Recast (language teaching)

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A recast is a technique used in language teaching to correct learners' errors in such a way that communication is not obstructed. To recast an error, an interlocutor will repeat the error back to the learner in a corrected form. Recasts are used both by teachers in formal educational settings, and by interlocutors in naturalistic language acquisition.

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Child language acquisition

Recasts can be used by adults to improve children's native language skills. A frequently used technique is for the adult to imitate the child's speech. In this form of recast, the adult repeats the child's incorrect phrases in correct form. This enables the child to learn the correct pronunciation, grammar and sentence structure. [1]

Language education

Recasts can be used for teaching second languages. Sometimes, the teacher will repeat the words back to the student, usually with different intonation or form, or as a question, so that the recasting appears as a continuation of the conversation:

For example, in German:

Here, the teacher has corrected the student's incorrect positioning of the infinitive "haben" and their declension of the indefinite article "ein".

In this form the recast is usually more than a simple repeating of the learner's words. The teacher will correct the student's errors but also extend the learning by adding additional words or phrases.

A further example, in English:

In this example the teacher is making the correction to the student's speech (adding a "to") but also extending the learning by asking a question.

Efficacy

Some researchers into second language learning have challenged the degree of effectiveness of recasts drawing attention to the abilities of the learner [2] and the limitations imposed by the learner only being able to repeat the words of the teacher [3] as factors that have not been accounted for by proponents of the method.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Rod Ellis is a Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winning British linguist. He is currently a research professor in the School of Education, at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, where he serves as the Vice president of academic affairs. Ellis is a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program and an emeritus professor of the University of Auckland. He has also been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is regarded by some but not everybody as a sub-discipline of applied linguistics but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.

An interlanguage is an idiolect which has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1) and can overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics give an interlanguage its unique linguistic organization. It is idiosyncratically based on the learner's experiences with L2. An interlanguage can fossilize, or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages. It is claimed that several factors shape interlanguage rules, including L1 transfer, previous learning strategies, strategies of L2 acquisition, L2 communication strategies, and the overgeneralization of L2 language patterns.

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Direct negative evidence is a term used in the study of the acquisition of language. It describes the attempts of competent speakers of a language to guide the grammatical use of novice speakers, such as children.

References

  1. Saxton, Matthew (2010). Child Language: Acquisition and Development. Sage Publications Ltd. pp. 94–95.
  2. Ellis, Rod; Sheen, Younghee (2006). "Reexamining the Role of Recasts in Second Language Acquisition". Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 28 (4): 575–600. doi:10.1017/S027226310606027X. ISSN   0272-2631. S2CID   145213635.
  3. Sasan Baleghizadeh; Heidar Abdi (2010). "Recast and Its Impact on Second Language Acquisition" (PDF). International Journal of Language Studies. 4 (4): 57–68. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2012-04-13.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)