Recasts in ESL; Teachers’ Intention or Students’ Confusion?

Using the findings of previous studies and Conversation Analysis (CA) techniques, the present study investigates the use of recasts as a form of corrective feedback in an intermediate ESL classroom in the US. There has been much debate about the use of recasts for teaching English as a second/foreign language as an implicit correction because the teacher only repeats students’ utterances by leaving out the error but not giving any further explanation as to why the correction was made. Throughout this paper, by the use of Conversation Analysis and excerpts from the language used in a real English as a Second Language class, the tricky nature of recasts, how and when to use or not to use this strategy will be discussed.