Until recently, product-oriented translation studies have been dominant among scholars. In this approach, translation products are examined in terms of their linguistic aspects. As interest in the cognitive processes of translation has increased, however, process-oriented translation studies have been gaining increasing attention over the last twenty years or so. Translation studies look into what is going on in the brain of a translator while translating. So, unlike the product-oriented translation studies, it looks for psycholinguistic validity. The think- aloud protocols (TAP) method, as an introspective method, is one of the methods adopted by process-oriented translation studies.This paper describes the TAP method ― its methodology and the methodological limitations, the findings of previous TAP studies and the implications of the findings for translation education. The TAP method, despite its limitations, has proved to be efficient in tapping into the translation process, thereby making it possible to capture those aspects of translation which could be ignored or lost by the product- oriented approach. The findings of translation studies could help establish a psycholinguistic model of translation. Eventually, it could contribute to changing the course of translation education, in which the product-oriented approach has been dominant, to a more process- oriented approach. It is hoped that more process-oriented studies are conducted using a TAP method.
