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A study on other-initiated repair in parent-child interaction : a conversation analysis approach
Author
Qiao, Lingling
Supervisor
Xavier, Christine Anita
Kim, Younhee
Abstract
Repair in parent-child interaction has drawn enormous research attention in the past decade due to its multifaceted functions in relation to a child’s development in communicative competence as well as in their socialization. Previous research has probed into toddlers’ or preschoolers’ emergence and development of self-repair, frequently focusing on the organizations of the repairs as well as the linguistic practices demonstrated by the child’s utterances regarding the repair. However, less research efforts have been given to systematically identifying the trouble sources that halt proper and natural flow of on-going parent-child conversations. In addition, more specific functions or purposes of repairs, particularly those initiated by the parent, need to be delineated in greater detail. To address these gaps, the present study adopted a conversation analysis (CA) approach to examine conversational recordings between a father and a daughter which were retrieved from the CHILDES copra. The repairs initiated by the father were identified and analysed to examine what were repaired in their interactions and what their specific purposes were. The analysis showed that the trouble sources initiated by the father were for either pure repair or additional interactional uses, and that the father’s other-initiated repairs (OIRs) tended to realize multifaced purposes. Specifically, while pure repairs seemed to prioritize problems associated with hearing and understanding, additional interactional purposes were generally concerned with problems in relation to dis-alignment or surprise. These findings were found to be related to the intersubjective roles played by both the parent (father) and the child, the father’s monitoring and recipient design of his turns, and the child’s co- constructive endeavours with tolerance and scaffolding from her father, and a host of contextual factors where the repairs occurred. The implications of the present study can be expected to provide theoretical and practical insights for caregivers of pre-schoolers, practitioners and researchers who are interested in child repairs and parent-child interaction.
Date Issued
2019
Call Number
P90 Qia