This article presents a study of corrective feedback and learner uptake (i.e., responses to
feedback) in four immersion classrooms at the primary level. Transcripts totaling 18.3 hours of
classroom interaction taken from 14 subject-matter lessons and 13 French language arts lessons
were analyzed using a model developed for the study and comprising the various moves in an
error treatment sequence. Results include the frequency and distribution of the six different
feedback types used by the four teachers, in addition to the frequency and distribution of different
types of learner uptake following each feedback type. The findings indicate an overwhelming
tendency for teachers to use recasts in spite of the latter's ineffectiveness at eliciting
student-generated repair. Four other feedback types—elicitation, metalinguistic feedback,
clarification requests, and repetition—lead to student-generated repair more successfully
and are thus able to initiate what the authors characterize as the negotiation of form.
Lightbown and Piertemann raise three issues: (a) They argue that the oral test in White, Spada, Lightbown, and Ranta (1991) did not focus students on form, (b) they question my interpretation that children in Lightbown (1991) overlearned (rather than acquired) the there is construction, and (c) they accuse me of "dismissing" Pienemann's research and the teachability hypothesis.
Goo and Mackey (this issue) outline several apparent design fl aws in studies that have compared the impact of different types of corrective feedback (CF). Furthermore, they argue that SLA researchers should stop comparing recasts to other types of CF because they are inherently different kinds of phenomena. Our response to their article addresses (a) the claim that the recast-learning relationship has been "settled," (b) the misleading representation of our views on uptake, (c) the characterization of the CF comparison studies as being weak and invalid, and (d) Goo and Mackey's recommendations concerning the most appropriate approach to investigating the effect of feedback on second language learning.
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