Effects Of Recasts And Negotiation Of Form On Oral Accuracy In Natural EFL Classrooms

This thesis sets off an effort to investigate the effects of recasts and NoF on oral accuracy in natural EFL classrooms of non-English-majors, and the influence of learner proficiency on effects of the two corrective feedback (CF) techniques, which are both measured by three impromptu speech tests taken respectively before, immediately after and one month after the instructional intervention. The major conclusions of the present study are as follows:1) In spite of the claimed effects of CF provided in oral activities on oral accuracy, its effects are relatively limited in natural EFL classrooms of non-English-majors. The possible reasons are as follows:The first one is concerned with the certain difficulties in providing CF in natural EFL classrooms of non-English-majors where oral activities only take up a small proportion of class instruction, difficulties exist in carrying out oral activities, and students’ oral production in oral activities is relatively limited in both quantity and quality. All of these factors contribute to less possibility of and more difficulty in providing learners with sufficient feedback as expected.Then there are some inherent problems in implementation of recasts and NoF. The former lies in its ambiguity and for the latter, in spite of its success in drawing students’attention to form, one can never ignore its interruption to the interlocutor’s thinking and the natural flow of the teacher-student interaction, the operational difficulty incurred by coexistence of several errors and the interlocutor’s continuous way of speaking, and the possible failure in using it to deal with students’ unsolicited use of L1.In addition, TF qualities and TF frequency can also affect the effects of CF. In the present study the effects of recasts on third person "-s" is not obvious while NoF works better for this feature. Besides, the low-frequency of CF moves on the TF in the two experimental groups makes it difficult for CF to bring about a significant effect.Despite all these factors, it has been found in the present study that CF provided in oral activities has helped students to develop certain awareness of using the TF correctly and improving oral accuracy.2) Concerning the influence of learner proficiency on effects of recasts and NoF, it is found in the present study that NoF is more beneficial than recasts for low-proficiency learners to some extent. As for high-proficiency learners, the problem of ambiguity is not completely resolved in the recast-high group. And for NoF, operational difficulties arise from high-proficiency learners’more fluent English. In addition, due to the interruption to the interlocutor’s thinking and the natural flow of conversation, the disadvantages sometimes outweigh the cognitive advantages of NoF for high-proficiency learners. It is thus suggested in the present study that for high-proficiency learners occasional NoF should be combined with extensive recasts. The former is intended to draw due attention of students to linguistic forms and the latter is to ensure the natural flow of communication. The present study also helps to explain the reasons for learner proficiency to exert an influence on the effects of recasts and NoF.