Cover not available
Part of
Expanding Individual Difference Research in the Interaction Approach: Investigating learners, instructors, and other interlocutors
Edited by Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 16] 2017
► pp. 99–119

Chapter 5
Gender and recasts

Analysis of males’ and females’ L2 development following verbal and gesture-enhanced recasts

 | Texas Tech University
This study investigated the influence of learners’ gender on the effectiveness of verbal recasts and gesture-enhanced recasts. A total of 40 adult English-as-a second-language learners participated. In the first condition, the learners received verbal recasts during two communicative tasks. The results showed no difference across gender. In the second condition, the learners received gesture-enhanced recasts. Females significantly outperformed males with a strong effect size in the immediate to delayed posttests gain score but not in the gain score of pretest to immediate posttests. This indicates that the long-term effectiveness of recasts seems to be influenced by learners’ gender. The results are discussed in relation to learners’ memory and the exposure to visual cues.
Keywords: communicative tasks, gesture, learner gender, recasts
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Recasts
      • Characteristics of recasts
      • Recasts and individual differences
    • Gesture and L2 learning
    • Gender and L2 learning
      • Gender and memory
    • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Target structure
    • Materials
      • Oral production test
      • Communicative tasks
    • Procedure
      • Verbal recasts
      • Gesture-enhanced recasts
    • Analysis of oral production tests
  • Results
    • Males vs. females in verbal recasts
    • Males vs. females in gesture-enhanced recasts
    • Summary of results
  • Discussion and conclusion
    • Limitations and future directions
    • Pedagogical implications
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.16.05nak
References (81)
References
Allen, L. Q. (1995). The effects of emblematic gestures on the development and access of mental representations of French expressions. Modern Language Journal, 79(4), 521–529. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ammar, A., & Spada, N. (2006). One size fits all?: Recasts, prompts, and L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(4), 543–574. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bleecker, M. L., Bolla-Wilson, K., Agnew, J., & Meyers, D. A. (1988). Age-related sex differences in verbal memory. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(3), 403–411. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowden, H. W., Sanz, C., & Stafford, C. A. (2005). Individual diffferences: Age, sex, working memory, and prior knowledge. In C. Sanz (Ed.), Mind and context in adult second language acquisition: Methods, theory, and practice (pp. 105–140). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Celce-Murcia, M., Larsen-Freeman, D., & Williams, H. A. (1983). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s course (2nd ed). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.Google Scholar
Clark, J. M., & Paivio, A. (1991). Dual coding theory and education. Educational Psychology Review, 3(3), 149–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. (1998). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. A., Horowitz, T. S., & Wolfe, J. M. (2009). Auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Proceedings of National Academy of Science U.S.A., 106, 6008–6010. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davies, M. (2006). Paralinguistic focus on form. TESOL Quarterly, 40(4), 841–855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deák, G. O., Flom, R. A., & Pick, A. D. (2000). Effects of gesture and target on 12- and 18-month-olds’ joint visual attention to objects in front of or behind them. Developmental Psychology, 36(4), 511–523. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z. (2014). Researching complex dynamic systems: ‘Retrodictive qualitative modelling’ in the language classroom. Language Teaching, 47(01), 80–91.Google Scholar
Doughty, C. (1994). Finetuning of feedback by competent speakers to language learners. In J. E. Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics: Educational Linguistics, Crosscultural Communication, and Global Interdependence (pp. 96–108). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R., & Sheen, Y. H. (2006). Reexaming the role of recasts in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(4), 575–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Faraco, M., & Kida, T. (2008). Gesture and the negotiation of meaning in a second language classroom. In S. McCafferty & G. Stam (Eds.), Gesture: Second language acquisition and classroom research (pp. 280–297). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2004). Gesture’s role in the learning process. Theory into Practice, 43(4), 314–321. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goo, J. (2012). Corrective feedback and working memory capacity in interaction-driven L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34(03), 445–474. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Green, J., & Oxford, R. (1995). A closer look at learner strategies, L2 proficiency, and gender. TESOL Quarterly, 29(2), 36–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Han, Z. (2002). A study of the impact of recasts on tense consistency in L2 output. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 36(4), 543–572.Google Scholar
Hartshorne, J. K., & Ullman, M. T. (2006). Why girls say “holded” more than boys. Developmental Science, 9(1), 21–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Havranek, G. (1999). The effectiveness of corrective feedback: Preliminary results of an empirical study. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Étrangère, 2, 189–206.Google Scholar
Hudson, N. (2011). Teacher gesture in a post-secondary English as a second language classroom: A sociocultural approach. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Google Scholar
