How Successful is the Mediation of Specialized Knowledge? - The Use of Thinking-aloud Protocols and Log Files of Reverbalization Processes as a Method in Comprehensibility Research

Since the publication of Ericsson’s and Simon’s book Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data in 1984, thinking-aloud has found its way into the exploration of (interlingual) translation processes. To gain deeper insight into translation processes, the method of thinking-aloud has been combined with the use of the software TRANSLOG developed by Jakobsen and Schou. This software records (logs) all keystrokes and mouse clicks during writing processes as well as the time intervals between them without the user of this programme realizing this.In my paper, I will describe how the method of thinking aloud combined with the use of TRANSLOG can be used to determine the comprehensibility of non-instructive texts. It focuses on an experiment in which five subjects were asked to optimize a popular science text using TRANSLOG. During this intralingual translation process, the subjects had to think aloud. The paper will focus on the method I used and present what it reveals about the comprehensibility of the popular science text.