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Recasts versus clarification requests: The relevance of linguistic target, proficiency, and communicative ability

  • Nadia Mifka-Profozic EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 23, 2020

Abstract

This paper compares the effects of recasts and clarification requests as two implicit types of corrective feedback (CF) on learning two linguistic structures denoting past aspectual distinction in French, the passé composé and the imparfait. The participants in this classroom-based study are 52 high-school learners of French FL at a pre-intermediate level of proficiency (level B1 of CEFR). A distinctive feature of this study is the use of focused, context constrained communicative tasks in both treatment and tests. The paper specifically highlights the advantages of feedback using recasts for the acquisition of morpho-syntactically complex grammatical structures such as is the French passé composé. The study points to the participants’ communicative ability as an essential aspect of language proficiency, which seems to be crucial to bringing about the benefits of recasts. Oral communicative skill in a foreign language classroom is seen as a prerequisite for an appropriate interpretation and recognition of the corrective nature of recasts.


Corresponding author: Nadia Mifka-Profozic, Department of Education, University of York, Derwent College, Heslington West, York, North Yorkshire, UK, E-mail:

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The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2019-0149).


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