Multiple repair solutions in response to open class repair initiators (OCRIs) in next turn: The case of hospitality and tourism service encounters in English as a lingua franca (ELF)
AonrumpaThongphut and JagdishKaur
University of Malaya
Abstract
The study examines repair practices of speakers following an open class repair initiator (OCRI) in next turn in
hospitality and tourism (HT) service encounters mediated through English as a lingua franca (ELF). The data comprise fifteen hours
of naturally occurring ELF service encounters recorded at three HT sites in Thailand. Using conversation analytic procedures, the
analysis reveals that speakers may offer multiple repair solutions following an OCRI, which appear oriented to a potential problem
of understanding rather than one of hearing. The participants combine repetition of the trouble-source turn with
comprehension-enhancing techniques such as lexical replacement, rephrasing of prior talk and explication of potentially
problematic words. As it is pertinent that messages are accurately relayed and received, speakers adopt a proactive stance and
combine repair practices to raise explicitness and improve communicative clarity. In ELF HT service encounters, the principle of
increased collaborative effort prevails and underlies communicative effectiveness.
Research on the pragmatic aspects of English as a lingua franca (henceforth ELF) focuses on how multilingual speakers in
intercultural contexts communicate effectively using English as the medium of communication. Walkinshaw (2022, 3), in his introduction to an edited volume on the subject, describes ELF as “an endonormative,
non-standard mode of communication, characterized by accommodation and linguistic hybridity, where meaning, solidarity and rapport are
all collaboratively achieved”. Speakers in ELF contexts are typically second language speakers of English of different linguacultural
backgrounds who have varying levels of English proficiency and diverse experiences with learning and using the language (Cogo 2012; Mauranen 2006). The “contexts of
super-diversity” (Cogo 2012, 290) associated with ELF give rise to language forms and use
that are variable, flexible and fluid (Firth 2009; Osimk-Teasdale 2018; Seidlhofer 2011). Notwithstanding the above, communication
in ELF has been found to be effective as speakers deploy a range of pragmatic strategies to negotiate meaning and achieve shared
understanding (Cogo and House 2018; Jafari 2021;
Taguchi and Ishihara 2018). Underlying successful ELF interaction is the speakers’
propensity for accommodation, making adjustments and modifications to their language to increase explicitness and communicative
clarity.
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