ABSTRACT
Verbal reports have been used in first and second language research for decades by researchers seeking to gather data about learners’ cognitive processes and processing that would be inaccessible by other means. Despite the widespread use of verbal reports, there have been questions surrounding their validity. This chapter provides an overview of the history and use of both concurrent and retrospective verbal reports in instructed SLA research, synthesizing research addressing their validity and outlining the opportunities, challenges, and limitations associated with them. The chapter concludes with future directions for both research and pedagogy.
