IN THE CLASSROOM

Castaway?
Chris Payne casts rror correction of both oral interlanguage compares with what

a questioning eye over

error correction.
E and written mistakes occupies
a prominent place in ELT
literature, and continues to be a
divisive issue. The correction of students’
mistakes encompasses a wide range of
competent speakers say. I am sure that
the fact that they do not disrupt
communication also accounts for their
popularity amongst teachers who adopt
a communicative approach.
points to consider. Some of the main
ones are: What to correct? Who corrects? Explicit correction
Which correction techniques to use? When
to correct? And even: Should we correct? Explicit correction is when the teacher
In the interests of brevity, this article intervenes by pointing out where and
will focus solely on speech errors, and how learners are wrong. It can also
on two correction techniques: recasts entail asking the student to repeat the
(or reformulation) and explicit corrected version of an utterance. A
correction (or direct feedback). compelling reason and justification for
sometimes giving explicit correction is
simply that many learners expect or
Recasts want their errors to be corrected in this
Recasts are an attempt to imitate the way. Maybe this is because it reflects the
way in which real-life correction traditional view of what a teacher does.
happens. Typically, it is the way people These days, students often complain
in the street or in shops react to about not being corrected enough –
learners’ errors, and is generally how rarely about being corrected too much!
parents correct their children. Recasts
are an indirect and gentle way of giving
feedback, in which the teacher A compelling reason
reformulates all or part of an utterance and justification for
into a correct or more appropriate
version of what a learner is trying to sometimes giving explicit
say. For example:
correction is simply that
Student: I go to the cinema last night.
Teacher: You went to the cinema.
many learners expect or
What did you see? want their errors to be
Student: ‘Avatar’.
In this example, the teacher supplies the
corrected in this way
correct form (went) without interrupting
the flow of speech, thus maintaining a
focus on meaning.
Errors and mistakes
I have chosen to focus on recasts It is common in ELT circles to make a
because they have been observed to distinction between errors and mistakes.
occur in Communicative Language It is not my intention here to analyse
Teaching (CLT) classrooms more different kinds of errors of lexis,
frequently than any other correction grammar and pronunciation, and their
technique. Among prevailing correction cause, so I use the terms error and
procedures, recasts are deemed to be an mistake interchangeably.
effective way of providing learners with It is useful for teachers to know
the opportunity to notice how their whether a mistake is due to an over-

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 80 May 2012 • 51

 Castaway?
researchers claim that students frequently advice for teachers is to distinguish
fail to notice recasts as correction, and between accuracy and fluency activities.
assume that the teacher is responding to Conventional ELT wisdom suggests that
the content rather than the form of their if the objective is accuracy, then



