recasts

Recasts is a term used in several fields to describe processes of repair, reformulation, or reinterpretation that preserve core content but change form. In linguistics and language education, a recast is a repair strategy in which the listener restates the speaker’s utterance in a corrected or more target-like form, maintaining the same meaning. This provides implicit feedback intended to help the speaker notice and adopt the desired linguistic form without explicit instruction. Recasts are common in communicative teaching and conversational analysis as a nonintrusive way to influence grammar and pronunciation.

In practice, recasts typically preserve content while adjusting syntax, morphology, or pronunciation, producing a more target-like sentence with the same meaning. They are delivered as a natural continuation of the conversation rather than as direct corrections, which supports uptake through implicit feedback. A common example involves a learner’s erroneous sentence being repeated back in corrected form, encouraging natural repetition and self-correction.

In metallurgy and materials processing, recasting refers to melting metal and pouring it into a new mold to form a different object or to refine impurities. The process enables recycling of scrap and production of new shapes, and the resulting item may also be described as a recast casting.

In the performing arts, recasting denotes the replacement of actors for a role in a production, revival, or adaptation. A recast can result from scheduling, creative direction, or audience reception, and the term can refer to both the process and the new cast as a unit.