Multiple repair solutions in response to open class repair initiators (OCRIs) in next turn: The case of hospitality and tourism service encounters in English as a lingua franca (ELF)
AonrumpaThongphut and JagdishKaur
University of Malaya
Abstract
The study examines repair practices of speakers following an open class repair initiator (OCRI) in next turn in
hospitality and tourism (HT) service encounters mediated through English as a lingua franca (ELF). The data comprise fifteen hours
of naturally occurring ELF service encounters recorded at three HT sites in Thailand. Using conversation analytic procedures, the
analysis reveals that speakers may offer multiple repair solutions following an OCRI, which appear oriented to a potential problem
of understanding rather than one of hearing. The participants combine repetition of the trouble-source turn with
comprehension-enhancing techniques such as lexical replacement, rephrasing of prior talk and explication of potentially
problematic words. As it is pertinent that messages are accurately relayed and received, speakers adopt a proactive stance and
combine repair practices to raise explicitness and improve communicative clarity. In ELF HT service encounters, the principle of
increased collaborative effort prevails and underlies communicative effectiveness.
Research on the pragmatic aspects of English as a lingua franca (henceforth ELF) focuses on how multilingual speakers in
intercultural contexts communicate effectively using English as the medium of communication. Walkinshaw (2022, 3), in his introduction to an edited volume on the subject, describes ELF as “an endonormative,
non-standard mode of communication, characterized by accommodation and linguistic hybridity, where meaning, solidarity and rapport are
all collaboratively achieved”. Speakers in ELF contexts are typically second language speakers of English of different linguacultural
backgrounds who have varying levels of English proficiency and diverse experiences with learning and using the language (Cogo 2012; Mauranen 2006). The “contexts of
super-diversity” (Cogo 2012, 290) associated with ELF give rise to language forms and use
that are variable, flexible and fluid (Firth 2009; Osimk-Teasdale 2018; Seidlhofer 2011). Notwithstanding the above, communication
in ELF has been found to be effective as speakers deploy a range of pragmatic strategies to negotiate meaning and achieve shared
understanding (Cogo and House 2018; Jafari 2021;
Taguchi and Ishihara 2018). Underlying successful ELF interaction is the speakers’
propensity for accommodation, making adjustments and modifications to their language to increase explicitness and communicative
clarity.
References
Björkman, Beyza
2014 “An
Analysis of Polyadic English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Speech: A Communicative Strategies
Framework.” Journal of
Pragmatics 66: 122–138.
Blue, George
M., and Minah Harun
2003 “Hospitality
Language as a Professional Skill.” English for Specific
Purposes 22: 73–91.
Bruyèl-Olmedo, Antonio, and Maria Juan-Garau
2009 “English
as a Lingua Franca in the Linguistic Landscape of the Multilingual Resort of S’Arenal in
Mallorca.” International Journal of
Multilingualism 6 (4): 386–411.
Clark, Herbert
H., and Edward
F. Schaefer
1987 “Collaborating
on Contributions to Conversation.” Language and Cognitive
Processes 2: 19–41.
Cogo, Alessia
2012 “ELF
and Superdiversity. A Case Study of ELF Multilingual Practices from a Business
Context.” Journal of English as a Lingua
Franca 1 (2): 287–313.
Cogo, Alessia, and Marie-Luise Pitzl
2016 “Pre-empting
and Signaling Non-understanding in ELF.” English Language Teaching
Journal 70 (3): 339–345.
Cogo, Alessia, and Julianne House
2018 “The
Pragmatics of ELF.” In The Routledge Handbook of English as a Lingua
Franca, ed. by Jennifer Jenkins, Will Baker, and Martin Dewey, 210–223. Abingdon,
Oxon: Routledge.
Cohen, Erik, and Robert
L. Cooper
1986 “Language
and Tourism.” Annals of Tourism
Research 13: 533–563.
