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Investigating the characteristics of effective recasts in the ESL classroom. Shawn Loewen & Jenefer Philp TBLT Conference. Recasts. Target-like reformulations following a learner’s non-TL utterance.
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Investigating the characteristics of effective recasts in the ESL classroom Shawn Loewen & Jenefer Philp TBLT Conference
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 of Recast 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
Potential benefits of recasts • Provide implicit negative feedback • Juxtapose the learner’s incorrect utterance with the target-like version • Contingent on the learner’s production • Incidental
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
Research rationale • Studies of recasts have not always worked from the same definition. • Characteristics of recasts may vary, and these variations may influence their effectiveness.
Research Questions • What are the characteristics of recasts in young adult ESL classes? • Are particular characteristics of recasts associated with successful uptake/accurate test scores?
Participants • Private language school in Auckland, New Zealand • 12 Teachers • Native speakers of English • 8 male, 4 female • 118 Students • Intermediate English proficiency • Primarily from Korea, China and Japan
Procedure • 17 hours of audio-recorded classroom observations • FFEs and Recasts identified and coded • Individualised tests designed and administered (Immediate and Delayed)
Characteristics of recasts • FFEs with recasts were coded for the following features:
Linguistic Focus • Lexical • Morphological/Syntactic • Phonological • Combination
Prosodic emphasis • Stressed or Unstressed H: some people have racism T: some people ARE racist H: are racist
Intonation • Declarative or Interrogative S: somebody steal my paper (.) stolen T: someone stole your paper?
Length of Recast • More or less than 5 morphemes S: my brain will s- I seem will seem to be explode T: my my brain seems to be exploding
Segmentation Segmented or Whole S: why he why should he release? T: be released
Number of Changes • 1 Change or 2+ Changes S: damag-ed (.) wall damag-ed T: the hotel wall was damaged
Number of Feedback Moves • 1 or 2+ S: the title of the story is girl had blood in her scalp T: blood? S: bloot T: bullet bullet= S:=bullet bullet in her scalp
Successful Uptake Students incorporate the linguistic form into their own production S: maybe everyday have a lot of people die by the cigarette T: die from cigarettes S: die from cigarettes, so maybe …
Testing Procedure Students were tested orally on the linguistic forms targeted in FFEs in which students themselves were involved.
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.
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.
Test Scores • Responses to test items were scored as correct or incorrect according to the response provided in the recast/FFE
Results • 465 FFEs • 228 Recasts
Predictors of Successful Uptake • Stressed recasts • Declarative recasts • Recast with only one change • FFEs with more than one feedback move
Predictors of Accurate Test Scores • Interrogative Recasts • Recasts with fewer than 5 morphemes • Recasts with only one change
Summary • Recasts in these classes were generally short, stressed, segmented, declarative with only one change. • The same characteristics did not predict both successful uptake and correct test scores.