Protocols chosen for analysis are typical of each gap type, though not all of them
are presented below in order to make full use of the limited space. In the following
tables, the left column presents protocol numbers for participants in the same group
and their basic information including the gap number, the result of the answer for
the gap, TEM 4 score and TEM 8 Mini-lecture and Gap-filling task score of the
research version. The right column presents the selected individual protocols with
different surnames for differentiation. There might also be the researcher’s probing
headed by“R”on certain occasions where further information is needed.
Levels of processing: All the protocols contain the word“heard”and it shows
they all tried to decode and search what they heard from the mini-lecture and
obviously they all parsed the structure; for example, the second participant compared
the structure she heard“thinking critically”with the structure“critical in thinking”in
the gap-filling task and felt confused about the modification of the structure. This gap
type has involved lower-level of processing: decoding, lexical search and parsing.
Differences: The only difference presented between the wrong answer protocol
and correct answer protocols is that thefirst participant failed to decode the key
word. Referring back to her notes, we found that she wrote down“reflect, think
quickly”. Obviously, she has decoded the phonemes of“critically”incorrectly and
mistaken“quickly”for“critically”, which is sufficient to explain why she didn’t
make this blank right (Table6.15).
Table 6.15 Gap Type 1-Key-point gaps of 2013 TEM 8
Protocol 1 (Gap No. 2; Wrong answer;
TEM 4: 77; TEM 8 Mini: 2.5)Wang: Then, the second one, critical in thinking
Um. I mightfill in quick
I wrote“quick”in my notes
And because there is critical here. It should also be
an adjective
Protocol 2 (Gap No. 2; Correct answer;
TEM 4: 82; TEM 8 Mini: 3.5)Zhuo: For the second blank, I heard thinking
critically, and reflect. So, I think it is, critical means
thinking. I don’t understand why the format here is
critical in thinking. Um, but since here is reading
with purpose, I think I shouldfill in reflecting. But
indeed I can’t understand why it is critical in
thinking. I don’t know what it means. What I heard
is thinking critically
Protocol 3 (Gap No. 2; Correct answer;
TEM 4: 77; TEM 8 Mini: 4.5)Wei: The second, I heard“reflection and critical in
thinking”. Oh, reflective, critically, um...Actually, I
heard both reflection and reflective, but the second
word here is critical, it is an adjective. So I should
use an adjective in thefirst place. Um. But when I
read the subtitles, they are“being able”, and the
previous one is“reading”. Ok, I think I should add
“being”here, it’s“being reflective”. Later, there’s
also“being able to get assistance”,soI’d like to add
“being”before“reflective”6.6 Results of the Test-Taking TAPs 95