The purpose of this study is to examine how a child aged between 25 to 26 months progressively responds to recast during the early years of language development. Further, the research seeks to employ a case study of a polish child to establish how recast, as a corrective technique, affects the process of mastering sentence structures and general language rules. Some studies argue that the use of recast to guide young learners is an effective method since it shows them how different their current language ability is from the target. On the other hand, some scholars suggest that recast could appear ambiguous to learners if they perceive it as a confirmation of meanings as opposed to correction regarding the morphology of the language. For these reasons, this research looks to take an experimental as well as an observational approach when studying the child’s responses and analysing the effects of recast on the language acquisition process. Through the assessment of numerous child-parent conversations which were recorded over time, this study targets to find out how useful recast is to the child who is learning Polish as the first language. Further, the study seeks to experiment with the various types of recast on the child to determine the appropriate styles that should be used by parents, caregivers, and educators in different situations. The study concludes that recast plays a significant role in the early language development of a Polish child.
Keywords:
recast, language development, Polish child, feedback, first language.
Table of Contents
Abstract 2
1.0 Chapter 1 Introduction. 6
1.1 Significance of the Study. 6
1.2 Aims and Objectives. 7
1.3 Research Questions. 8
1.4 Methodology. 8
1.5 Overview of the Chapters. 9
1.6 Conclusion. 9
2.0 Chapter 2: Literature Review.. 11
2.1 Introduction. 11
2.2 Background Information. 11
2.3 Defining Recast 12
2.4 Types of Recast 12
2.5 Benefits and shortfalls of Recast 14
2.6 Learners’ Uptake. 15
2.7 The Effectiveness of Recast 17
2.8 Theoretical Frameworks for Recasting. 18
2.8.1 Direct Contrast Hypothesis. 18
Characteristics of Recast Types. 20
2.8.2 Explicit Recast 20
2.8.3 Modelling in Recast 21
2.9 Conclusion. 22
3.0 Chapter 3: Methodology. 23
3.1 Introduction. 23
3.2 Methodological Approach. 23
3.3 Theoretical Approach. 25
3.4 Conclusion. 27
4.0 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion of Findings. 28
4.1 Introduction. 28
4.2 Meaning-focused Recast 29
4.3 Extension and Expansion (Conversational Recast) 33
4.4 Explicit recast (Focused) vs. Implicit Recast (Broad) 35
4.5 Error Repetition Recast 37
4.6 Interrogative Recast 38
4.7 Assessing the Effectiveness of Recast Types. 39
4.7.1 The Frequency of Recasting. 40
4.7.2 Applications of Recast 41
4.7.3 Children’s Language Environment 42
4.8 Conclusion. 44
5.0 Chapter 5: Recommendations and Conclusion. 45
5.1 Limitations of the study. 47
Personal Development Plan. 58
List of Figures
Figure 1 19
List of Tables
Table 1 16
Table 2 28
Table 3 29
List of Appendices
Appendix 1 48
Recast and Language Development: A Case Study of a Polish Child. What is a Child’s Response to and the Effects of Recast?
1.0 Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Significance of the Study
The effectiveness of recasting as a corrective technique for young learners of language has been a subject of debate for many decades (Baleghizadeh and Abdi 2010, p.8). Further, recasting is a natural strategy used by many parents in guiding children to master the first language (Bowen 2006). Arguably, recasting is the most frequent speech tool that is intuitively employed when teaching language and interacting with children (Cleave et al. 2015, p.238). Studies have also established that recast is especially effective when carried on children who need assistance in their grammatical or syntactic language aspects (Jarzynski 2017). Whenever the young learners make mistakes while formulating a sentence, the adult responds by giving them the correct form of the statement. Over time, the child picks up the various corrections and finally masters the sentence structure by themselves (Cleave et al. 2015, p.239). Besides assisting a young learner to focus on the required language rules, recast has other numerous benefits that this study seeks to explore while determining the effectiveness of recast on a child’s mastery of grammar.
