AN INVESTIGATION OF UNDERGRADUATE SUDENTS’ FILLER TYPE IN ACADEMIC SPEAKING PRESENTATION

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the types of fillers used by students during academic speaking
presentations. This qualitative descriptive study used a case study research design to twenty-one
students of Fourth Semester from English Education Department Wiralodra University who
presented journal topics in academic speaking courses. The instruments used in this study were
observation and interviews. The data shows that the filler used by students is 7 Lexicalized Fillers
(well, and then, like, you know, I think, so and ok) 3 Unlexicalized Fillers (uhh, uhm, and a).
Lexicalized fillers are more often used by students during academic speaking presentations,
appearing 152 times or 39.07% in 3 unlexicalized fillers, while unlexicalized fillers appear 237 times
or 60.93%. Observations are used to find out what types of filler often appear during student
presentations. From the students' observations, it is found that many participants used fillers during
pauses and thought of the next word to say, so that fillers could appear. In addition, the researcher
found that the participants often used blank pauses in the middle of the presentation because they
diverted the meaning from the presentation. This study suggested the investigation of the filler
function in academic speaking presentation for further research.