Recasts in the ESL classroom Comparing the effectiveness

Recasts in the ESL classroom: Comparing the effectiveness of different types of corrective feedback Jenefer Philp & Shawn Loewen University of Auckland, New Zealand

Recasts Target-like reformulations following a learner’s non-TL utterance. Maintains the central meaning, while changing elements of the form (lexical, morphological, syntactic, phonological components). (Long, 1996)

Example 1 (Loewen 2002) Kao: his crime was uh when he was uh seventeen uh he over drunk he drank too much and get fight with some boy and the boy uh get got into unconscious T: became unconscious Kao: became unconscious and permanently damaged his brain

Example 2 (Philp, 1998) NNS why is the son read the table? NS why is he ah setting the table? NNS uh huh

Features of recasts Provides implicit negative feedback Juxtaposes the learners’ incorrect utterance with the target-like version Contingent on the learner’s production Incidental

Corrective feedback in the L 2 classroom Elicitation moves : repetition, clarification requests, prompts Informs: explicit correction Recasts

Recasts in the classroom Impact of context (Morris & Tarone, 2003; Seedhouse, 1997; van Lier, 1988) Range in explicitness and salience (Nicholas, Lightbown & Spada, 2001; Ellis, to appear)

Salience and response moves 1. Ph driver 2. T a driver did you say? 3. Ph screw driver 4. T what’s a school driver? Screwdriver 5. Ph screwdriver 6. T a screwdriver 7. Ph screwdriver 8. T yeah I think I’d call that a tool that’s not an appliance it’s not powered by electricity

1. T: you have to tell this story to Jack okay not your story you’re telling the story “girl had bullet in her scalp”. 2. S: the title of the story is girl had blood in her scalp 3. T: blood? 4. S: bloot 5. T: bullet= 6. S: =bullet in her scalp is about

Prosodic emphasis (stress) 1. H: some people have racism 2. T: some people ARE racist 3. H: are racist

Segmentation 1. Thom: yeah and uh when they went to the ban the gateway and they stu- in 2. T: got stuck 3. Thom: got stuck on the rova, ro:

Intonation Declarative recast Interrogative recast (Lyster 1998; Sheen 2004)

Are recasts beneficial? Juxtaposition of the correct with the incorrect Congruent with the learner’s production Maps meaning to form Incidental & transitory (Doughty, 2001; Long, to appear; Philp, 1998)

If noticed… Noticing is crucial (Gass, 1997; Mackey, in press; Philp, 1998; Schmidt, 1993, 2001) Recasts may help learners ‘notice the gap’

Potential limitations of recasts Ambiguous Learners are not pushed in their output Differentially beneficial depending on form Other forms of feedback may be more beneficial (Ellis, to appear; Lyster, 1998, 2004; Lyster & Ranta, 1997; Panova & Lyster, 2002)

Research Questions Description of recasts in the L 2 classroom Effectiveness of recasts (post tests / successful uptake) Differences between recasts and effects on test performance / successful uptake

Data (Loewen, 2002) 17 hours of classroom interaction 12 ESL classrooms 118 adult intermediate-level learners Tailor-made tests 1 -3 days and 2 weeks later

TEST: Correction Example The following sentences are incorrect or inappropriate. Please listen and tell me how you could make the sentences better. 1. I used to wear the balaclava for protection to wind and cold. S: when I was soldier I used to wear the balaclava T: and why did you wear it S for protection from the cold or for another reason S: just wind uh protection to wind and cold T: protection from S: uh from wind and cold T: right, okay not for a disguise

Test: Pronunciation Learners were asked to first read aloud a sentence containing the targeted word/phrase and then to read aloud the target word/phrase in isolation.

Coding of data Type of feedback move Recasts: segmentation, stress, length, number of changes, complexity and intonation Uptake: successful uptake, no chance Test performance: correct, incorrect

1. Response moves

2. What is the nature of recasts in the L 2 classroom?

Linguistic focus

Length of recast

Stress

Intonation

Response moves

Segmentation

Recall on Post Test Learners were able to recall at least 50% of test items No significant differences in learners’ ability to recall correctly on the tests and they type of feedback they had received. – Post test: Chi square (2, 180) p =. 114 – Delayed post test: Chi square (2, 188) p =. 577

Successful Uptake Recasts resulted in high levels of successful uptake (72. 6%) Elicitation moves associated with significantly higher numbers of successful uptake (88. 3%) Informs associated with significantly higher levels of Unsuccessful uptake – Chi square (2, 363) = 16. 63, p<. 001

Successful uptake and test performance (Logistic regression) Successful uptake predicted by : Stress 13. 235 Complexity 5. 052 Intonation. 351 Number of changes. 519 . 000. 014. 068

Recasts and test performance (Logistic regression) Correct and partially correct test scores predicted by : Morpheme Length. 509 Intonation 2. 206 Number of changes. 519 . 149. 084. 068

Summary 50% of corrective feedback moves are recasts. High levels of successful uptake, with 88% for elicitation moves. No significant difference between teachers’ response moves and performance on tests. Recasts were associated with 50% success rate.

The majority of recasts in these ESL classrooms were: Short Stressed Declarative Segmented More Explicit

Recasts and Successful Uptake Stress >1 response move successful uptake One change Falling intonation

Recasts and Post Test Recall Rising intonation Shorter recasts One change recall on post tests

Discussion

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