An experimental study is conducted for the turbulent recirculating flow behind a backward-facing step when the oscillating jet is issued sinusoidally through a thin slit at the separation edge. Two key parameters are dealt with in the present experiment, i.e., the amplitude of forcing and the forcing frequency. The Reynolds number based on the step height is varied from 25,000 to 35,000. In order to investigate the effect of local forcing, turbulent structures are scrutinized for both the flow of forcing and the flow of no forcing. The growth of shear layer with a local forcing is larger than that of no forcing. The influence of a local forcing brings forth the decrease of reattachment length and the particular frequency gives a minimum reattachment length. The most effective frequency depends on the non-dimensional frequency, St_.theta., based on the momentum thickness at the separation point. A comparative study leads to the conclusion that the large-scale vortical structure is strongly associated with the forcing frequency and the natural flow instability.