Effects of task complexity, task sequence, and interlocutor familiarity on Chinese EFL learners’ self-repair in synchronous online interaction

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of two task factors (i.e. task complexity and task sequence) and an interlocutor factor (i.e. interlocutor familiarity) on Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ self-repair strategies during synchronous online task-based interaction. Four decision-making tasks were conducted to elicit oral interactions from 44 low-level proficiency EFL learners, who were required to complete the tasks in pairs in either a simple-to-complex sequence or a complex-to-simple sequence. Information about the learners’ familiarity with their partners was collected through interviews. Learners’ self-repair was analysed in terms of various recycling and replacement strategies. The results revealed that complex tasks facilitated learners in replacing items to solve problems, while the simple-to-complex task sequence enabled them to produce more self-repair by repeating or replacing items than the complex-to-simple task sequence. Interlocutor familiarity on its own did not influence the learners’ self-repair, but it had effects when combined with task sequence.