Subsequences of Self-initiated Self-repair Repetition in the Speech of Arab EFL Students

This study investigates the subsequential relationship between repetition and the other three types of self-initiated self-repair — correction, abandonment, and postponement — in the speech of Arab EFL students: Repetition followed by correction (Re → C), by abandonment (Re → A), and by postponement (Re → P). It also examines the repetition as repair (Re/R) pattern when it is followed by an error (Re/R → E). Subjects of the study were twenty-seven beginning EFL students whose native language was Arabic and who attended a college in Saudi Arabia: fifteen from level one and twelve from level two. The data of the study confirm the frequent use of repetition as a self-repair device, particularly repetition used as repair (the Re/R pattern), and that Re/R functions almost exclusively as a planning or stalling device. Also there appeared to be a subsequential relationship between repetition and abandonment (the Re → A pattern), particularly with the first-year subjects; a subsequential relationship between repetition and correction (the Re → C pattern) for the level one group, and a subsequential relationship between repetition as repair and a following error (the Re/R → E pattern) for both groups. However, this last pattern particularly needs further testing.