Types of repair

There are many ways in which a conversation can break down, and as a result there are many types of repair. From a linguistic point of view, here are some of the most common triggers of a repair pattern. The response to each type will depend on content and use case.

General

• What?

• I don’t get it

• That’s not what I asked

Definition request

• What is pronation?

• What is a cross-trainer?

Repeat request

• What did you say?

• Can you repeat that?

Partial repeat request

• Size 10 what?

Paraphrase request

• What do you mean?

• Can you say that another way?

Example request

• What are my options?

• What shoe brands do you carry other than Nike?

Understanding check

• Delectable means delicious?

• Flan is a dessert?

Confirmation check

• A pizza with pineapple and papaya?

Correction

• Self-correction: “What sizes are the boots- er- shoes available in?”

• Other-correction:

A: They’re gonna drive back Wednesday.

B: Tomorrow.

A: Right, tomorrow.

A: How much do the Nikes in size 7 cost?

B: The Nike Air Max in size 7 costs $100.

A: Oh I thought those were $80.

B: The Nike Air in size 7 costs $80.

A: Oh okay.

Hearing check [voice only]

• I didn’t hear that

Dimensions of repair

• User-initiated vs. agent-initiated repair (who triggers repair?)

• User-repair vs. agent-repair (who fixes the problem?)

• Repair sequencing: What if an initial repair doesn’t work? How can you combine them? Looping through different repair strategies, fallback options, scaling up to agent-transfer.

  • There could be different fallback strategies. Perhaps, a definition request could be answered, but if that doesn’t work, then use the general repair strategy, and if that doesn’t work, offer to transfer. Alternatively, a user could say a general “I don’t get it”, to which you could respond with a paraphrase.