Czepiel, John
A., Michael
R. Solomon, Carol
F. Surprenant, and Evelyn
G. Gutman
1985 “Service
Encounters: An Overview.” In The Service Encounter: Managing
Employee/Customer Interaction in Service Businesses, ed. by John
A. Czepiel, Michael
R. Solomon, and Carol
F. Surprenant, 3–15. Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books.
Dingemanse, Mark, Joe Blythe, and Tyko Dirksmeyer
2014 “Formats
for Other-initiation of Repair Across Languages. An Exercise in Pragmatic Typology.” Studies in
Language 38: 5–43.
Drew, Paul
1997 ““Open”
Class Repair Initiators in Response to Sequential Sources of Troubles in Conversation.” Journal
of Pragmatics 28: 69–101.
Firth, Alan
2009 “The
Lingua Franca Factor.” Intercultural
Pragmatics 6: 147–170.
Franceschi, Valeria, and Sharon Hartle
2021 “Introduction
to “Tourism Discourse in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Directions”.” Iperstoria –
Journal of American and English
Studies 18, 1–9.
Jafari, Janin
2021Communicating
Strategically in English as a Lingua Franca. A Corpus Driven Investigation. Abingdon,
Oxon: Routledge.
Jefferson, Gail
1984 “Transcription
Notation.” In Structures of Social
Interaction, ed. by J.
Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 243–249. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Jenkins, Jennifer
2022 “Accommodation
in ELF: Where From? Where Now? Where Next?” In Pragmatics in English
as a Lingua Franca. Findings and Developments, ed. by Ian Walkinshaw, 17–34. Berlin: Mouton
de Gruyter.
Jaworski, Adam, and Crispin Thurlow
2010 “Language
and the Globalizing Habitus of Tourism: A Sociolinguistics of Fleeting
Relationships.” In The Handbook of Language and
Globalization, ed. by Nikolas Coupland, 255–286. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kaur, Jagdish
2009 “Pre-empting
Problems of Understanding in English as a Lingua Franca.” In English
as a Lingua Franca: Studies and Findings, ed. by Anna Mauranen, and Elina Ranta, 107–125. Newcastle
upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Kaur, Jagdish
2010 “Achieving
Mutual Understanding in World Englishes.” World
Englishes 29 (2): 192–208.
Kaur, Jagdish
2011 “Raising
Explicitness Through Self-repair in English as a Lingua Franca.” Journal of
Pragmatics 43 (11): 2704–2715.
Kaur, Jagdish
2012 “Saying
It Again: Enhancing Clarity in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Talk Through
Self-repetition.” Text&Talk 32 (5): 593–613.
Kaur, Jagdish
2017 “Ambiguity
Related Misunderstanding and Clarity Enhancing Practices in ELF Communication.” Intercultural
Pragmatics 14 (1): 25–47.
Kendrick, Kobin
H.
2015 “Other-initiated Repair in
English.” Open
Linguistics 1: 164–190.
Konakahara, Mayu
2012 “Reconsideration
of Communication Strategies from an English as a Lingua Franca Perspective.” The Bulletin of
the Graduate School of Education of Waseda
University 20 (1): 201–216. http://hdl.handle.net/2065/37451
Lichtkoppler, Julia
2007 “ ‘Male.
Male.’ – ‘Male?’ – ‘The Sex is Male.’ – The Role of Repetition in English as a Lingua Franca
Conversations.” Vienna English Working
Papers 16 (1): 39–65. http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/views_0701_pdf
Lind, Mikael, and Nicklas Salomonson
2013 “Using
Pragmatic Concepts for Exploring Interactivity in Service Encounters.” Systems, Signs &
Actions. An International Journal on Information, Technology, Action, Communication and
Workpractices 7 (2): 205–226.
Matsumoto, Yumi
2011 “Successful
ELF Communications and Implications for ELT: Sequential Analysis of ELF Pronunciation Negotiation
Strategies.” The Modern Language
Journal 95 (1): 97–114.
Mauranen, Anna
2006 “Signaling
and Preventing Misunderstanding in English as Lingua Franca Communication.” International
Journal of the Sociology of
Language 177: 123–150.
