Repair Strategies in an English as a Foreign Language Online Educational Setting
Abstract
This study aimed to explore student performance in an online communicative practice session and how students modify the way they speak in conversation in the foreign language context. Data were collected through classroom recordings involving a native speaker instructor and seven learners, all in the A2 and A2+ levels, based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. During the practice session, the students modified their speech. This was then categorized into four categories of sequences: self-initiation and self-repair, other-initiation and self-repair, self-initiation and other-repair, and the last sequence, other-initiation and other-repair. There was a total of fifty-three instances. The four sequences further derived subdivisions in language aspects, thematically divided into lexical, morphosyntactic, and phonological trouble sources. The findings demonstrate the type of repair used in the online context and the most initiated by the instructor. It further highlights the least used and discusses the reasons, which can be cultural, contextual, or social. The results highlight the implications of using such practices for second language learners and further suggest pedagogical implications on the use of repair in line with the online teaching and learning mode.