Abstract：Self-repair is a correction that speakers make to errors when they speak. It is a common phenomenon in the process of oral output, and gradually becomes an important study of linguistics and natural language processing.

This study takes SECCL as research material and adopts a method of both qualitative and quantitative analysis to explore the relationship between language proficiency and self-repair.

The research shows that, the most frequently used is the same information repair, followed by the error repair and appropriateness repair. And the least used is the different repair. By comparison of Chinese English learners with different proficiency, people with high proficiency adopt more appropriateness repair than people with low proficiency. However, they use error repair less than the latter. All of these reflect the impact of different English proficiency on self-repair.

The study has an important guiding significance to oral English learning in China. On the one hand, it can help English learners to identify right direction and methods in the process of learning English. On the other hand, it can provide a new guide to foreign language teaching.

Key words: English level; self-repair; Chinese English learners

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

中文摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Objective of the Study-1

1.2 Need for the Study-2

1.3 Structure of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 The Definition and Classification of Repair-3

2.1.1 The definition of repair-3

2.1.2 The classification of repair-4

2.2 The Preference for Self-repair-4

2.2.1 The concept of self-repair-4

2.2.2 The classification of self-repair-5

2.3 Previous Researches on the Factors Influencing Self-repair-5

Chapter Three METHODOLOGY-7

3.1 Research Questions-7

3.2 Corpus Description-7

3.3 Data Collection-8

3.4 Data Analysis-9

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-10

4.1 Distribution of the Subtypes of Self-repair-10

4.2 The Relationship between Oral Proficiency and Self-repair-12

4.2.1 Relationship between frequency of self-repair and oral proficiency-12

4.2.2 Relationship between distribution of self-repair and oral proficiency-13

4.3 Summary-14

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-16

5.1 Major Research Findings-16

5.2 Implications of the Study-17

5.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research-17

REFERENCES-18