The Effect of Recasts - Nanzan Universityoffice.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ncia/about-cia/item/pdf_16/kenkyu...correction. Moreover, as Lyster (1998) states, recasts are often used by a teacher

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The Effect of Recasts

Kyoko TOMIKURA

Abstract

　 While there have been numerous studies conducted on the topic of recasts, the

precise role of recasts and their effect during interaction remain unclear. Conversely,

interaction and corrective feedback are the main methodologies that most language

instructors apply in everyday teaching. In this paper, I present three studies in order to

examine the relationship between recasts and language learning. First, McDonough and

Mackey (2006) discuss the relationship among recasts, learner responses, and language

development. In their study, they examined the influence of recasts and the responses to

recasts on English questions-development. In the second study, Ishida (2004) argues the

effectiveness of recasts on the Japanese Aspectual Form in English-speaking learners.

Lastly, Han (2002) scrutinizes whether or not recasts lead L2 English learners to a

raised awareness of and improvement in tense consistency. Through these studies, the

effect of recasts can be seen; however, it is possible that factors aside from recasts affect

language learning and development.

KeyWords：corrective feedback, negative feedback, recasts, interaction, language

development

Introduction

　 The role of a recast “which reformulates a deviant utterance correcting it while keeping the

same meaning (Ellis, 2006, p. 99)” as “a form of implicit negative feedback (Gass, 2003, p. 239)”

is controversial. According to Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, he states that “Negative feedback

obtained during negotiation work or elsewhere may be facilitative of L2 development, at least

for vocabulary, morphology, and language-specific syntax, and essential for learning certain

specifiable L1-L2 contrasts” (1996, p. 414). On the other hand, a learner may not recognize

recasts correcting his/her erroneous utterances. Ellis, Basturkmen, and Loewen (2001) argue

that because recasts are indirect and implicit corrections, learners often do not internalize the

correction. Moreover, as Lyster (1998) states, recasts are often used by a teacher to move a

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国際教育センター紀要　第16号

lesson forward, keeping learners’ attention focused on lesson content as opposed to language

form.

　 These questions about the effect of corrective feedback during interaction encouraged me to

explore the process further. Therefore, I examined and compared three empirical studies which

explore the effect of recasting to determine whether they aid in learning or not and, if they do

help, how they work. By researching these topics, I hope to gain a better understanding of

learners and of the nature of language acquisition and, hence, to provide more efficient and

effective teaching and learning environments for language learners as well as my students.

Empirical Studies

McDonough and Mackey’s Study

　 In their article “Responses to Recasts: Repetitions, Primed Production, and Linguistic

Development,” McDonough and Mackey (2006) examine the arguments regarding whether a

learner’s response is beneficial for learning. In their discussion, McDonough and Mackey state

that it is useful to separate responses that are simple repetitions of a recast from responses that

are reformations of a previous utterance. They indicate that the former response is simple

repetition and imitation that has no correlation with second language development. On the

other hand, the later response might indicate developmental progress because it may act as

syntactic priming (structure priming). According to McDonough and Mackey (2006), “In an

interaction context, a learner who produces a nontarget like utterance and hears an interlocutor

reformulate that utterance into a developmentally advanced structure might produce the same

syntactic structure across subsequent utterances” (p. 698). Therefore, in their study, they

investigated learners’ responses as (1) immediate repetitions and (2) as new utterances using

the syntactic structure that was provided in the recasts in both immediate and later turns. Their

hypothesis is that the latter types of responses, primed production, would influence language

development.

　 McDonough and Mackey examined the influence of recasts and different responses on

English question-development. The following examples are to explain the differences between

simple repetitions and primed productions. In the examples below, McDonough and Mackey

presented a stage1) in developmental sequence for ESL question formation for each utterance:

　 Repetition of a recast

Learner: when it happened? Stage 3 question

NS: when did it happen? Recast (stage 5)

45


Learner: when did it happen? Repetition (stage 5)

(McDonough and Mackey, 2006, p. 705)

　 Primed production (immediate)

Learner: why he hit the deer? Stage 3 question

NS: why did he hit the deer? He was driving Recast (stage 5)

home and the deer ran out in front of his car

Learner: when did he do after that? Primed production

(McDonough and Mackey, 2006, p. 705) (stage 5)

　 Primed production (delayed)

L: where where where you work this job? Stage 3 question

NS: where did I work? Recast (stage 5)

L: yeah

NS: I worked in America/it was my part time job

during high school for three years

L: why did you like it? Primed production

(McDonough and Mackey, 2006, p. 705) (stage 5)

　 The informants were 58 (11 male, 47 female) Thai university students learning English as a

second language. All learners were at the same stage (stage 4) of language aquisition. During

nine-week periods, the students underwent an oral production pretest for week 1, three

treatment sessions for weeks 2 and 3, and four oral production tests for week 3, 6 and 9. Each

session and test lasted approximately 20 minutes. The tests were taken at a language laboratory

using a prerecorded audiotape. Learners sat at individual carrels with boom microphones.

