The role of fillers in EFL spoken communication: Managing speaking anxiety and supporting oral performance

Syamsudin, Syamsudin (2023) The role of fillers in EFL spoken communication: Managing speaking anxiety and supporting oral performance. Research Report. 1, Malang. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This qualitative case study investigated how EFL learners use fillers as communication strategies to manage speaking anxiety and support oral performance. The study involved four EFL learners from the English Education Department who actively used fillers during speaking practices. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that the participants experienced speaking anxiety due to limited vocabulary, inadequate grammar mastery, poor pronunciation, and insufficient understanding of discussion topics. In addition, psychological factors such as nervousness, fear of making mistakes, and shyness negatively affected their oral communication performance. The study further found that fillers such as hesitation markers, repetitions, and brief pauses functioned as strategic discourse devices that provided learners with additional processing time to organize ideas and maintain conversational flow during oral interaction. Through the use of fillers, learners became more relaxed, participated more actively in discussions, and demonstrated greater self-confidence and speaking fluency. From an applied linguistics perspective, the findings suggest that fillers should not merely be viewed as indicators of disfluency, but as functional communication strategies that support strategic competence and interactional continuity in EFL speaking contexts. Therefore, raising learners’ awareness of fillers and their communicative functions may contribute positively to speaking instruction and communication strategy training in EFL classrooms.

Item Type:	Research (Research Report)
Keywords:	efl speaking; fillers; speaking anxiety; communication strategies; oral performance
Subjects:	13 EDUCATION > 1399 Other Education > 139999 Education not elsewhere classified
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities > Department of English Language and Letters
Depositing User:	Dr. Syamsudin Syamsudin
Date Deposited:	10 Sep 2026 11:55

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