Some days you're the pigeon

I was in a meeting yesterday with a woman who was not completely fluent in English. The content of the meeting was rather complicated, but it was clear that she was understanding the vast majority of what was discussed. Every once in awhile, however, she'd ask the meeting facilitator to clarify something. The facilitator would repeat herself very slowly, very loudly, and in pidgin English. I'd think, "Huh?" How exactly does broken language help with comprehension? Wouldn't that make it even more confusing?

Do all cultures do this? I thought of times when I've had trouble understanding something in another language. Not once do I remember having the phrase repeated back to me using broken language. More slowly or loudly, perhaps. But in pidgin? Das glaube ich nicht. (For you non-German speakers: ICH! GLAUBEN! ES! NEIN!)