IELTS Speaking Tips How to Avoid Filler Words and Maintain Fluency

Every aspect of the IELTS speaking examination is important and speaking is one of the most sensitive ones. That’s because it has a direct communication with the examiner and you have a specified time to represent yourself for it. Even when many candidates have a good fluency they struggle to speak and use filler words such as “umm”, “uh”, and “like” during their responses. 

Hence, overusing these words and instances might have a negative effect on your IELTS IELTS Speaking score and examination. In this write-up we will help you to explore the effective strategies to use for achieving an ideal score. 

Filler Words: What Are They and Why We Use Them?

Phrases which can be deemed less considerable or sounds that human beings regularly rent to bridge gaps in communication are referred to as filler phrases. This gives them time to think and connect the thoughts. There are several filler words and some of them are “um”, “uh”, “you know”, “basically”, “actually” and “like.”

These words automatically appear when we sound nervous or not sure what to say. These also assist you to buy more time for formulating the thoughts in your mind. While filler words are common in everyday conversation and they should be kept to everyday only. Also, the excessive use of these instances in your IELTS speaking test can provide the impression that you are not fluent and lack confidence. 

IELTS Speaking Tips to Avoid Filler Words

So, now we know about the filler words and why we use them along with their impact on the scores. So, here are IELTs speaking practice tips to help you out:

Use Active Listening and Speaking

An active listener is the one who wins the race and you should be hooked to active listening for enhancing your fluency along with the vocabulary of words. Also, you need to engage in regular IELTS speaking practice by listening to the conversations of the native English speakers via podcasts, TED Talks, and news channels. 

You should pay close attention to the way they structure the responses, use pauses effectively and transition from one point to another without filler words. During your practice session you can record yourself on various topics. 

Keep Pause Strategically 

It is quite natural to pause when you’re speaking, especially when you need to organize your thoughts. Instead of filling these pauses with the filler words you can be silent. A brief pause can actually help you to enhance your speech and provide you time to gather all the thoughts. Doing this will make your response more solid and deliberate. 

You should practice using the pauses effectively by speaking on any topic for two minutes without using filler words. This will help you to create IELTS fluency and it might seem awkward initially but with regular practice you can learn to use pauses strategically.

Go For Connectors and Linking Words

The linking words and connectors such as “however”, “therefore”, “moreover” and “on the other hand,” will help you to structure your speech better and connect ideas seamlessly. Using these words will reduce your dependency on the filler words and enhance your responses. 

You need to practice using different connectors in your responses to showcase variety. Also, you need to break down complex sentences and use them to enhance understanding. Eventually, this will provide you with access to make your speech more professional and polished. 

Organize Your Thoughts Before Speaking

In the second part of the IELTS examination the candidates get 1 minute to prepare their thoughts and speech to speak on any specific topic. Hence, you need to act efficiently and organize all of your thoughts into a manner that is represented as professional and polished speech. Think about the main points you intend to cover and form sentences around those using connectors and avoiding fillers. 

You can keep the same strategy in your mind when it comes to part 1 and part 3 of the IELTS speaking test. It will help you to stay organized and be precise on whatever you are intending to present. 

Conclusion

So, now you have learnt about the IELTS speaking tips and the use of the filler words. It is important to know about the different aspects and ensure you get the most out of it. Thus, if you are intending to prepare yourself strongly for the IELTS examination then Engramm is your go-to destination. 

With Engramm General and Academic courses you can enhance your IELTS fluency and achieve the results of your choice. So, get ready to achieve your dreamy band score.

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