Corrective feedback, over a decade of research since

It has been just over a decade since the publication of Lyster and Ranta’s critical articles on corrective feedback. Since then, there have been numerous publications in this area of classroom based Second Language Acquisition research. Lyster and Ranta (1997) and Lyster (1998b) found that recasts are the most common, but least effective, form of oral corrective feedback employed by foreign language teachers. Further, Lyster and Ranta concluded that students often fail to notice recasts by confusing them with a repetition or affirmation of their own utterances. This review of literature will explore the research on recasts in the decade following the publication of Lyster and Ranta’s seminal articles. The following will serve as guiding questions: 1) Does current research on recasts continue to support Lyster and Ranta’s (1997) and Lyster’s (1998b) findings? 2) What factors influence the effectiveness of recasts? 3) How do teachers and learners perceive recasts? Current findings indicate that there may be a mismatch in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of what is considered to be effective feedback on oral errors.