A Case Study Of Repair Initiations By The NS Teacher And The NNS Teacher In EFL Classroom

Since the late 1970s , there has been increased interest in analyzing the structure of talk in institutional contexts, one of which is classroom contexts . Repair , which generally refers to the structural and organizational mechanism in conversation that allows speakers to deal with troubles in speaking ,hearing or understanding the ongoing talk, is one important aspect in conversational analysis . Repair can be divided into self-initiated self-repair , self-initiated other-repair , other-initiated self-repair , other-initiated other-repair. Researchers have compared the functions of repair in classroom discourse to those in everyday conversation . While self-initiated self-repair is more common in mundane discourse , more other-initiated self-repair or other-initiated other-repair is found more frequent in classroom interaction . In addition to this general difference , distinctions have also been found between particular techniques used for repair in everyday conversation and those used in L2 interaction . Moreover , repair is organized differently within the different contexts dominated by different teachers .The present study ,which involved one native-speaker (NS) English teacher and one non-native-speaker (NNS) English teacher ,was based on Schegloff et al's work on repair types and repair-initiation strategies and attempted to explore repair phenomena of classroom conversations.The research questions are :1) What types of repair occurred in the interactions between native teacher/non-native learners and non-native teacher/non-native learners in EFL classroom according to Scheloff's types of repair ?2) What is the difference of distributions of repair sequences related to who initiates repairs and who completes repairs ( OIPR is included in OIOR ) for conducting repair by NS teacher and NNS teacher ?3) What's the difference of the strategies of the teacher-initiated repairs used by NS teacher and NNS teacher in different institution settings ?The database is drawn from the transcripts of audio-recordings of 8 English as foreign language lessons by a NS teacher and a NNS teacher each giving 4 lessons , totaling 6 hours .The major findings are as follows :1) All the four types of repair were found in the investigated classroom interaction , and other-initiated peer-repair ( teacher-initiated other-student repair) , which is not found in everyday conversation , was found in classroom conversation , particularly in the teacher-student interaction.2) Other-initiated self-repair (teacher-initiated student-repair ) was the most frequently used type in the meaning-and-fluency context dominated by NS teacher while other-initiated other-repair (teacher-initiated teacher-repair ) was the most frequently used type in the form-and-accuracy context dominated by NNS teacher .3) In the NNS teacher's classroom , there were more other initiated than self initiated and within the former were more other- repairs than self -repairs. In contrast, there were there were more self-repairs than other-repairs in the NS teacher's classroom . Self-repair was preferred in the classroom focused on meaning-and-fluency while other-repair was preferred in the classroom which focused on form-and-accuracy .4) As to the other-initiated repair strategies , the NNS teacher used all the strategies ,namely unspecified understanding check, request for repetition, unspecified, (partial) repeat +question word , candidate understanding , request for definition ,translation or explanation , (partial) repeat, and the NS teacher used all but strategy of Unspecified understanding check.5) Repairs were found to be useful resources for modifying output and for making input more comprehensible in institutional settings . Repairs also serve as a pedagogical tool, enabling both the teachers and students to communicate and learn more effectively . There is a relationship between pedagogy and interaction .There are some implications that can be drawn from the findings for classroom application :1) The teacher should use both strategies that are found in everyday conversation and strategies particular to classroom use . An example is unspecified repair initiations , which result in modified output on the learners' part . In modifying the output , students focus on form while negotiating meaning which has been proved especially conductive to L2 acquisition .2) When the teacher makes use of the repair strategies , the degree of specifying the trouble source should be considered ,because it may directly lead to sucessful and unsucessful outcome from the student.3) In the EFL classroom it is possible for the classroom interaction to have a few more other-initiations and other-repairs , but too many other-initiations and other-repairs also produce the side effect to some degree . Too many other-initiations and other-repairs will make the students feel face losing , resulting in the students' loss of confidence and interest in English learning.4) The teacher in EFL classroom may carry out the politeness strategy in classroom interaction as well as it is used in everyday conversation , which means not only to adopt polite techniques for both initiation and repair, but also to offer the students more opportunities of self-initiation and self-repair.