The Effect Of Recast And Elicitation In Focus On Form Pedagogic Task On L2 Learners’ Oral Fluency, Accuracy, And Uptake

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Date
2016-07
Authors
Alavi, Seyed Saber
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Abstract
In the language classroom, students’ errors may be written, spoken, and even thought. How, under what conditions and to what degree these errors are treated is of current concern in research regarding language acquisition. In their meta-analysis of interactional feedback, Mackey and Goo (2007) report that the utilization of feedback is beneficial and they also find evidence that feedback within the context of a focus on form environment is also facilitative of acquisition, echoing Norris and Ortega’s (2000) positive findings regarding focus on form research. Thus, the role of feedback has found a somewhat limited, very informative and equally persuasive niche in current theory building and research. There is a lack of research specifically addressing the role and effects of forms of feedback, other than recasts, namely prompts, in the second language classroom where the focus in on language use as a means of communication rather than the objectification of it. This context employs focus on form, a brief pedagogical intervention that momentarily shifts the focus of the class from meaning to linguistic form (Long, 1991). Because prompts withhold correct forms, encourage students to simultaneously notice and self-correct and push modified, student-generated uptake, they may be theoretically more appropriate for a focus on form context. This study examines this role in its function and efficacy comparing an implicit prompt, the elicitation, with an explicit prompt, recast on students’ spoken errors in the use of a very complex target structure (Robinson, 2005, 2007, 2011), the simple past tense; there and then situation in the English language. The efficacy of the feedback is measured through fluency, accuracy and successful student uptake. That is, whether or not students are able to self-repair as a result of their teacher-student interview and then achieve development through operationalization as mean gains in a pre-test/post-test design. Statistical significance through t-test analysis is shown for uptake with elicitation, however in accuracy and fluency the results showed that recast group outperformed the elicitation group as a result of feedback provision while performing the complex there/then task. This study stands out from previously published studies in that not only is there development at the whole class level, but in some individual cases, there is a devolution of participants’ ability from the pre-test to the post-test in terms of mean scores. While some participants have shown development by a rise in their pre-test to post-test scores, this may be due to the combination of developmental readiness and the feedback.
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Keywords
The Effect Of Recast And Elicitation In Focus On , form Pedagogic Task On L2 Learners.
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