generalisation of a rule, a developmental speech. If learners in an ESL classroom immediate correction is likely to be
error, an omission, the result of transfer do not notice recasts and receive no useful, but we shouldn’t interfere or
from the learner’s L1 or a covert explicit correction, they may still be interrupt our learners during fluency
mistake. A covert mistake is when the considered fortunate as they do not activities. With fluency activities, we
student says something which is wholly depend on the teacher for usually delay giving feedback until the
grammatically correct, but is not what exposure to English. Once they are end of the activity so as not to disrupt
they meant. For example, if a student outside the classroom, they have ample communication. The problem with the
asks How long are you in London? do opportunity for multiple exposure to accuracy or fluency distinction is that it
they mean: How long are you going to English, which can facilitate noticing and is based on the teacher’s attitude to
stay in London? or How long have you subsequently the acquisition of natural- mistakes and not on learning styles. It is
been in London? As the former is a more sounding and correct language. unlikely that our learners think in terms
colloquial form, the latter is probably of fluency and accuracy, and some of
what was intended. them prefer to be corrected consistently.
Most of us adopt If students are interested in being
ESL and EFL a sensible policy of accurate all the time, they will not
necessarily appreciate our attempts to
Perhaps it is not so common to distinguish
between ESL and EFL classrooms when
selective correction, encourage them to talk freely in a
fluency activity.
we consider correction, but I believe the and we attach more
distinction is of interest for our use of
recasts. First, we will look at recasts in the importance to errors that What and when
ESL classroom, and then we will consider obscure meaning or It is unfashionable to point out that
if it is politic to use them to the same explicit correction has a role to play
degree in the EFL classroom. impede communication during fluency activities as well as after
English as a Second Language refers to them. If intelligibility is jeopardised,
English as it is learnt by people resident on-the-spot correction is often precisely
English as a Foreign Language refers to what is needed to make the learners
in countries such as the UK, the USA or English as it is studied in non-English-
Australia, where English is generally the notice an error at the exact moment it
speaking countries, such as Germany, occurs. An analogy with learning to
language of the community. Japan or Brazil. In an EFL setting,
Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis drive a car helps illustrate this point. A
learners have far less opportunity to learner driver who makes a mistake
states that children acquire their first notice language used naturally outside
language by understanding during a driving lesson is more likely to
the classroom, as their exposure to notice the correction if it is given while
‘comprehensible input’, that is, language English will often be minimal. If these
which is a little above their existing the driver is focused on driving, rather
learners, who mostly depend on the than after the lesson. Likewise, many
understanding and from which they can classroom for exposure to English, are
infer meaning. In Krashen’s view, language learners notice errors more if
corrected using recasts and these recasts these are pointed out explicitly while the
comprehensible input is also what is go unnoticed, vital learning
needed for students to acquire English learners are focused on communicating,
opportunities can be missed. In this case, rather than having them reformulated
as a second language. He suggests that they and their ESL counterparts will
when learners make a mistake, the or corrected later.
benefit from receiving ‘negative
teacher should respond with a recast evidence’, that is, direct feedback about
which exposes the students to language what it is not possible to say. In fact, Sense and sensitivity
just above their current level of English. some researchers have reacted to the Corrective feedback of any kind could
Krashen believes that explicit correction trend towards CLT and have expressed give rise to a number of potential
of speech errors can have a detrimental the concern that a lack of explicit problems, and the two techniques
effect on the students’ willingness to try correction will result in early fossilisation mentioned also have drawbacks of
to express themselves, and appears to of errors. A fossilised error is one that
have very little effect on language has become a permanent feature of a
acquisition. learner’s interlanguage and is at risk of Many language
Richard Schmidt (quoted by Patsy
Lightbown and Nina Spada) emphasises
becoming resistant to teaching. learners notice errors
the role of ‘noticing’ in language
Fluency and accuracy more if they are pointed
acquisition, and asserts that we acquire
language by consciously noticing and Most of us adopt a sensible policy of out explicitly while
paying attention to it. It could be argued selective correction, and we attach more
that the effectiveness of using recasts importance to errors that obscure
they are focused on
stands or falls on the ability of the learner meaning and, consequently, affect or communicating
to notice the reformulated language. Some impede communication. The usual

52 • Issue 80 May 2012 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

which we ought to be aware. If explicit technique we prefer, we need to think
correction is not handled sensitively, it
could create an atmosphere of stress
about the effect of our feedback on the
student being corrected, and on other
TALKBACK!
and anxiety in the classroom, and could members of the class who might process

