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【Abstract】The focus of this paper is on one kind of self-repair： self-repair issuing from self-initiation. It explains what repair is， and presents an observation analysis about a student’s self-repair. It concludes that self-repair is an important part of students language learning. It should be encouraged under the supervisor of teachers in foreign language classroom.
【Key words】self-repair; self-initiation; error
I. Introduction
The phenomenon of self-repair has long been the focus of some linguists such as Sacks， Schigloff， Levison， Craig Chandron and Evelyn Hatch etc. If we take a detailed look at the students’ utterance in classroom and elsewhere， we may find many self-repairs exist. As Leo Van Lier pointed out： an ethnographic approach to the issue shows that repair is not simply a matter of learners committing errors and teachers correcting them in various ways. It is rather a matter of continuous adjustment between speakers and hearers obliged to operate in a code which gives them problem. This adjustment in interaction may be crucial to language development ， for it leads to noticing discrepancies between what is said and what is heard， and to a resolution of these discrepancies. In Psychology of Language by David W Carroll： Speakers routinely monitor their utterance to ensure that they are saying what wanted to and in the way they wanted to. When errors are detected， speakers interrupt their speech nearly immediately and begin editing their utterance. So here come the questions for the teachers in foreign language classroom： 1. Should the students be encouraged to do self-repair in their utterance？ 2. Is self-repair helpful for the learners’ language development？ In this paper， some solutions of these questions are supposed to be found.
II. What is Repair
According to VanSacks and Schegloff， there are four types of repair. They are 1）self-repair issuing from self-initiation， 2）self-repair issuing from other-initiation， 3）other-repair issuing from self-initiation， 4）other-repair issuing from other-initiation. In this paper， the focus in on self-repair issuing from self-initiation. According to VanLier， repair can be defined as the treatment of trouble occurring in interactive language use. From time to time we spontaneously interrupt our speech and correct ourselves. These corrections are referred to as self-repair.
The errors made by learners have always been a central point of interest for teachers and researchers. In the grammar-translation days， errors generally indicated rules insufficiently learnt or knowledge imperfectly assimilated. In the audiolingual days errors were regarded as cracks in the foolproof stimulus-response-reinforcement sequence. Later on， in the late sixties and early seventies a number of teachers began to realize that error were perhaps not just aberrations， admissions of guilt or inadequacies， or failure in the pedagogic system， but might be evidence of the learners’ creative efforts to build a new linguistic structure， in the similar way to children learning their first language. In ordinary first language conversation， many people commit errors， but the mechanism of repair is organized in such a way as to avoid the face-threats and loss of face that might result from overt correction. Generally， hearers， upon hearing an error， leave it up to the speaker to do something about it， in other words， they expect speakers to do their own repair.
In second language classroom， in order to become a competent member of a speech community， one must participate in the affairs of that community. Also in order to develop communicative competence one must learn to use the language code the way it is supposed to be used. This crucially involves letting speakers do their own monitoring and repairing rather than doing it for them. Repair is， in a sense， a mechanism to correct for imperfect adjustment. In other words， the better we adjust， the less we are likely to have to rely on repair.
One thing that should be pointed out is that there are differences between repair and correction. Corrections occur only where there is an error， while repair can occur even without error. It appears where there is a trouble source， or more specifically whenever adjustment in interaction language use is necessary. The aim of correction is to make something correct while the function of repair is more broadly to make something appropriate， or more broadly effective in a certain context.
III. An Observation of A Student’s Self-Initiated Repair
According to Levelt， self-repairs have specific structure that consists of three parts. First we interrupt ourselves after we have detected an error in our speech. Second， we usually utter one of various editing expressions. These include terms such as “Er， Oh， I mean，” Finally we repair the utterance. The data in this paper came from an interview of fifteen minutes between a senior student and an advanced teacher for an oral test.
Example 1. “When she look at .his own. Eh. her own picture…”
In this example， the student realizes the error of personal pronoun and uses the word “Er” as self-initiation and repairs by herself.
Example 2. “So. So eh we we can not we contradict. Contradicted.”
Here， the word “contradict” is detected to be an error of tense. So， after a short pause， she repairs it， using the right form “contradicted”.
Example 3. “He committed suicide to end his tragi-like tragi-life.”