Jarvis, S., & Odlin, T. (2000). Morphological type, spatial reference, and language transfer. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22(4), 535–556. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A., & Reynolds, C. (1983). Sex differences on the WISC-R. Personality and Individual Differences, 4, 223–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. M., & Dindia, K. (2004). A meta-analytic perspective on sex equity in the classroom. Review of Educational Research, 74(4), 443–471. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kail, R. V., & Siegel, A. W. (1978). Sex and hemispheric differences in the recall of verbal and spatial information. Cortex A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 14(4), 557–563. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kamiya, N. (2015). The effectiveness of intensive and extensive recasts on L2 acquisition for implicit and explicit knowledge. Linguistics and Education, 29, 59–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kao, R. R. (2001). Where have the prepositions gone? A study of English prepositional verbs and input enhancement in instructed SLA. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), 39(3), 195–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaushanskaya, M., Marian, V., & Yoo, J. (2011). Gender differences in adult word learning. Acta Psychol (Amst), 137(1), 24–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., & Lee, A. L. (2012). When actions speak too much louder than words: Hand gestures disrupt word learning when phonetic demands are high. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27, 793–807. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., McDevitt, T., & Esch, M. (2009). Brief training with co-speech gesture lends a hand to word learning in a foreign language. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(2), 313–334. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kissau, S. (2006). Gender differences in motivation to learn French. Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 62(3), 401–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kissau, S., Kolano, L. Q., & Wang, C. (2010). Perceptions of gender differences in high school students’ motivation to learn Spanish. Foreign Language Annals, 43(4), 703–721. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kissau, S., & Turnbull, M. (2008). Boys and French as a second language: A research agenda for greater understanding. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11, 151–170.Google Scholar
Koul, R., Roy, L., Kaewkuekool, S., & Ploisawaschai, S. (2009). Multiple goal orientations and foreign language anxiety. System, 37(4), 676–688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kramer, J. H., Delis, D. C., Kaplan, E., O’Donnell, L., & Prifitera, A. (1997). Developmental sex differences in verbal learning. Neuropsychology, 11(4), 577–584. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, S., & Pulido, D. (2017). The impact of topic interest, L2 proficiency, and gender on EFL incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Language Teaching Research, 20(1), 118–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leeman, J. (2003). Recasts and second language development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25(1), 37–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, S. (2010). The effectiveness of corrective feedback in SLA: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60(2), 309–365. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindstromberg, S. (2010). English prepositions explained. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, T. K. (1994). Gender-related differences in intelligence: Application of confirmatory factor analysis. Intelligence, 19(2), 179–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loewen, S., & Nabei, T. (2007). Measuring the effectiveness of oral corrective feedback on L2 knowledge. In A. Mackey (Ed.), Conversational interaction in second language acquisition (pp. 339–360). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Loewen, S., & Philp, J. (2006). Recasts in the adult English L2 classroom: Characteristics, explicitness, and effectiveness. Modern Language Journal, 90, 536–556. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of research on second language acquisition (Vol. 2, pp. 413–468). New York, NY: Academy Press.Google Scholar
(2007). Problems in SLA. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Long, M. H., Inagaki, S., & Ortega, L. (1998). The role of implicit negative feedback in SLA: Models and recasts in Japanese and Spanish. Modern Language Journal, 82(3), 357–371. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lyster, R. (2001). Negotiation of form, recasts, and explicit correction in relation to error types and learner repair in immersion classrooms. Language Learning, 51, 265–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004). Differential effects of prompts and recasts in form-focused instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 399–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lyster, R., & Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(1), 37–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Macedonia, M., & Klimesch, W. (2014). Long-term effects of gestures on memory for foreign language words trained in the classroom. Mind, Brain, and Education, 8(2), 74–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mackey, A., Gass, S., & McDonough, K. (2000). How do learners perceive interactional feedback? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 471–497. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mackey, A., & Goo, J. (2007). Interaction research in SLA: A meta-analysis and research synthesis. In A. Mackey (Ed.), Conversational interaction in second language acquisition (pp. 407–453). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mackey, A., & Philp, J. (1998). Conversational interaction and second language development: Recasts, responses, and red herrings? Modern Language Journal, 82(3), 338–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matsuda, S., & Gobel, P. (2004). Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom. System, 32, 21–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakatsukasa, K. (2016). Efficacy of recasts and gestures on the acquisition of locative prepositions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 771–799. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nassaji, H. (2009). Effects of recasts and elicitations in dyadic interaction and the role of feedback explicitness. Language Learning, 59, 411–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nicholas, H., Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2001). Recasts as feedback to language learners. Language Learning, 51(4), 719–758. