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ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 113/114 (1996) ► pp.221–244

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

| King Saud University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

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.

Published online: 1 January 1996
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.113-114.02ala
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1999. Some aspects of repair in native and non-native speaker conversations in English. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 125-126 ► pp. 253 ff. DOI logo

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