Repair
Repair is the mechanism through which participants in conversation deal with problems of speaking, hearing, and understanding. It was first systematically described by Schegloff, Jefferson, and Sacks (1977) as a core organisation of Conversation Analysis.
Repair is not limited to correcting errors — it covers any instance where the flow of conversation is interrupted to address a "trouble source": mishearing, misunderstanding, misspelling, word-finding difficulty, or ambiguity.
Taxonomy
Repair is classified along two dimensions: who initiates and who carries out the repair.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Self-initiated self-repair | Speaker identifies and fixes their own trouble | "I went to the — no, the library" |
| Other-initiated self-repair | Listener signals trouble; speaker fixes it | A: "I saw him at the bank." B: "The bank?" A: "The river bank, I mean." |
| Self-initiated other-repair | Speaker signals they need help | "What's the word for...?" (listener supplies it) |
| Other-initiated other-repair | Listener identifies and corrects the trouble | A: "It was on Thursday." B: "Wednesday, actually." |
Preference Organisation
There is a clear preference hierarchy in conversation (Schegloff, Jefferson & Sacks, 1977):
- Self-initiated self-repair is overwhelmingly preferred — speakers are given opportunities to fix their own trouble before others intervene
- Other-initiated self-repair is next — listeners signal trouble but let the speaker fix it
- Other-initiated other-repair (outright correction) is dispreferred — it threatens Face and occurs mainly in institutional settings (classrooms, courtrooms)
This preference organisation explains why explicit correction feels socially marked in casual conversation but is normalised in classroom discourse.
Repair Initiators
Common ways of signalling that repair is needed:
| Initiator | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Open-class initiators | Signal general trouble | "Huh?", "What?", "Sorry?" |
| Partial repeat | Locate specific trouble | "The bank?" |
| Wh-question | Request specific information | "You went where?" |
| Candidate understanding | Offer interpretation for confirmation | "You mean the one near the station?" |
| Non-verbal | Signal confusion | Furrowed brow, puzzled expression |
Repair in L2 Interaction
In L2 communication, repair is especially frequent and serves different functions:
- Vocabulary gaps trigger self-initiated other-repair ("How do you say...?") — this connects to Negotiation of Meaning
- Pronunciation problems trigger other-initiated repair — listeners signal non-understanding
- Grammar errors may or may not be repaired depending on whether they cause comprehension problems
- L2 speakers initiate more repair than L1 speakers, and repair sequences tend to be longer
Connection to Classroom Practice
Repair in conversation maps onto Corrective Feedback in the classroom, but with important differences:
- In conversation, self-repair is preferred; in classrooms, teachers routinely perform other-repair (correction)
- Classroom correction is institutionally sanctioned and face-threat is reduced (but not eliminated)
- Effective Corrective Feedback techniques (recasts, elicitation, prompts) can be understood as different repair strategies adapted for pedagogic purposes
- Encouraging self-repair and peer-repair in class develops learner autonomy and mirrors natural conversation patterns