During treatment periods, students performed information–exchange and information-gap

activities designed to elicit various questions from them. Recast groups (n=39) received recasts

by NS interlocutors. NS interlocutors participated in task-based interaction with the learners

and focused on the communication of meaning. They provided recasts when learners produced

non-target like questions during the interaction. After recasts, there were pauses, which

allowed the learners to respond or continue speaking. McDonough and Mackey (2006) explain

that in order to maintain the interaction flow naturally, NS interlocutors did not artificially

control response opportunities and sometimes repeated the learners’ error before they provided

a recast. For the control group, no recast or any other feedback was provided. Also, recasts

were provided only for nontarget-like questions. Other nontarget-like forms were ignored.

46


McDonough and Mackey (2006) used logistic regression to analyze and examine their

hypothesis that the recasts and primed production indicate development while the repetition

does not. The results of their research indicate that recasts and primed production were

significantly correlated with stage advancement and predictive of ESL question development,

whereas the repetition of recasts in the next turn was not.

Ishida’s Study

　 Secondly, Ishida (2004) shows the effect of recasts in her study of second language learners’

use of the Japanese aspectual form ‘-te i-(ru).’ According to Ishida, Japanese aspectual form -te i-

(ru) is categorized into four different meanings: the progressive, the resultative, the habitual,

and the perfect. Examples of the respective aspectual meanings with -te i- (ru) are:

(1) Progressive

Minna wa tabe-te-iru

All TOP eat-ASP-NPAST

‘All (of them) are eating.’ (Ishida, 2004, p. 313)

(2) Resultative

Kajuaru-na-fuku o ki-te-imasu

Casual clothes ACC put on-ASP-NPST (polite)

‘(I am) in casual clothes.’ (Ishida, 2004, p. 313)

(3) Habitual

Ima dorama o benkyooshi-te-i-masu

Now drama ACC study-ASP-NPAST (polite)

‘(We are) studying dramas these days.’ (Ishida, 2004, p. 313)

(4) Perfect

Senmon wa sudeni kime-te iru.

Major TOP already decide-ASP-NPAST

‘(I) have already decided on my major.’ (Ishida, 2004, p. 313)

　＊TOP: topic; ASP: aspect; NPAST: nonpast; and ACC: accusative (Ishida, 2004, p. 313).

Ishida explains that Japanese aspect does not allow for progressive interpretations when

progressive marking is attached to achievement verbs as progressive meanings are associated

with activity verbs (e.g., to eat and to study (2004, p. 315)) and accomplish predicates (e.g., to eat

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an apple (2004, p. 315)) whereas resultative meanings are associated with achievement verbs

(e.g. to put on and to fall (2004, p. 315)).

　 As proposed by Andersen and Shirai (1996), Bardovi-Harlig formulates a prediction in second

language acquisition, based on the Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai, 1994): “In languages

that have a progressive aspect, progressive marking begins with activities, then extends to

accomplishments and achievements” (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000, p. 227). Therefore, Ishida discusses

that learners in the early stages of second language acquisition of Japanese often start to use -te

i-(ru) with activity and accomplishment verbs in order to obtain progressive meanings and then

later, achievement verbs obtaining resultative meanings. She also examines the effects of

instruction. Ishida speculates that classroom instruction might have a great influence on

distributing new information to learners and helping them to process the form-function mapping

if target language contact is restricted in the classroom. She investigated to see whether the

above assumptions proved to be true.

　 Ishida examined four learners of Japanese (three males and one female) who were taking

either 4th or 5th semester Japanese language courses at a university in the United States. All

four students participated in eight conversational sessions with intensive recasts. One-on-one

conversational sessions were held twice a week. The intensive recasts were provided during

the treatment periods, which were from the third through the sixth sessions. The first two

sessions were treated as pretests while the last two sessions were viewed as posttests. Each

session took approximately 30 minutes. Seven weeks after the eighth session, two learners out

of four participated in another 30―minute session as a delayed posttest. During the eighth

session and the delayed posttest, one of two learners continued learning Japanese in a summer

intensive course while the other learners didn’t take any more Japanese. Each session was

audio-recorded. Daily activities, weekly schedules, picture description, weekend talk and

reflections on the session were the topics of each conversation session. Ishida, as the only

interlocutor, provided recasts during the treatment period when she needed to confirm the

meaning of the message that the learners were delivering. These recasts were provided not

only on the use of -te i-(ru) but also on lexical and grammatical items. Along with recasts, other

types of feedback, including model, repetition or no feedback related to -te i-(ru), were provided.

