This study has analysed how student doctors and simulated patients pre-empt and repair non-understanding in doctor-patient interactions at primary care medical consultations in English as a Lingua Franca. It specifically focuses on clarifying conversation strategies during history-taking used by student doctors and simulated patients to achieve their communicative purposes successfully, co-constructing mutual understanding and collaboratively producing a diagnosis.

Throughout the current history-taking data, student doctors conscientiously engaging in achieving mutual understanding with simulated patients in information-gathering process at history-taking. They pursue this goal by repeating and rephrasing simulated patients’ utterances as well as their own and never let the trouble sources or signs of non-understanding pass. They use the following strategies extensively; simply repeating, reformulating the whole utterance, by observing simulated patients’ response and reaction very carefully. As a result, these efforts pre-empted non-understanding and triggered immediate repair of the trouble sources. This attitude can contribute to the embodiment of patient-centred care. It is expected that future research contributes to supporting student doctors and developing their communicative skills for dealing with non-understanding in doctor-patient interaction by collaborative effort.