Impact of Recasts and Prompts on the Learning of English Third Person Singular Marker by Persian Learners of English

Based on the controversial beliefs among L۲ teachers about effective corrective feedback (CF) strategies, recast and prompts as ۲ kinds of CF have drawn the attention of L۲ researchers(e.g., Braidi, ۲۰۰۲; Iwashita, ۲۰۰۳; Loewen & Philp, ۲۰۰۶; Panova & Lyster, ۲۰۰۲; Sheen, ۲۰۰۴). Despite these numbers of studies, debate continues to exist about their usefulness as a CF technique. Whereas recasts provide a correct reformulation of L۲ learners’ nontarget utterance, the other alternative type of feedback in L۲ classroom settings is referred to as prompts (Lyster, ۲۰۰۴) because they provide signals that prompt L۲ learners to self-repair rather than provide them with a correct reformulation of their nontarget utterance. Hence, the focus of this study was to examine the effect of recasts in comparison to prompts on the learning of English third person singular marker “s” by Iranian preintermediate L۲ learners. Two CF techniques of recasts and prompts were utilized in ۲ experimental groups in response to their errors in using the correct form of the verb for third person singular subject. In the third group as the control group, No-CF was provided by the L۲ teacher. The results revealed that the Prompts Group had outperformed the Recast Group and No-CF Group. Thus, it could be concluded that prompts as a CF strategy led to more gains than CF that provided the L۲ learners with the correct form (recast) than No-CF.  

Keywords:

corrective feedback , recast , prompts , negative evidence , positive evidence