Mauranen, Anna
2012Exploring
ELF. Academic English Shaped by Non-native
Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Mazeland, Harrie, and Minna
Zaman Zadeh
2004 “The
Logic of Clarification: Some Observations about Word-Clarification Repairs in Finnish-as-a-Lingua-Franca
Interactions.” In Second Language
Conversations, ed. by Rod Gardner, and Johannes Wagner, 132–156. New
York/London: Continuum Publishers.
Merritt, Marilyn
1976 “On
Questions Following Questions in Service Encounters.” Language in
Society 5 (3): 315–357.
Mondada, Lorenza
2011 “Understanding
as an Embodied, Situated and Sequential Achievement in Interaction.” Journal of
Pragmatics 43: 542–552.
Mustajoki, Arto
2017 “Why
is Miscommunication More Common in Everyday Life than in Lingua Franca
Conversation?” In Current Issues in Intercultural
Pragmatics, ed. by Istvan Kecskes, and Stavros Assimakopoulos, 55–74. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Oloff, Florence
2018 ““Sorry?”/“Como?”/“Was?” –
Open Class and Embodied Repair Initiators in International Workplace Interactions.” Journal of
Pragmatics 126: 29–51.
Osimk-Teasdale, Ruth
2018 “Analyzing
ELF Variability.” In The Routledge Handbook of English as a Lingua
Franca, ed. by Jennifer Jenkins, Will Baker, and Martin Dewey, 201–209. Abingdon,
Oxon: Routledge.
Pietikäinen, Kaisa
2018 “Misunderstanding
and Ensuring Understanding in Private ELF Talk.” Applied
Linguistics 39 (2): 188–212.
Schegloff, Emanuel
A., Gail Jefferson, and Harvey Sacks
1977 “The
Preference for Self-Correction in the Organization of Repair in
Conversation.” Language 53: 361–382.
Seidlhofer, Barbara
2011Understanding
English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Smith, Larry
E., and Cecil
L. Nelson
1985 “International
Intelligibility of English: Directions and Resources.” World
Englishes 4: 333–342.
Sparks, Beverley
1994 “Communicative
Aspects of the Service Encounter.” Hospitality Research
Journal 17: 39–50.
Sparks, Beverley, and Karin Weber
2008 “The
Service Encounter.” In Handbook of Hospitality Operations and
IT, ed. by Peter Jones, 109–137. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Svennevig, Jan
2008 “Trying
the Easiest Solution First in Other-initiation of Repair.” Journal of
Pragmatics 40: 333–348.
Taguchi, Naoko, and Noriko Ishihara
2018 “The
Pragmatics of English as a Lingua Franca: Research and Pedagogy in the Era of
Globalization.” Annual Review of Applied
Linguistics 38: 80–101.
Thurlow, Crispin, and Adam Jaworski
2011 “Tourism
Discourse: Languages and Banal Globalization.” Applied Linguistics
Review 2: 285–312.
Vu, Thi Hong
Van
2018 “An Investigation into English
Language Use in the Vietnamese Hospitality Industry: The Language of Money Exchange.” Ho Chi
Minh City Open University Journal of
Science 8 (2): 14–22.
Walkinshaw, Ian
2022 “Findings
and Developments in ELF Pragmatics Research: An
Introduction.” In Pragmatics in English as a Lingua Franca. Findings
and Developments, ed. by Ian Walkinshaw, 1–14. Berlin: Mouton
de Gruyter.
Watterson, Matthew
2008 “Repair
of Non-understanding in English in International Communication.” World
Englishes 27: 378–406.
Wilson, Adam
2018a “Adapting
English for the Specific Purpose of Tourism: A Study of Communication Strategies in Face-to-Face Encounters in a French
Tourist Office.” ASp
(Online) 73: 1–20.
Wilson, Adam
2018b “The
Positioning of English as a Key Skill in the Labour Market of Marseille’s Tourist
Office.” International Journal of Language, Translation and Intercultural
Communication 2: 21–32.