Recasts vs. direct corrective feedback on writing performance of high school EFL learners

There might always be errors during the learning process which need correction; accordingly, providing corrective feedback is critical. However, the various types of feedback applied during classes affect the learning and teaching process. Teaching and learning could be applied within EFL classes by providing learners with recasts. Recasts have been provided frequently in both first language acquisition and second language acquisition. Extensive studies have indicated that recasts are the most frequent feedback type in speaking, yet this study investigates their efficacy on writing. Forty high school EFL learners participated in this study for 20 sessions within a period of 3 months. The participants were divided into two experimental groups and were provided with two types of feedback. While participants of one group received recasts as a type of indirect feedback, participants of other group received direct corrective feedback. Results obtained by a pretest and a posttest indicated that both groups made significant progress in their writing performance, yet there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups on the posttest. The recast group achieved higher scores, performing better than the direct correction group.