　 As a result, the overall accuracy rates increased with the number of recasts provided during

treatments sessions. Furthermore, the high accuracy rate was retained both in the immediate

and delayed posttest sessions. On the other hand, contradictory to the aspect hypothesis

prediction, the progressive usage of -te i-(ru) was less accurate than the resultative usage.

Ishida discusses that it may be the influence of the early instruction of resultative usage in

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terms of length and frequency. The subjects learned resultative forms before they learned

progressive forms. Also, it may be because some constructions of -te i-(ru) were taught as

formulaic expressions as a part of resultative categories. Moreover, Ishida argues that their

native languages may constrain the effect of the recasts as an instructional treatment. She

explains that Edward, who is bilingual in Chinese and English, made the greatest increase in

overall accuracy during the sessions because Chinese has the progressive aspect morpheme zai

and the durative aspect morpheme zhe, which is similar to the relative use of -te i-(ru) form.

The learners’ readiness may also influence the effect of the recasts. Based on Pienemann’s

teachability hypothesis (1984, 1989), Ishida presumes that Larry, who was taking 5th semester,

did not show any improvement in the progressive usage because he was not at the stage to be

able to acquire new information (progressive usage).

From a practical perspective, it might seem initially that the Teachability

Hypothesis can be interpreted as follows: ‘Teaching is ineffectual (i.e. impossible)

since L2 acquisition can only be promoted when the learner is ready to acquire the given

items in the natural context.’ (Pienemann, 1989, p. 61)

　 He showed a constant increase in the resultative usage of -te i-(ru) form, even though he

received more tokens of recasts involving the progressive usage more than the resultative

usage. Ishida compares Larry with Greg who was taking 4th semester and showed the highest

development in the progressive usage of -te i-(ru) form. She states that Larry didn’t produce

any advanced structure that requires the subordinate clause while Greg produced many

advanced structures. Therefore, Ishida assumes that Larry was not ready to receive a benefit

by providing the recasts in order to process the various progressive meanings.

　 Lastly, Ishida presents the notion of ‘prototype categories’ to discuss learner’s readiness for

acquiring progressive form. According to Andersen and Shirai (1996), “...tense and aspect

morphemes are prototype categories and that learners (both L1 and L2 learners) initially

discover the least marked member of each category (one unitary achievement or

accomplishment for past or perfective) and only later and gradually add progressively more

marked members to their pool of “past” and “perfective” marked verbs”(p. 560). They also

show the structure of the category progressive aspect (from prototype to marginal members) as

follows:

process (activity ->accomplishment)->iterative->habitual or futurate->

stative progressive (Andersen and Shiraicen‚ 1996‚ p. 558)

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　 Ishida states that a similar finding is seen in her study, as the learners correctly used -te

i-(ru) form with unitary action-in-progress more than using it with less prototypical members.

Han’s Study

　 Finally, in his article, “A Study of the Impact of Recasts on Tense Consistency in L2 Output,”

Han (2002) examined eight adult female L2 learners of English to see if the recasts lead the

learners to a raised awareness of and improvement in tense consistency during written and oral

performance. This study is based on his hypothesis that recasts promote acquisition more

favorably when they draw learners’ awareness to the linguistic forms that they already know

rather than make learners create new mental representations of an L2 form. He also states that

there are four necessary conditions in order for recasts to facilitate learning: (1) individualized

attention, (2) consistent focus, (3) developmental readiness, and (4) intensity.

　 First, as discussed above (Ishida’s study), Han (2002) argues that the learner’s

developmental readiness for linguistic forms might be necessary to promote his/her learning.

He states that not all linguistic forms are equally capable of receiving recasts. He said that

because the recasts draw the learner’s attention to the gap between input and output, if the

learner has no knowledge about the target language, he/she may not notice the gap. Therefore,

he hypothesized that the recast would facilitate learning when it draws attention to what the

learner already knows rather than when it tries to make the learner create new mental

representations of an L2 form. In his article, Han indicates that all eight subjects were

developmentally ready for tense consistency as they were assigned at the upper intermediate

level and “able to successfully complete form-focused exercises concerning the present and

past tenses in their English class. That is, on a declarative level, the subjects showed that they

could correctly retrieve the tenses, yet on the procedural level (i.e., using knowledge under real

operating conditions) they could not always do so” (2002, p. 555).

