The Effect Of Intensive And Extensive Recasts On Senior Middle School Students’ Acquisition Of English Conditionals

This study seeks to examine the effects of two different types of recasts (intensive recasts and extensive recasts) on Chinese senior middle school students’acquisition of English conditionals in a classroom instructional context. Three research questions are addressed:1) What is the intensive recast on the acquisition of English Conditionals by Chinese senior middle school students? 2) What is the extensive recast on the acquisition of English Conditionals by Chinese senior middle school students? 3) What are the differences in the effects of two different types of recasts (intensive and extensive) on their acquisition of English Conditionals?The experiment conducted in this study lasted for about 7 weeks, employing the instruments of pretest, immediate posttest, delayed posttest, and treatment of two different types of recasts (intensive and extensive). The subjects were 93 senior middle school students from the three parallel classes according to their latest mid-term achievement test on the target structure. On the basis of the scores of the pretest, the results of one-way ANOVA analysis indicate that there are no significant differences among the subjects in their acquired knowledge and use of English conditionals. The subjects were randomly arranged into three groups:intensive recast group, extensive recast group and control group, who were all given lectures by the researcher with the same teaching materials in the same period of teaching time. Each group was given different types of feedback. The intensive recast group received only intensive recasts for target structure highlighted with rising intonations, and the extensive group received extensive recasts with the error corrections highlighted with a statement or a declarative. For the control group, the students were encouraged to accomplish some tasks but with no feedback of any type. To supplement the experiment, a semi-structure interview was conducted to see the students’attitudes towards the different types of feedback.The data collected were analyzed with SPSS 16.0. The analysis yields the following findings:Firstly, a significant difference was found between intensive recast group and control group in the immediate posttest and delayed posttest, suggesting that intensive recast group outperformed the control group in terms of the accuracy of the target structure to be acquired. In the control group, conversational interactions more or less promoted the acquisition of the target structure, but their effects were found to be provisional.Secondly, a significant difference was also observed between extensive recast group and control group in the two posttests, suggesting that extensive recasts may promote the acquisition of the target structure than no recasts, but their effects are less obvious in comparison with the intensive recasts, probably due to the less explicit focus of extensive recasts on the structure to be acquired.Thirdly, cross-group comparison revealed that significant differences existed between the three groups in that intensive recast performed better than the rest groups in the two posttests, suggesting that both types of recast were effective in promoting the acquisition of the target structure but intensive recast proved to be the most effective. The post-experiment interview also confirmed the previous results.This study may have some implications:Theoretically, the results generated from this study support the argument for the effectiveness of corrective feedback with recasts of different types. Pedagogically, the use of intensive recasts is a better choice for EFL teachers to conduct an explicit instruction, particularly in the case of grammar teaching.