In contrast, the subject of the effectiveness of recasting has also for a long time been marred by numerous controversies (Ellis and Sheen 2006, p.578). For example, some researchers argue that recast could be ambiguous to learners since it is primarily influenced by the context of a particular dialogue as well as the intentions of the people involved in the conversation. If the child perceives corrective feedback as a confirmation of meanings other than a correction concerning the form of language, then recast could be considered as vague (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.720). Another shortcoming of the recast is that there is currently no adequate research to guide parents and educators about the extent of the feedback that should be given to students. Notably, the issue of the degree and kind of recast that a child should receive from the parent or teacher remains a subject of debate due to inadequate research on the matter and will hence be looked into deeply in this research.
Bowen (2006) suggests that for a recast to be a useful tool of teaching young learners the rules of grammar, it must be presented in a well-structured or focused manner rather than taking a broad approach. On that note, this study seeks to assess the various studies carried out to guide the use of recast while teaching children in real life situations. Numerous scholars have, in the past, concentrated on the different types of recast without examining the impact of each variety on the language development of a child (Ellis and Sheen 2006, p.576). For that reason, most parents and educators of language do not know whether some types of recast are more effective than others. They are also unaware of the extent to which recast should be used and the point at which they ought to employ additional techniques of enhancing language development like modelling and prompt. The facilitators will, therefore, learn some strategies aimed at encouraging the young learners to improve their language development and speech.
1.2 Aims and Objectives
The study looks to accomplish the following goals which also define the scope of the research:
1. The research intends to observe how a child responds to the different types of recast while learning Polish as the first language. To achieve this target, the researcher analyses recorded conversations or direct interactions between a mother and her child and identifies any improvements in mastering language or reaction to recast over time.
2. The study aims at examining the effects of using recast as a corrective method of improving the language development of a child in the early years of development. Also, to comprehensively look at the overall effectiveness of recast, the study targets to examine its various shortcomings and how these inadequacies affect a child’s mastery of grammar.
3. The study seeks to analyse the most appropriate guidelines that should be employed by parents while teaching children the Polish language. The research further aims at availing a well-structured approach that defines when, where, and how recast should be used as a corrective technique during the early years of a child’s language development.
1.3 Research Questions
The study seeks to provide answers to the following research questions:
1. How do children master or uptake the language they hear?
2. How do young learners respond to the various categories of recast while acquiring the Polish language?
3. How effective is recast as a corrective method of enhancing a child’s language development?
4. What guidelines or rules ought to be followed by parents while conducting recast on first language learners?
1.4 Methodology
The approach taken by the research to theoretically analyse the research questions above is primarily based on a mother’s experience with her child during the process of mastering Polish as his first language. The parent experiments with the various types of recast presented in the literature review section by engaging the child in numerous conversations which are then documented in tables, charts, notes, or in audio recorders (Sim 1998, p.348). The mother then observes the progress made by the child in mastering particular language rules and sentence structures when they use a specific type of recast. The parent also takes note of the impact of using a specific category of recast repeatedly on the language development of the child. Eventually, the study seeks to establish the relationship between the different types of recast and their respective usefulness in learning Polish. Moreover, the study presents a theoretical criterion that will be used to examine the effectiveness of recasting as a tool for assisting children to learn the Polish language (Asari 2012, p.6). The framework consisting of four factors including unobtrusiveness, learner-centeredness, implicitness, and the dual function of negative and positive evidence of recasting.
1.5 Overview of the Chapters
Chapter one presents a general overview of the study by first introducing the aims and significance of the research. The research seeks to examine a child’s response to recast as a corrective learning tool used by parents and educators, explain the benefits and shortcomings of the recast, and assess the effect of the various types of recast on the language development of a child. Chapter two presents a review of relevant literature which provides background understanding regarding the Polish language, definition of recast, and an analysis of the different types of recast. Chapter three shows the methods employed in the collection and data analysis for the study. The primary technique of obtaining first-hand data includes the recording of the parent-child conversations whereby the mother applies different types of recast while teaching the Polish language. She consequently takes note of the child’s response to each of the recasting categories and records the data in tables, notes, and chats presented in chapter four of the research on findings. After that, the primary information gathered by the parent will be analysed qualitatively in the fifth chapter using supporting data from secondary sources to establish the effectiveness of different types of recast. Finally, the research culminates by presenting a conclusion and recommendations in chapter six based on the analysis of the findings in the previous section of the study.