Here is a phonological error. The student repairs it immediately after the occurrence of the error without any hesitation. Example 4. “He can， he can er just sit. Sit er when when he he come to a city， he
【Key words】self-repair; self-initiation; error
I. Introduction
The phenomenon of self-repair has long been the focus of some linguists such as Sacks， Schigloff， Levison， Craig Chandron and Evelyn Hatch etc. If we take a detailed look at the students’ utterance in classroom and elsewhere， we may find many self-repairs exist. As Leo Van Lier pointed out： an ethnographic approach to the issue shows that repair is not simply a matter of learners committing errors and teachers correcting them in various ways. It is rather a matter of continuous adjustment between speakers and hearers obliged to operate in a code which gives them problem. This adjustment in interaction may be crucial to language development ， for it leads to noticing discrepancies between what is said and what is heard， and to a resolution of these discrepancies. In Psychology of Language by David W Carroll： Speakers routinely monitor their utterance to ensure that they are saying what wanted to and in the way they wanted to. When errors are detected， speakers interrupt their speech nearly immediately and begin editing their utterance. So here come the questions for the teachers in foreign language classroom： 1. Should the students be encouraged to do self-repair in their utterance？ 2. Is self-repair helpful for the learners’ language development？ In this paper， some solutions of these questions are supposed to be found.
II. What is Repair
According to VanSacks and Schegloff， there are four types of repair. They are 1）self-repair issuing from self-initiation， 2）self-repair issuing from other-initiation， 3）other-repair issuing from self-initiation， 4）other-repair issuing from other-initiation. In this paper， the focus in on self-repair issuing from self-initiation. According to VanLier， repair can be defined as the treatment of trouble occurring in interactive language use. From time to time we spontaneously interrupt our speech and correct ourselves. These corrections are referred to as self-repair.
The errors made by learners have always been a central point of interest for teachers and researchers. In the grammar-translation days， errors generally indicated rules insufficiently learnt or knowledge imperfectly assimilated. In the audiolingual days errors were regarded as cracks in the foolproof stimulus-response-reinforcement sequence. Later on， in the late sixties and early seventies a number of teachers began to realize that error were perhaps not just aberrations， admissions of guilt or inadequacies， or failure in the pedagogic system， but might be evidence of the learners’ creative efforts to build a new linguistic structure， in the similar way to children learning their first language. In ordinary first language conversation， many people commit errors， but the mechanism of repair is organized in such a way as to avoid the face-threats and loss of face that might result from overt correction. Generally， hearers， upon hearing an error， leave it up to the speaker to do something about it， in other words， they expect speakers to do their own repair.
In second language classroom， in order to become a competent member of a speech community， one must participate in the affairs of that community. Also in order to develop communicative competence one must learn to use the language code the way it is supposed to be used. This crucially involves letting speakers do their own monitoring and repairing rather than doing it for them. Repair is， in a sense， a mechanism to correct for imperfect adjustment. In other words， the better we adjust， the less we are likely to have to rely on repair.
One thing that should be pointed out is that there are differences between repair and correction. Corrections occur only where there is an error， while repair can occur even without error. It appears where there is a trouble source， or more specifically whenever adjustment in interaction language use is necessary. The aim of correction is to make something correct while the function of repair is more broadly to make something appropriate， or more broadly effective in a certain context.
III. An Observation of A Student’s Self-Initiated Repair
According to Levelt， self-repairs have specific structure that consists of three parts. First we interrupt ourselves after we have detected an error in our speech. Second， we usually utter one of various editing expressions. These include terms such as “Er， Oh， I mean，” Finally we repair the utterance. The data in this paper came from an interview of fifteen minutes between a senior student and an advanced teacher for an oral test.
Example 1. “When she look at .his own. Eh. her own picture…”
In this example， the student realizes the error of personal pronoun and uses the word “Er” as self-initiation and repairs by herself.
Example 2. “So. So eh we we can not we contradict. Contradicted.”
Here， the word “contradict” is detected to be an error of tense. So， after a short pause， she repairs it， using the right form “contradicted”.
Example 3. “He committed suicide to end his tragi-like tragi-life.”
Here is a phonological error. The student repairs it immediately after the occurrence of the error without any hesitation. Example 4. “He can， he can er just sit. Sit er when when he he come to a city， he