Abstract：Self-repair means that the speaker repairs his utterance in form or content because of some wrong or inappropriate expressions. The repair has been made both in the correction of errors, and in the increasing, reduction and recombination of the  language content. 

     This research is based on the corpus of MICASE, analyzing self-repair in academic discussion among the native English speakers in quantitative and qualitative ways. This paper discusses the distribution of subtypes of self-repair in some academic discussion among native English speakers, and the function of self-repair in academic discussion. This study reveals that self-repair is the most common type of repairs and has a great superiority; its subtypes of explanation and completion account for to a high rate; self-repair prompts the development of academic discussion and makes it more rigorous and more specialized. In addition, this study proclaims that as a conversation strategy, self-repair has great effects on academic discussion, contributes to cultivate the skills of academic discussion and improves the ability of  English conversation. 

Key words: self-repair; native English speakers; academic discussion

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

中文摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Objective of the Study-1

1.2 Significance of the Study-2

1.3 Layout of the Study-3

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-4

2.1 The Definition and Classification of Repair-4

2.1.1 The definition of repair-4

2.1.2 The classification of Repair-5

2.2 The Concept and Classification of Self-repair-6

2.2.1 The concept of self-repair-6

2.2.2 The classification of self-repair-7

Chapter Three METHODOLOGY-9

3.1 Research Questions-9

3.2 Corpus Description-9

3.3 Data Collection and Analysis-10

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-13

4.1 Repair in the Academic Discussion of Native English Speakers-13

4.1.1 Overall distribution of repairs-13

4.1.2 The preference of self-repair-14

4.2 Self-repair in the Academic Discussion of Native English Speakers-14

4.2.1 Overall distribution of self-repair-14

4.2.2 Function of self-repair-15

4.3 Summary-16

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-17

5.1 Major Research Findings-17

5.2 Implications of the Study-17

5.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research-18

REFERENCES-20