1.6 Conclusion
In short, the experience with my child, who in this study will be referred to as him will be used to examine the relationship between recast and language development. Importantly, at the time of the study he was aged between 25 and 26 months. Through observations, experiments, and continuous assessments on how he responded to each type of recast while engaging him in conversations conducted in Polish. For us to appreciate recast better, the next chapter provides some background information through the study of related research to help us to understand the meaning, types, uptake, and use of recast.
2.0 Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The section presents a broad perspective of collected works from researchers in the field of recast and language development. The review aims at describing recast, its various types, benefits to young learners, and the characteristics of its various forms. Moreover, the chapter seeks to identify research gaps that have not been studied intensely by other scholars and, in turn, attempt to provide additional information to fill the shortfalls.
2.2 Background Information
There is extensive research on the acquisition and learning strategies that should be used by parents of the first language (L1). The ease with which a young learner masters a particular language not only depends on the child’s cognitive abilities but also, the nature of the language under study (Smoczyńska 1985, p.595). In a bid to explain the general morphology of the language, studies provide numerous details regarding conjugational as well as declensional Polish language patterns (Tomlinson 2007, p.151). Similarly, a survey comparing the vocabulary development of two-year-old children submitted that English learners acquire the Polish language at a faster rate than their counterpart Polish-speaking children (Slobin 2014, p.415). Other reviews show that the Polish language is generally complex in nature (Barrett 2016, p.112). The intricate nature of the Polish language forms the background of the study since recast is more effective for young children who need assistance in mastering the grammatical or syntactic aspects of a particular language (Weist and Stebbins 1972, p.360). In addition, the revelation that there have been minimal attempts to examine the various classifications of recast, prompt the quest to assess the most effective types of recast in helping a Polish child to learn the language with much ease (Perdomo 2008, p.156).
2.3 Defining Recast
Numerous researchers have over time devised different definitions of a recast. According to Ranta and Lyster (1997, p.47), recast is the partial or complete reformulation of a learner’s statement by the educator. Recast is, therefore, a corrective approach used by a parent who is a native speaker of the Polish language to restructure the utterances of their young child. As well, recast is the rephrasing of a child’s statement by varying some components of a sentence while still retaining its meaning (Long 1998, p.16). Thirdly, a given response is considered a recast if it includes some of the content words contained in the incorrect statement, and somehow corrected or altered the initial sentence (Braidi 2002, p.19). Recast is also described as an implied and corrective feedback (Zhang and Fukuya 2002, p.4). In other words, a child’s utterances are immediately followed by a corresponding sentence from the parent which contains the expected or target form of grammar. Corrective feedback pays more attention to the meaning of a particular statement other than the language itself (Long 2006, p.62). Finally, recast exists within the context of a conversation between the child and the adult, and where there is at least one error in the learner’s statement (Sheen 2006, p.364). In general, recast is considered as what the parent or educator says to help a child notice their mistake and, in turn, repair or correct the error on their own.
2.4 Types of Recast
The different categories of recast that educators and parents can employ while assisting young learners to develop their language abilities are illustrated below.
“Firstly, an explicit recast is usually very direct and clear regarding the part that needs to be corrected. Notably, explicit recast enables the learner to take note of just one element that they ought to repair” (Sheen 2006, p.362).
“Implicit recast, on the other hand, takes a more subtle approach and frequently makes use of gestures. Implicit recast usually implies to the child that there is something wrong with their utterances and hence needs correction instead of prompting the young learner to rectify the error instantly” (Asari 2012, p.6).
“Vocabulary recast directs the child to remedy a specific aspect of vocabulary in their utterances” (Sheen 2006, p.362).
“Grammar recast informs the learner that they ought to correct a particular grammatical issue of a given sentence” (Sheen 2006, p.362).
“Short recast only lasts for a limited duration. In other words, the parent or teacher just provides the learner with a small hint regarding their error” (Braidi 2002, p.17).
