FILLERS IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF LECTURES FROM A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN GHANA

Abstract

One way of ensuring fluency in lesson delivery for students to follow its flow in the classroom is through the use of fillers. This study examines the use of fillers in lectures in a public university in Ghana. Specifically, it investigates the types of fillers used in the Ghanaian English-medium classroom and discusses the communicative functions the fillers perform. To achieve these, real-time lessons were recorded from 24 lecturers in the university. The data were subjected to orthographic transcription, categorization, and thematic analysis of fillers for their types and functions in the lessons. Results show that the lecturers used 51 unlexicalized and lexicalized fillers. The unlexicalized ones comprised um, er, and uh while the lexicalized types consisted of lengthened syllables, repetition, and single words. With respect to the communicative functions, the fillers were found to perform cognitive functions (stalling and hesitating), social functions (attention getting and feedback), and discourse-regulatory functions (as editing term and discourse closing). Based on these results, it is proposed that lecturers should understand the importance of fillers so as to use them to their benefit and that of their students. Article visualizations: