Think aloud protocols or TAPs represent an experimental method of collecting data on mental or, more specifically, cognitive processes taking place in intellectual activity. In these experiments human subjects are asked to verbalise their thoughts while performing a certain task. The verbal reports are tape-recorded and then transcribed and analysed by the researcher. The essay in particular addresses experiment design, achievements, limits and remedies in the field. One of the first areas in which verbal report procedures were applied to the study of language was in research on foreign language learning. From the middle of the 1980s, the TAP method was introduced in process-oriented translation studies.