I
n Issue 79 of ETp, John Potts (‘Language
even demotivate students and deter the feedback. We must also remember log’) cites a number of examples of
them from wanting to speak in English. that, when learners are communicating conditional sentences that don’t follow
Recasts will not usually impact in English, their priority is to get their the patterns found in ELT coursebooks. His
negatively on students’ confidence to message across, and that the meaning of article reminds us that grammar books are
communicate, but they have their utterances is important – not just an attempt to describe how the language is
disadvantages of a different nature. our teaching objectives. used and cannot be expected to cover all
possible permutations.
Apart from the danger of them not Jim Cummins and Chris Davison
It is useful to begin by teaching a
being noticed, the use of recasts report that ‘recent experimental
limited number of forms to help students
assumes a basic interaction between the classroom studies have revealed that more express themselves in English. However,
teacher and the student. The teacher explicit types of feedback can lead to sooner or later they are likely to come
must actually be talking to the student higher levels of accuracy and development across other variations. Potts’ examples,
than implicit types of feedback in the seen alongside corpus lists, make it clear
form of recasts’. that the teaching of three particular
Whichever correction conditionals doesn’t provide learners with
technique we prefer, we  the whole picture. As students progress, it
may be useful to teach the use of would for
need to think about the I believe that if students are receptive to something unlikely and would have for a
possibility that didn’t happen, while other
recasts, their usefulness as a correction
effect of our feedback technique is not in dispute. However, in
tenses can be used as usual.
Potts wonders why if + would is more
on the student being an EFL environment in which the common in American than in British English.
learners receive just a few hours a week This can be explained by the influence of
corrected, and on other of classroom exposure to English, German, which uses both equivalent forms
explicit correction can significantly (hätte and haben würde). Not only are
members of the class expedite the process of language learning German and English both derived from West
by providing direct feedback about rules Germanic, but American English is also
and the limits of language use. subject to greater modern German influence
to be able to reformulate. It would be
Some teachers in a CLT classroom from the large numbers of German speakers
strange and unnatural to reformulate who crossed the Atlantic. Another example
the utterances of two students who are readily embrace the idea of fluency over
is the use of the simple past and present
talking to each other. This is basically accuracy. But a desire for fluency in a
perfect tenses, eg American I already did it
common sense. Another point to communicative approach does not
and He just arrived versus British I’ve already
consider is that if teachers recast just excuse us from trying our utmost to done it and He’s just arrived. Again, modern
one part of an utterance, they could help our learners also to develop high German retains both equivalent forms. This
unwittingly produce language with the levels of accuracy in the use of all goes to show that multiple forms are the
correct form, but which would rarely be grammar, lexis and pronunciation. I norm and the grammar found in textbooks
said. We can take an example from suggest that when used wisely, a balance does not cover all acceptable variations.
Mark Bartram and Richard Walton’s between recasts and other corrective Other rules popularised by ELT
feedback is in our students’ best coursebooks also give the impression that
excellent book Correction:
interests. ETp other forms are not acceptable. Some go on
Student: I’m keen on go to the cinema for pages about the sequence of tenses in
this evening. reported speech, leaving students frustrated
Cummins, J and Davison, C International
when native speakers say He said he’s
The temptation here is to correct go to Handbook of English Language Teaching
Springer 2007 coming rather than He said he was coming.
going and thus recast the sentence as As with conditionals, these tenses are simply
I’m keen on going to the cinema this Bartram, M and Walton, R Correction
being used in the normal way, one being
evening. While this is superficially Thomson Heinle 2002
about the future and one about the past.
correct, it might be a better idea to Lightbown, P and Spada, N How Perhaps the solution is to teach
Languages are Learned OUP 1999
recast the whole sentence as a native learners forms they can use to express
speaker would actually express the idea. themselves, but point out that others are
For example, I feel like going to the Chris Payne is the also in use. They may discover this for
owner of Paddington themselves, and can use corpus websites
cinema tonight or I fancy going to the School of English and
cinema tonight. has been teaching in and dictionaries which refer to usage from
Spain since 1993. He corpora to extend their knowledge.
has published several
articles on ELT and
While it is convenient to describe
The meaning and the his current research certain grammar rules that help learners
message interests include the
challenge of using
communicate, they should be made aware
grammar effectively
that native speakers of English may use
Some teachers also use peer correction in real-time many patterns to express the same ideas.
and are in favour of fostering heuristic communication. Angela Rogers
skills and getting students to self- Bandung, Indonesia
correct. But whichever correction paddington@terra.es

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 80 May 2012 • 53