Table 1. Definitions and Examples of the Think Aloud Codes.

Process	Definition	Text Excerpt	Example of Participant Response
Association	Comments providing information not related to text coherence.	According to the U.S. Department of Justice, crimes by juveniles have gone up by 60 percent since 1984.	Think that was a George Orwell book.
Elaborative Inference	Comments employing background knowledge to explain the current sentence.	But I support a national identity card with a chip that can match the holder’s finger print.	So that’s how the cards couldn’t be stolen, or used by someone else.
Connecting Inference	Comments mentioning an immediately preceding sentence to explain the current sentence.	But I support a national identity card with a chip that can match the holder’s fingerprint. It could be an effective tool for preventing terrorism.	If it has your fingerprint on the card.
Reinstatement Inference	Comments mentioning information from earlier in the text, but not the immediately preceding sentence, to explain the current sentence.	At Fort Sumter, South Carolina troops sent away a supply ship trying to reach the fort. [1 intervening sentence.] It had not delivered its supplies.	Because South Carolina sent them back.
Predictive Inference	Forward inferences that anticipate upcoming text or content.	In January 1861, the South left the Union.	So this is gonna be about the civil war between the U.S.
Paraphrase	Comments that capture the gist meaning of the current sentence.	When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent to slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature saw a threat.	They didn’t like Lincoln.
Opinion	Comments that express an opinion the text.	It’s not new for children to commit violent crimes at younger ages.	This is…kinda weird.
Statement of Uncertainty	Comments that reflect that the participant did not feel certain about the text.	Also in 1956, the first transistorized computer was completed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.	I’m not sure what kind of computer that is.
Other	Nonresponses and any other response that do not fall into any of the above categories.	The name transistor is short for “transfer resistance.”	[No response]
Invalid	Comments that reflect a misunderstanding of the text.	They have cavalier attitudes toward possessions, including family heirlooms; everything is just another dust-catcher to them.	…they just like the idea of everything being there.