A Study of Filled pauses of Thai Learners of English with Different Levels of English Language proficiency

Abstract

This research study was set out to compare filled pauses used in spontaneous speech by Thai learners of English with independent and basic user levels of English language proficiency in terms of types, distributions and functions. The data consisted of filled pauses produced in spontaneous speech. The results show that non-lexical filled pauses were produced most frequency among the speakers with basic user level, while lexical filled pauses in English were used oftentimes by the independent user group. The distributions of filled pauses were found both before and within clauses. Throughout this study, a major function of filled pauses was organization.