“Long recast, on the contrary, lasts longer than short recast. The language facilitator presents the child with a more protracted hint or explains the part of their statement that needs rectification” (Braidi 2002, p.17).
“Pronunciation recast specifies that a particular aspect of a sentence requires some correction. For this specific instance, the learner is obliged to rectify the pronunciation” (Sheen 2006, p.367).
“Additional recast or request tells the learner that their sentence needs some additional information” (Asari 2012, p.6).
“Substitution recast or request informs the child that they need to replace a particular part of their statement with something else” (Asari 2012, p.6).
“Interrogative recast is usually availed in the form of a question. The parent may ask the child what they think is wrong with the statement or reiterate the sentence in question form” (Asari 2012, p.4)
“Declarative recast is presented to the learner in form of a statement. The teacher or parent informs the learner that something is not right with their utterances. For instance, the parent could point out that “You have used the wrong form of gender” (Asari 2012, p.4).
“One repair needed type of recast illustrates that the child’s statement requires more than one repair. The contrary of this category is the multiple repairs needed a recast” (Braidi 2002, p.17).
“Clarification request recast obliges learners to think through their statement, make the necessary amendments, and provide a repeat answer. For example, the teacher could induce the clarification request by asking “Pardon?” (Sheen 2006, p.364).
“Elicitation recast attempts to prompts the learner to provide the parent with the specific information that they are looking for” (Braidi 2002, p.18).
“Error repetition entails the parent reciting the erroneous sentence in the manner which the child presented the statement” (Sheen 2006, p.364).
2.5 Benefits and Shortfalls of Recast
Leeman indicated that recasting is a useful form of feedback (2003, p.43). Likewise, children have been observed to repeat the recast instigated by their parents during the acquisition of the first language. According to Doughty and Varela (1998, p.116), recast serves as “negative evidence” following the hypothesis by some researchers that recast helps children to take note of the difference between their utterances and the target forms of language.
From a practical perspective, a recast is an appropriate technique while delivering complex language structures to a child (Lyster 2002, p.267). Since the Polish language is considered to be relatively intricate in its morphology, recast presents an ideal technique for use by parents of the first language. Moreover, recast acts as “scaffoldings” that support the flow of communication between the parent and child whenever the target form of the recast sentence is far beyond the child’s capability (Lyster 2002, p.268).
On the other hand, recast does not result in self-repair. If any form of repair exists, the child can only reiteration the corrective recast presented by the parent (Baleghizadeh and Abdi 2010, p.4). Most scholars also maintain that since numerous types of recast are ambiguous, they are not useful in assisting young learners to take note of their errors. Regarding ambiguity, recasts can be mistaken for signs of approval by a child, for instance,
Learner: “A *din*”
Facilitator: “A den, that is good” (Lyster 2002, p.272).
In the above case, the learner possibly assumed that the facilitator was acknowledging the fact that he had correctly identified the name of the item in question (a den) despite the fact that the child had mispronounced the word as “A *din*”. For that reason, recast is not viable since it does not help the learner to identify his pronunciation error (Lyster 2002, p.272).
2.6 Learners’ Uptake
Most studies use uptake as the basic parameter to assess the impact of recast on a learner’s progress in mastering language (Egi 2007, p.515). Arguably, uptake presents evidence that a particular child has made some progress towards learning. The only way that a parent takes note of a child’s development in language is when the learner reformulates their original utterance to match the corrections suggested by the educator (Lightbown 1998, p.193). Uptake refers to the response of a child that immediately follows the feedback of the facilitator (Ranta 1997, p.49). Put differently, uptake constitutes some form of a reaction to the teacher’s intention to bring the child to the attention that some part of their utterances requires corrections.
To explain the relationship between learner’s responses, recast, and development, studies show that learning interactions resulting in giving feedback have a lesser impact on recast (Havranek 2002, p.256). Therefore, in instances where a parent or educator requires direct feedback such as in test performance, a recast is not a valid technique. On the other hand, recast has been identified as a useful method of mastering language where learners are required to repeat the recast immediately. Upon repeating the corrected utterances, the children are more likely to recall the particular forms of recast (McDonough and Mackey 2000, p.471).
