purpose and audience. For the second task, the four students
selected the personal diary:
(1) There is no audience and you are just reflecting on how the new life in the
country is (student 3).
(2) I agree, write a text to describe your impressions which seems to be for your-
self (student 4).
(3) I think it’s for yourself so it’s a diary (student 2).
(4) Yes, because you arrive there and if you want to write about those things, the
people are already there and you don’t really need to write to them because
they live there (student 1).
Questions
Session 1 students’
observations
Session 2 students’
observations
We have three text types: a
blog, a letter and a personal
diary which one do you
think it’s the most
appropriate for the context,
purpose and audience?
(Teacher, task 1)
Who is the audience?
(Teacher, task 1)
Does a personal diary have
an audience? (Teacher, task
1)
What are the conventions
we need to use to write a
blog? I mean the layout of
the blog (Teacher, task 1)
Do you need to use formal
or informal language to
write a blog?
I think of a blog because…it
says to compare my
impressions with other
young people. Writing a
letter and a personal diary,
you can’t compare it with
other people (Student 1)
Yes, the same reason
(Student 2)
Jóvenes (Students 1 & 2)
-
You need a title, a date, an
introduction, a body and a
closing. Sometimes there is
the author’s name (Student
1)
I agree (Student 2)
Informal… I feel like blogs
are more casual, a
conversation between the
readers and the writer
(Student 1)
I agree (Student 2)
Yo creo blog, …well the task
asks you to write about the
area where you live and how
you spend the time and what
you like about it and you can
share that with other readers
who possibly want to move
to that area as well (Student
4)
It could also be a personal
diary because you can also
write personal stuff. It’s
between a blog and a
personal diary (Student 3)
I agree (Student 4)
There is no audience… Oh,
yes, there is... jóvenes de tu
ciudad… so blog it’s the best
text type because you don’t
know who they are and it’s
the best way to communicate
with them (Student 3)
No, a diary is more a
reflection for yourself
(Student 4)
Maybe people who are very
close to you… when you die
and they want to read about
yourself hehe…
A title, the name of the
person writing the blog,
some blogs have the timing
sometimes (Student 3)
There are also base
paragraphs in a blog. It’s
easy to read (Student 4)
-
Table 3. Session 1 & 2 protocols
For task 3, students 1 and 2 were clear that the letter was the correct text type for
the task, but students 3 and 4 were doubting between the letter and the text message
as it can be seen in table 4.
Questions
Session 1 students’
observations
Session 2 students’ observations
What text type is
appropriate for this task:
a message, a letter and
a personal diary?
Are there formal or
informal letters?
What does mensaje de
texto mean?
Possibly a letter because
you have to write to your
family (student 2)
Yes (student 1)
-
-
I don’t think it’s a personal diary and
carta is too formal for the family so
it should be mensaje de texto
(student 3)
Yeah…Posiblemente mensaje de
texto o carta (student 4)
Yes, but it doesn’t specify it. I’m not
sure exactly what mensaje de texto
is (student 3)
Informal carta for families (student
4)
Text message (student 4)
I do carta probably because it
describes stuff about your college
and fits well to a letter. Text
messages seem to be shorter
(student 4)
Yes (student 3)
Table 4. Sessions 1 & 2 protocols
Again, students answered some strategic questions which benefited to expand their
knowledge of the different text types. They gave reasons for the particular choice of
the text type- message/letter- and applied their conceptual understanding by making
connections with the context, purpose and audience. They continued thinking-aloud
the layout and language conventions of the selected text type- an informal letter
which helped them to organise their ideas and structure their writing before the
assessment.
For the second part of the research, students had to complete a written assessment
which assessed the ability to communicate in writing for a variety of purposes. In
order to fulfil the requirements of this assessment, students needed to show, through
their use of text type, register and style, that they understood the concepts of
audience, context, purpose, meaning and variation (Language ab initio guide, 2020).
