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According to Steven D. Cohen, an award-winning speaker who teaches Oral
Communication in the Workplace at Harvard Extension School, the reason why we
produce fillers is because we learn from a young age to eagerly answer questions, and
we feel the impulse to speak when we are spoken to. Those fillers are produced before
we give answers because we use them to verbally think.
Is it okay to use verbal fillers during our speech?
Some people may give no tolerance of the use of fillers during the speech. The use
of repeated and excessive fillers can weaken the speaker’s credibility. The speaker will
be considered as lack of preparation, lack of knowledge, or lack of passion. However, the
use of occasional fillers is acceptable and does not trump the great message of the
speech. Thus, the challenge of the speaker is to strive to minimize the filler words.

How do we minimize the use of verbal fillers?
The best way to stop using verbal fillers in our speech is to realize how and when
we use them. To do this, practice and record our speech frequently (Clark, 2015).

Task 3.6
PAIR WORK: In this activity, you will practice
how to avoid using fillers in your speech.
 Get your phone voice recorder ready. Find an
object in the classroom, and ask your partner
to say the name aloud.
 Start your recording, and let your partner talk
about this object for about 30 seconds.
 After you finish the recording, listen to your
partner talking and jot down the fillers she/ he
produces.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/image/8206988-
3x2-700x467.jpg  Take turn. Talk about a different object and
ask your partner to do the same procedure
you have done.

Note: Try it again and again at home. Once you become aware of why you are using the

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