For us to understand how learners perceive recast, studies indicate that children are more likely to rectify their errors if they acknowledge recast as a corrective form of feedback (Egi 2007, p.512). For that reason, the quality of uptake regarding modification and repair is to some degree related to the perception of young learners. The rate of language acquisition is lower in cases of stimulated recall or where children repeat similar mistakes as they had stated in their initial utterances (Egi 2007, p.517).
The different types of uptake include repair, modification, acknowledgment, a case where there is no uptake, or the error remains unmodified (Asari 2012, p.8). These categories are presented in table 1 below.
Table 1: The different types of learner’s uptake following a recast (Asari 2012, p.8).
Type of uptake
Description
Repair
In this case, the young learner manages to correct the error successfully following an induced recast by the facilitator. The child can either repeat the whole part of the recast or include part of it into a longer sentence.
Inadequate Modification
The learner, in this instance, either modifies the error in his utterances incorrectly or partially corrects the problematic form of the sentence.
Acknowledgment
In acknowledging uptake, the child simply owns up the recast by either saying “yes” or “no.”
Unmodified Errors
In this instance, the learner repeats the initial error made in their utterances without any modifications following a recast. The child may also express some form of difficulty while responding to recast linguistically. Additionally, the learner might seem to evade a particular form of recast intentionally even when the facilitator has made an apparent response to the child’s erroneous statement.
No Uptake
These are instances where the learner makes no reactions or response to recast.
2.7 The Effectiveness of Recast
Citing from Nicholas, Lightbown, and Spada (2001, p.720), recast is considered useful in situations where the learner perceives it as a reaction to the correctness of the form as opposed to the meaning of the initial sentence. Put differently, recast is only viable when the learner understands that a teacher applies recasting to rectify the structure of his erroneous statement. Traditionally, most teaching practices operated on the assumption that for children to make progress in their language development, they ought to receive feedback relating to their errors (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.721). However, in the modern-day context, teachers have come to appreciate that children are capable of developing their language abilities without receiving direct feedback upon making mistakes. Recast, is thus a valid technique today since it does not explicitly require a young learner to avail immediate response after receiving possible corrections from the facilitator. Instead, recast takes a more interactive approach to the use of language by giving children the opportunity to engage freely in hearing and self-expression (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.721). As a result, recast can achieve the same level of effectiveness as other forms of teaching language that demand direct feedback from the young children. Furthermore, some scholars suggest that it would be best to avoid direct error correction altogether (Truscott 1999, p.112).
Nicholas, Lightbown, and Spada (2001, p.721) further argue that one of the most widely used feedback technique by teachers is the category of recast whereby the educator correctly restates the child’s incorrect sentence. For instance,
Chid: “The boy has many flowers in the basket.”
Facilitator: “Yes, the boy has many flowers in the basket.” (Obtained from from Nicholas, Lightbown, and Spada 2001, p.721).
The recast in the above example serves to sustain the conversation by taking a positive interaction approach since the teacher does not break the flow of the communication with the learner. The recast also avails feedback to the child by offering them an alternative target statement. Although recast is a highly useful method of facilitating the mastering of language among the young children, only limited studies show when the technique will take effect. To determine when recast does or does not work towards assisting children to master the language, parameters such as the features of the recast, learner factors, and the nature of the targeted grammatical elements are taken into account (Ellis and Sheen 2006, p.578).
2.8 Theoretical Frameworks for Recasting
2.8.1 Direct Contrast Hypothesis
The Direct Contrast Hypothesis contends that providing a child with immediate feedback after they make an erroneous statement is the first step towards a child’s language advancement (Saxton 2017, p.72). The child perceives the contrast existing between their original utterance and the form presented by the facilitator. The young learner is thus able to reject the incorrect form of their initial statement and replace it with the rectified sentence structure. Another theory which is popularly known as the “noticing hypothesis” was put forward by Schmidt (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.745). The hypothesis states that for children to master the language, they have to take note of the correction presented by the facilitator. Therefore, for a recast to take effect, the child must cognitively compare the language form in their initial utterances to the teacher’s reaction (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.743).