　 Next, certain conditions might be required in order to make recasts work effectively. Loewen

and Philp (2006) point out that there are several conditions under which recasts might promote

learners’ accuracy, such as intonation, length, and number of changes, etc. In his study, Han

identifies four conditions̶(1) individualized attention, (2) consistent focus, (3) developmental

readiness, and (4) intensity̶that might be necessary for recasts to facilitate learning. He

explains that for condition (1), the study was in a laboratory setting with a small number of

subjects so that the each subject received individualized attention from the researcher. For (2),

only tense consistency was focused on, although non-tense-related forms were randomly

recast. For (3), all subjects already knew the linguistic features and had been practicing how to

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use them properly. For condition (4), the eight sessions were conducted over four weeks and

the recasts were the only vehicle of instruction.

　 The eight subjects enrolled in a one-semester intensive English course in a Community

English Program at a university in the United States. The subjects participated in eleven

sessions over two months. The eleven sessions included a narration pretest, posttest, delayed

test and eight instruction sessions. The subjects and a researcher sat in a circle and each

subject was given the same cartoon strip and instructed to write a brief account of the story

within five minutes. After the subjects submitted their writings to the instructor, each subject

presented his/her story which was recorded. In the recast group, four subjects were provided

the recasts while presented their stories. On the other hand, the other four subjects in the non-

recast group did not receive any recasts. For the recast group, the researcher provided the

recasts when he noticed any tense inconsistency in their oral narratives. All data were collected

via written/oral narratives, produced by the subjects during the eleven sessions. The format of

the pretest, the posttest, and delayed posttest were also written/oral narratives. The delayed

posttest, which was administered a month later from the posttest, used the same task format as

the posttest to assess whether the results of the posttest were retained or not.

　 Han compares the disparity between the use of past tense and the use of present during each

test for each group. In the pretest, both groups showed little tense consistency. However, this

commonality changed for the posttest and even further in the delayed posttest, as the recast

group out-performed the non-recast group in tense consistency. Additionally, the recast group

saw a dramatic increase during both posttests in the frequency of the usage of past tense. Han

explains that one of the subjects (Jee-Young) in the recast group saw an increase in his rate of

usage of the past tense in both oral and written posttests because the subject knew–as a result

of receiving recasts during the sessions―that it is more appropriate to use past tense in

narratives. Han concludes that the recasts successfully drew attention to the tense for the

subjects in the recast group because they indicated a much higher frequency of self-correction

involving tense, while the subjects in the other group didn’t. According to his study, 88％ of

self-corrections that were made by his recast group were on tenses, while 12％ of the self-

corrections were on other forms. On the other hand, in his non-recast group, 28％ of the self-

corrections were made on tense and 72％ were on other forms.

Here, it would be appropriate to discuss the topic of learners’ self-corrections, as learners

tend to learn by themselves, without recasts. Even though the rate of self-correction for the

verb tense consistency was low in the non-recast group compared to the recast group, the

learners in the non-recast group did create self-corrections on tense consistency as well as for

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other forms. Learners may not need to receive recasts to acquire language. Recasts might be

only an issue for teachers. Loewen and Philp (2006) state that recasts are “pedagogically

expeditious; they are time saving...” (p. 551). Also, in her study of Japanese as a foreign

language, Yoshida (2008) found that teachers prefer to use recasts because of the limited time

available in classes. On the other hand, learners prefer to be given time to think about their

errors and the correct forms by themselves before receiving the correct form as recasts

provided by teachers. She collected the data from Japanese language classes at a university in

Australia. Furthermore, Lyster (1998) argues that the way teachers use recasts does not

provide learners frequent opportunities to self-correct. He analyzed the database collected from

children in French immersion programs. He continues: “the teachers’ frequent topic-

continuation moves following recasts are more likely to draw attention to content than to form,

reducing even further the chances of young learners to detect any input-output mismatches.”

(1998, p. 76).

Conclusion

　 The effects of recasts are seen through three empirical studies. However, a few questions

still remain. Not only recasts, but also learners’ responses are crucial for language acquisition.

Learning may not be indicated by simple repetition, but by prime production. Recasts worked

effectively for learners to increase the rate of overall accuracy of -te i-(ru) form, but they did not

necessarily help learners to acquire Japanese progressive forms. Instruction and learners’ L1

and readiness would prevent them from receiving the benefit of recasts. Recasts seem to be

most effective when four conditions are present in learners: individual attention, consistent

focus, developmental readiness, and intensity. They may have functioned to raise learners’

awareness of form in these research environments because their reactions were uniquely

reinforced. However, in other environments, learners may learn equally well by themselves and

prefer to learn by themselves. The value of recasts might be more for the teachers’ sake and

preference, rather than the learners’.

