Investigating the useof recast and elicitation in an online facebook group interaction : a case study

This study investigated the use of recast and elicitation in an online Facebook group interaction.  Qualitative data were collected and analyzed by using the Facebook group feature and open coding  system. The samples in this case study comprised of 4 participants of Form 4 students. The students  were involved in 2 sessions of recast and single elicitation session. The errors produced and  participants' responses were collected from the 3 sessions. The data collected  revealed that the  occurrence of errors was similar to oral conversation and another 5 types of responses can be added  to Lyster and Ranta's (1997) list of responses. Based on the general observation participants were  also found to use 'Electronic English' which in this study was not treated as errors and their  responses towards recast and elicitation were varied. Thus it is recommended  that future study can  find out why the types of responses occurred as well as to what extent the 'Electronic English' can  be allowed.