Great Idea: Recasting

What is recasting?

Recasting is a language support strategy that teachers can use to confirm a learner’s verbal response or observation while providing the appropriate subject vocabulary and correct grammar. Recasting provides a model of the way language works in a particular subject. It helps learners to hear new key words used in context, and to hear the language of the subject, for example how to use instruction verbs in a science experiment.

Recasting happens in the context of a live conversation, which gives the learner a chance to hear and use the new vocabulary and language structure immediately. For recasting to have the most positive effect, it should affirm what a learner has said, it should allow the learner to complete their contribution without interruption, and it should follow the flow of an authentic conversation.

Examples of activities

Teachers can use recasting in a range of classroom settings, with learners at different levels of proficiency in English, as these examples show:

1. Observations in a science experiment:

Learner: It bubbles. The water, it fog.
Teacher: Yes, that’s right – there are bubbles. The limewater turned cloudy.

In this example, with a learner whose proficiency level is at band B, the early acquisition stage, the teacher confirms that the learner’s observations are correct. Then the teacher shifts their response to provide key vocabulary in science – ‘limewater’ and ‘cloudy’. The teacher also provides the correct sentence structure for a scientific observation: ‘The limewater turned cloudy.’

2. Responses to literature:

Learner: The place is dark, and it feels scary to read about it.
Teacher: Yes, that is important in the novel. The setting is dark and dingy, and the atmosphere is frightening.

In this example, where the learner is at band C level, developing competence, the teacher adds important vocabulary for literature study: ‘setting’ and ‘atmosphere’. Here the teacher adds descriptive vocabulary in the recast (‘dingy’ and ‘frightening’), which is the type of language that learners need in their written responses. In this recast, where the learner’s utterance is grammatically correct, the teacher is setting appropriately high expectations for this learner by providing the subject vocabulary.

3. Recounting in history:

Learner: The women used action and they went to jail.
Teacher: Yes, good. The women used the tactic of direct action, and they were imprisoned.

In this example, a learner at band D, competent, is giving a recount of the events of the suffragette movement. In the recast, the teacher has extended the vocabulary use, introducing ‘tactic’, ‘direct’, and ‘imprisoned’. The teacher has also recast the account to include the use of the passive voice ‘were imprisoned’, a grammar structure that learners need to use in history. This recast introduces appropriate scaffolding while setting high expectations for a learner at this level of proficiency.

4. Explaining a maths method:

Learner: I work here.
Teacher: Yes. Work out the brackets first.
Learner: I take three and two.
Teacher: Yes, that’s right. Multiply three by two.
Learner: Now I take four.
Teacher: Correct. Next, we subtract four.

In this exchange with a learner at band B, she is successfully demonstrating her understanding of the BODMAS method of solving an equation. The teacher is using recasting to give her a model to explain her method. The learner and teacher will be pointing to the appropriate parts of the equation to confirm meaning as they converse.

5. Talking about a story:

Learner: Big!
Teacher [Pointing to the picture of the elephant]: Yes, the elephant is too big.
Learner: Tall!
Teacher [Pointing to the picture of the giraffe]: Good. The giraffe is too tall.
Learner: Naughty!
Teacher: [Pointing to the picture of the monkey]: Yes, the monkey is too naughty.

In this conversation about the children’s book, Dear Zoo, with a learner at band A, new to English, the teacher is providing simple recasts, by using the adjective the learner has used, in a full sentence. The teacher uses additional scaffolding here, using pictures to reinforce understanding of the animal vocabulary the child is learning. In each recast, the teacher uses the same grammar structure of a simple sentence, and the repetition consolidates this sentence structure, while avoiding overloading the learner with too much new language.

How recasting works

For learners at the early stages of English language acquisition, recasting works best when teachers limit the content of the recast to one or two changes: e.g., by adding just one new word, or one recasting of a grammatical structure. When you make a lot of changes to what a learner has said, it becomes confusing and difficult for them to hear and understand all the changes. Too many corrections could also feel demoralising.

As learners develop their proficiency in English, you can add additional new words and grammar structures as you set higher expectations. For learners at the developing competence level and beyond, you can start following up the recast with an explicit focus on the new language structure or vocabulary you have introduced. Learners at this level will be acquiring the necessary knowledge about English to recognise why the structure in the recast is more appropriate.

A key feature of recasting is the need for teachers to build in affirmation in their response, to strengthen a learner’s confidence and to recognise knowledge they already have. Always stick to the meaning of the learner’s original utterance.

Top tip: Use recasting alongside other strategies, like using visuals, providing translated lists of new vocabulary, and giving learners additional practice in using new grammatical forms correctly, with scaffolding. This is particularly important for learners who are new to English or at the early acquisition stage because they do not have enough knowledge about English to recognise their error in the recast.

Why is recasting a Great Idea for EAL learners?

Recasting is a natural, widely researched, and effective strategy that families use as their children acquire their first language in their early years. This strategy can be equally helpful in scaffolding language for those multilingual children who use EAL, whatever school year they are in. Recasting is also a helpful strategy for busy teachers, as it requires no preparation and over time will become a natural practice,

Research has shown that recasting can be an effective strategy (Nicholas, Lightbown and Spada, 2001), especially where teachers build in the grammar structures and new vocabulary that form part of the individual learner’s language support plan. This means that while the recast is implicit and doesn’t point out the error, the correct grammar and new vocabulary can then be highlighted in other practice work the learner does.

References

BBC Tiny Happy People ‘Recasting – Helping Children get words right’. Available at: Best way to correct children when they get words wrong - BBC Tiny Happy People (Accessed 03/01/2025).

Goo, J. and Mackey, A. (2013) ‘The case against the case against recasts.’ Available at: THE CASE AGAINST THE CASE AGAINST RECASTS | Studies in Second Language Acquisition | Cambridge Core (Accessed 03/01/2025).

LG Speech Therapy ‘Recasting: A parent-friendly strategy for language development.’ Available at: Recasting: A parent-friendly strategy for language development — LG Speech Therapy (Accessed 03/01/2025).

Nicholas, H. Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. 2001 ‘Recasts as Feedback to Language Learners’ in Language Learning 51:4. Available at: Recasts as Feedback to Language Learners - Nicholas - 2001 - Language Learning - Wiley Online Library (Accessed 03/01/2025).