Note

1） McDonough and Mackey show the following examples of developmental stages and question

formation with data from their study (stages adapted from Pienemann & Johnston (1987), and

Pienemann, Johnston, & Brindley (1988)). Stage 3: Fronting (Do+SVO? e.g., Do they dislike

him?, Wh+(be/do)SVO? e.g.,＊Why this room have a lot of clocks?, Be+SVO? e.g.,＊Are they are

52


mother and son?), Stage 4: Pseudo-inversion; Yes-no inversion ((Wh)+copula+S, e.g., Who is the

girl in the yellow blouse? Is it the department store?, Aux/modal+SV e.g., Will he support the

children?), Stage 5: Aux 2nd (Wh+aux/do e.g., ＊What do he feel about his life now?) (McDonough

and Mackey, 2006, pp. 719―720)

Reference

Andersen, W. R. & Shirai, Y. (1994). Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16 (2) , 133―156.

Andersen, W. R. & Shirai, Y. (1996). The primacy of aspect in first and second language acquisition:

The pidgin-creole connection. In W. Ritchie & T. Bahita (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 527―570). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2000). The aspect hypothesis. In K. Bardovi-Harlig (Ed.), Tense and aspect in second language acquisition (pp. 191―275). Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell.

Ellis, R., Basturkmen, H. & Loewen, S. (2001). Preemptive focus on form in the ESL Classroom.

TESOL Quarterly, 35: 3. 407―432.

Ellis, R. (2006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40: 1. 83―107.

Gass, S. M. (2003). Input and interaction. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 224―255). Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.

Han, Z. (2002). A study of the impact of recasts on tense consistency in L2 output. TESOL Quarterly, 36: 4. 543―572.

Ishida, M. (2004). Effects of recasts on the acquisition of the aspectual form -te i-(ru) by learners of

Japanese as a foreign language. Language Learning, 54: 2. 311―394.

Loewen, S. & Philp, J. (2006). Recasts in the adult English L2 classroom: characteristics, explicitness,

and effectiveness. The Modern Language Journal, 90: 4 . 536―556.

Long, M. H. (1996), The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. Ritchie

& T. Bahita (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413―468). San Diego, CA:

Academic Press.

Lyster, R. (1998). Recasts, repetition, and ambiguity in L2 classroom discourse. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 51―81.

McDonough, K. & Mackey, A. (2006). Responses to recasts: repetitions, primed production, and

linguistic development. Language Learning, 56: 4. 693―720.

Pienemann, M. (1984). Psychological constrains on the teachability of languages. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 6 , 186―214.

Pienemann, M., & Johnston, M. (1987). Factors influencing the development of language proficiency. In

D. Nunan (Ed.), Applying second language acquisition research (pp. 45―141). Adelaide:

National Curriculum Resource Centre, Adult Migrant Education Program.

Pienemann, M., Johnstron, M., & Brindley, G. (1988). Constructing an acquisition-based procedure for

second language assessment. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10, 217―243.

Pienemann, M. (1989). Is language teachable? Psycholinguistic experiments and hypotheses. Applied Linguistics, 10, 52―79.

Yoshida, R. (2008). Teachers’ choice and learners’ preference of corrective feedback types. Language

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Awareness, 17: 1. 78―93.

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リキャストの効果

冨倉　教子

要　　旨

　リキャストの研究は数多くなされているが、その役割と効果については未だに明確ではない。その一方で相互対話とコレクティブフィードバックは言語教師に日々の教授の中で使用されている主要な方法論である。そこでこの論文では３つの先行研究を紹介し、そこに見られるリキャストと言語学習との関係性についてさらなる調査をおこなった。最初のMcDonough とMackey （2006）の研究では、英語の質問形の習得におけるリキャストとその反応、言語発達の関係について議論されている。次に Ishida （2004）は英語話者による日本語のアスペクト習得におけるリキャストの効果について述べている。最後にHan （2002）は、時制の一致の学習において、リキャストがL2学習者の注意とその学習項目の向上へと導くかどうかを調査している。結果として、リキャストの効果が見受けられた。しかしながら、言語学習とその発達においてはリキャスト以外の要因が影響するかもしれないということも判明した。

キーワード：コレクティブ　フィードバック、ネガティブ　フィードバック、リキャスト、相互対話、言語発達

Documents

The Effect of Recasts - Nanzan Universityoffice.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ncia/about-cia/item/pdf_16/kenkyu...correction. Moreover, as Lyster (1998) states, recasts are often used by a teacher