As McKee (2011, p.655) points out, recast is valid because of the acceptable manner in which corrections are presented. According to Long (1998, p.15), recast is a “positive evidence” other than “negative evidence” as illustrated in figure 1. In other words, the technique does not focus on “negative evidence” or what is not acceptable in the target language availed by the teacher. Instead, recast concentrates on “positive evidence” or giving the child some examples of the acceptable form of the target language (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.731). Although recast is presented appropriately as positive evidence, there is always a risk related to how the child uptakes the recast. For instance, the child may not be consciously aware that the teacher reiterates their utterances with the aim of correcting them. In turn, if the child fails to perceive the recast as a corrective measure, its impact on the language improvement of the learner is considered superficial since it does not lead to the expected linguistic competence (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.724).
Figure 1: Recast and its presentation of positive and negative evidence (Long 1998, p.15).
Further emphasis shows that recasts can provide negative or positive evidence depending on their characteristics (Ellis and Sheen 2006, p.582). They further note that recast can supply positive evidence singly or a corrective force that the learner does not recognise. The type of recast providing positive evidence expedites the acquisition of language to some extent. Some studies have also shown that some categories of recast availing both negative and positive evidence are deemed to be more effective in facilitating the mastery of language (Baleghizadeh and Abdi 2010, p.4).
Characteristics of Recast Types
2.8.2 Explicit Recast
The mid-1960s studies regarding the acquisition of the first language (L1) demonstrate that the linguistic errors made by children are systematic (Hanlon and Brown 1970, p.63). Put differently, systematic errors suggest that children do things that they have not been taught and almost certainly gain the control of the facilitator’s language. Further probe into the interaction between the children and the facilitators showed that parents or carers avoid being objective and concentrate less on how young learners say things (Hanlon and Brown 1970, p.63). Instead, they tend to be subjective by paying more attention to what is being said. In the review of the role and nature of feedback, there is no single explanation comprehensively explains why children are incredibly successful in learning their L1 (Hanlon and Brown 1970, p.63). Arguably, not even explicit negative comment or explicit positive recast could explain this tremendous achievement (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada 2001, p.721).
Concerning the use of explicit recast to correct a child’s utterances, parents scarcely ever rectify their children’s statements using such words as:
“No, that is wrong”
or
“Yes, that is right”
(Extracted from Hanlon and Brown 1970, p.65).
On the contrary, most parents take a corrective approach which involves responding to the young learners with corrective comments whenever he or she says something false or that lacks a concrete meaning. Citing from Nicholas, Lightbown, and Spada (2001, p.728) the information regarding the use of explicit recast when correcting grammatical errors is scanty. However, further probing has established that adults tend to modify their speech when talking to young children. The reason behind the adjustment is that the adults intuitively consider the comprehension level of children to be lower than their and hence adjust their speech to a level they believe is appropriate for young learners. From this understanding, researcher advanced the use of expansion recast which aims at rephrasing a child’s unfinished statement with additional information to make the sentence complete as in the example below.
Child: “The ball.”
Parent: “Yes, the ball is rolling” (Extracted from Farrar 1990, p.613).
Recast is considered to be highly effective when used intensively or when it focuses recurrently on a particular element of language (Ellis and Sheen 2006, p.583). The targeted parts of grammar should also be enhanced through such techniques as emphatic stress by the facilitator for a recast to create a considerable impact on a child’s language development. As well, recast is more feasible when used as a method of delivering corrections focusing more on the language form as is the case with an extensive and incidental recast. The corrective techniques that take a form-focused approach include focused, intensive, and individualised types of a recast (Baleghizadeh and Abdi 2010, p.11).
2.8.3 Modelling in Recast
Modelling attempts to answer the research question how the different categories of recast should be structured to deliver the highest effectiveness in a child’s language development. Parents and caregivers should follow particular guidelines while engaging a child in a recast (Bowen 2006). They should strive to provide children with models every time they attempt to speak other than asking them to imitate or repeat a recast. The model