The aim of the second research was to compare students’ thinking processes with
their writing performance. Students had to choose a task and write between 70-150
words using the appropriate tone and register and including the layout and language
conventions of the chosen text type. The think-aloud session helped students to
develop their conceptual understanding as they chose the appropriate text type for
the task, expressed ideas with fluency and accuracy and communicated clearly and
effectively. Their responses incorporated some of the conventions of the selected text
type. All students achieved a high mark in their written assessment, but only student
2 scored 15 out of 15 based on three assessment criteria: language, message and
conceptual understanding. Before using the think-aloud method in the classroom,
students' written grades were between 9-10 out of 15. After the think-aloud protocols,
student 1, student 3 and student 4 improved their marks by scoring 12-13 out of 15.
5. DISCUSSION
The aim of this research was to have knowledge of students’ understanding of the
different text types and enhance their conceptual understanding. Therefore, the
questions of this research were related to students’ understanding of the different
text types and the evidence of understanding that think-aloud provides. According to
the think-aloud session protocols and the written assessment, students demonstrated
good conceptual understanding. They were able to choose the appropriate text type
for each task by making explanations, observing their comprehension and activating
their prior knowledge. The think-aloud strategy helped to monitor students’ thinking
processes and get a better sense of their understanding. Students read aloud, asked
for clarification and looked for context clues to make sense of what they read. Taking
into account Bhatia’s suggestions (2014), students placed the genre-text in a
situational context by looking at their prior experience of the world, knew the layout
of the personal text types (blog, personal diary and letter), defined the audience and
used the language conventions of the text type.
According to the findings, it can be seen that the think-aloud strategy positively
developed the comprehension skills of students and had a positive effect on their
knowledge of the text types and conceptual understanding. This result can be
compared with the investigation of sixth grade students’ think-aloud processes while
solving a mathematical problem verbally. In the opinion of Özcan, Imamoglu and
Katmer Bayrakli (2017), the use of the think-aloud method empowered the results of
their study. Sönmez and Sulak (2018) also agree that the teaching of the thinking-
aloud strategy has positively developed the reading comprehension skills of 4th grade
primary school students.
Another aim of this study was to explain why it is important to teach different text
types in the classroom and how it can be taught in an efficient manner. As stated in
the literature, students are not frequently taught techniques to read (Broer,
Aarnoutse, Kieviet & Leeuwe, 2002). To overcome this problem, Ness (2016)
encourages teachers to monitor students’ comprehension, for example, by thinking
aloud. Wilhelm (2001) also suggests, among other things, to read the text aloud to
students while modelling some strategies such as questioning, identifying the main
idea of the text and using prior knowledge, and to reinforce the think-aloud. Bearing
in mind the objectives of language acquisition courses discussed in the literature
review, the think-aloud strategy helped students to understand, analyse, and reflect
upon the text types. They were able to respond appropriately, developing a coherent
and organised response in the written assessment.
6. CONCLUSION
This study was crucial to help students to understand the meaning of the written tasks
and choose the appropriate text type for the context, purpose and audience. Based
on research findings, students developed their conceptual understanding of language,
by communicating clearly and effectively, understanding and using language to a
specific context and audience, and expressing ideas with fluency and accuracy.
Students were encouraged to make use of their critical thinking and transfer those
skills to the target language. The think-aloud strategy is an effective technique in
teaching the IB language acquisition courses and it should be promoted in order to
improve students’ comprehension of the different text types. Sönmez and Sulak
(2018) suggest in their research that further studies could examine the effect of the
think-aloud strategy on speaking, writing and listening skills. The results of the
written assessment also show the positive effect of think-aloud strategy on students’
writing skills. Students performed very well, demonstrated good writing skills and
scored higher marks based on the language, message and conceptual understanding.
Three students achieved 12 points out of 15 and one student achieved the total
marks. Ness (2016) explores in her investigation how to better prepare early career
teachers to conduct think-alouds in their classrooms. She says that an essential
element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led
think-alouds and that effective teacher think-alouds positively affect student
achievement. Considering Ness suggestions, teachers should incorporate these
techniques in their teaching practices.
This investigation has been addressed within the settings of a specific context. Thus,
future studies can be carried out to address the same research problem in different
settings or context. In addition, more investigations can be conducted on how to teach
students to recognize different text types and boost their conceptual understanding.
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