Repair in Thai conversation: A case study of the 94.0 EFM radio hosts

Abstract

Conversation analysis (CA) is an approach to the study of talk-in-interaction which was developed by Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974). In this theory “repair” refers to recurrent problems in speaking, hearing, and understanding as studied by Schegloff, Jefferson, and Sacks (1977). The aim of this study is to examine the repair types used by 94.0 EFM radio hosts. Speech data was recorded from radio with MP3 recorders of conversations between the 94.0 EFM radio hosts. A total of 15 conversations were collected. Repair strategies are the ways in which the 94.0 EFM radio hosts identify the trouble source and resolve communication problems. Results indicate four types of repair: self-initiated self-repair, self-initiated other-repair, other-initiated other-repair, and other-initiated self-repair. The results concur with the study of Schegloff et al. (1977). In addition, there were some unrepaired errors. Also, some repairs were done by the audience listening to the programme. They sent SMS or e-mail messages or made calls (off air) to repair a problem. 94.0 EFM is an entertainment radio program therefore jokes are used in the program. “Other-repair” and “self-repair” were the types of repair used to make jokes. They differ from the study of Schegloff et al. (1977) which found that only some ‘other-repair’ is jokes”.