A three-dimensional classification system of second language self-repair

Abstract

Self-repair is the change(s) a speaker makes to his/her ongoing speech due to any concern in talk. Previous psycholinguistic taxonomies of self-repair regard it as manifestations of individual speech production problems. This study questions this stand by investigating the self-repair behaviour of English language learners from two secondary schools in China, examining their task discourse and stimulated-recall comments. The results enables a three-dimensional classification system that analyses self-repair with reference to 1) the change(s) involved in a self-repair that is reflected in a certain domain of language, 2) the strategy employed to make the change(s), and 3) the problem that prompts a speaker to self-repair. Analysis of the problems underlying the occurrences of self-repair demonstrates that L2 learners use self-repair to deal with problems in the interactions and the communicative contexts, in addition to their production problems.