The comparative effect of direct corrective feedback and recast in a critical thinking setting on EFL learners’ reading comprehension

The aim of present study was to explore the comparative effect of direct corrective feedback and recast on EFL learners’ reading comprehension in a critical thinking (CT) context. Sixty female EFL learners were selected from a larger group of 85 learners through convenience sampling and were given a Preliminary English Test (PET) to assess their proficiency levels. As the next step, the participants formed two random experimental groups. The reading comprehension abilities of both groups were measured before and after the treatment through administration of reading section of two separate versions of PET. Both groups received 12 sessions of the treatment. Two paired samples t-tests were utilized, both of which proved significant improvement for both groups from pretest to posttest. Then, the posttest scores of the two groups using an independent samples t-test were compared. Based on the results, the difference between the two groups turned out to be significant indicating superiority of the effect of the recast. This study can have important implications for the stakeholders in foreign language (FL) education.