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oliver, R. (1995). Negative feedback in child NS-NNS conversation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17, 459–481. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oxford, R., Nyikos, M., & Ehrman, M. (1988). Vive la différence? Reflections on sex differences in use of language learning strategies. Foreign Language Annals, 21(4), 321–329. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pajares, F. (2003). Self-efficacy beliefs, motivation, and achievement in writing: A review of the literature. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 19, 139–159. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pajares, F., & Valiante, G. (2001). Gender differences in writing motivation and achievement of middle school students: A function of gender orientation? Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26(3), 366–381. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pajares, F., Valiante, G., & Cheoung, Y. F. (2007). Writing self-efficacy and its relation to gender, writing motivation, and writing competence: A developmental perspective. In S. Hidi & P. Boscolo (Eds.), Writing and motivation (pp. 141–159). Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar
Payne, T. W., & Lynn, R. (2011). Sex differences in second language comprehension. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(3), 434–436. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Philp, J., & Mackey, A. (2010). Interaction research: What can socially informed approaches offer to cognitivists (and vice versa)? In R. Batstone (Ed.), Sociocognitive perspectives on language use and language learning (pp. 210–224). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reiterer, S. M., Hu, X., Erb, M., Rota, G., Nardo, D., Grodd, W., Winkler, S., & Ackermann, H. (2011). Individual differences in audio-vocal speech imitation aptitude in late bilinguals: Functional neuro-imaging and brain morphology. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 1–12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robinson, P. (2010). Aptitude and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25(3), 46–73.Google Scholar
Sheen, Y. H. (2004). Corrective feedback and learner uptake in communicative classrooms across instructional settings. Language Teaching Research, 8, 263–300. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sheen, Y. (2008). Recasts, language anxiety, modified output, and L2 learning. Language Learning, 58(4), 835–874. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sime, D. (2006). What do learners make of teachers’ gestures in the language classroom? International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), 44, 211–230.Google Scholar
Slimani, A. (1992). Evaluation of classroom interaction. In J. C. Anderson & A. Beretta (Eds.), Evaluating second language education (pp. 197–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smotrova, T. (2015). Making pronunciation visible: Gesture in teaching pronunciation. TESOL Quarterly, 51(1), 59–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smotrova, T., & Lantolf, J. P. (2013). The function of gesture in lexically focused L2 instructional conversations. Modern Language Journal, 97(2), 397–416. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sueyoshi, A., & Hardison, D. M. (2005). The role of gestures and facial cues in second language listening comprehension. Language Learning, 55(4), 661–699. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010). Manuscrit auteur, publié dans “L’enseignement des langues vivantes étrangères à l’école, In C. Corblin & J. Sauvage (Eds.), L’apprentissage et l’enseignement des languges vivantes a l’ecole. Impacts sur le developpement de la langue maternelle (pp. 31–54). Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Tutton, M. (2011). How speakers gesture when encoding location with English on and French sur. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(14), 3431–3454. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ullman, M. T., Miranda, R. A., & Travers, M. L. (2007). Sex differences in the neurocognition of language. In J. B. Becker, K. J. Berkley, N. Geary, E. Hampson, & J. Herman (Eds.), Sex differences in the brain: From genes to behavior (pp. 291–310). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, W., & Loewen, S. (2015). Nonverbal behavior and corrective feedback in nine ESL university-level classrooms. Language Teaching Research, 20(4), 459–478. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wucherer, B. V., & Reiterer, S. M. (2016). Language is a girlie thing, isn’t it? A psycholinguistic exploration of the L2 gender gap. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, Y., & Lyster, R. (2010). Effects of form-focused practice and feedback on Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of regular and irregular past tense forms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32(10), 235–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yilmaz, Y. (2013). Relative effects of explicit and implicit feedback: The role of working memory capacity and language analytic ability. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 344–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura & YouJin Kim
2022. Chapter 1. Getting started. In Instructed Second Language Acquisition Research Methods [Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3], ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Adams, Rebecca & Lauren Ross-Feldman
2021. Gender Effects. In The Cambridge Handbook of Corrective Feedback in Second Language Learning and Teaching, ► pp. 668 ff. DOI logo
Nakatsukasa, Kimi
2021. Gestures, Corrective Feedback, and Second Language Development. In The Cambridge Handbook of Corrective Feedback in Second Language Learning and Teaching, ► pp. 251 ff. DOI logo
Pawlak, Miroslaw
2020. Chapter 3. The effect of proficiency, gender, and learning style on the occurrence of negotiated interaction in communicative task performance. In Cross-theoretical Explorations of Interlocutors and their Individual Differences [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 53], ► pp. 52 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.