A quest into recasts as a type of corrective feedback in foreign language classrooms

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate how EFL teachers utilise corrective feedback in their classrooms. To this end, an analytic model consisting of various corrective feedback moves was applied to a small amount of data consisting of 12 lesson-hour classroom interaction with a purpose of documenting the frequencies and distribution of corrective feedback, in particular, of recasts in relation to other corrective feedback types and of specific types of recasts. Data were gathered from first-year speaking classes at an ELT department in a large state university in Turkey. The findings indicated that recasts were the most frequently employed corrective feedback strategy by the teachers. A closer examination of those recasts further revealed incorporative declarative recasts as the most preferred type of recasting. Overall, what these findings suggest is that recasts might serve important communicative functions by helping EFL teachers provide input in an authentic and supportive manner and by building on learner output.