Regulatory Functions of L2 Speakers’ Talk

Regulatory Functions of L2 Speakers’ Talk

  In Vygotskian sociocultural theory, this paper discuss how repair sequences of L2 learners’ social speech and private speech play regulatory functions in their learning process. The difference between social speech (interpsychological interaction) and private speech (intrapsychological interaction) is that social speech is addressed to others whereas private speech is addressed to the self. In order to discuss the regulatory functions of L2 learners’ speech in their higher-mental activities, I described the patterns of repair sequences in social speech and private speech in institutional settings using microdiscourse analysis. Two different data sets were collected over a year (2004-2005) at a North American university. The repair sequences in the data―speech peer interaction, student-teacher interaction and intra-personal interaction with the self―were found to play other-, and self-regulatory functions, which eventually showed how internalization occurred in learning process.