Fillers, pauses and self-correction in IELTS Speaking: what is fine

Every speaker hesitates, and the IELTS Speaking test does not expect otherwise. What it listens for is the kind of hesitation, how often it happens and what it costs the listener. A pause while you decide what to say is ordinary. A pause while you hunt for a word, or a sentence started three times, is what pulls the Fluency and Coherence band down. This guide separates the kinds, shows which fillers help and which repeat, explains self-correction, and gives a way to practise with recordings. For the criterion as a whole, start with the answer on how to improve IELTS Speaking fluency.

What IELTS says about hesitation

IELTS.org’s Speaking guidance, which this site last checked on 17 September 2026, lists Fluency and Coherence as one of four equally weighted criteria. The Speaking band is the average of the four, reported as a whole or half band. Within Fluency and Coherence, the public descriptors look at continuity: whether the flow is broken up by false starts, backtracking, repetition that serves no purpose, and pauses spent looking for words.

Read the Speaking band descriptors explorer in order and the pattern is clear. At band 5, the answer reaches its end, but the machinery is audible: a phrase repeated while you think, a sentence begun twice. At band 6, the thread slips at times through a repetition, a correction or a pause for a word. At band 7, you keep going without the listener hearing the effort, and hesitating is occasional. At band 8, pausing is mostly about deciding what to say, not how to say it.

IELTS publishes no number of fillers, pauses or corrections that is acceptable at any band, and no list of phrases to use or avoid. Nothing below promises a band. It is advice about spoken English, tested against what the descriptors describe.

Two kinds of pause

Pausing to think about content

You are asked “Is it better to rent or to buy a home?” and you take a second to decide your view. Nothing is wrong with that. The descriptors for the higher bands expect it: pausing is mostly a matter of deciding what to say. A listener who sees you thinking sees someone with something to say.

Pausing to search for a word or a form

The second kind is different. You know what you mean and cannot find the word, or you are not sure whether to say “have been” or “was”. The pause comes in the middle of a sentence, often with a repeated sound. This is the kind the descriptors link to the lower bands, because the flow breaks for language reasons, not for thought.

How to tell them apart on a recording: content pauses fall at the start of an idea or between two ideas. Language pauses fall inside a phrase. The fix for the second kind is not speed. It is wider vocabulary and rehearsed structures, plus the habit of working around a missing word, which is covered further down.

Fillers: natural against repeated

A filler is a word or phrase that holds the floor while you think. Some are natural and even useful.

• “Well, it depends on the city.”
• “Let me think… I’d say the evenings.”
• “That’s a good question, actually. I haven’t really thought about it.”
• “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

These are short, they vary, and they lead straight into an answer. They signal that you are thinking and that an answer is on its way.

What costs fluency is repetition without a function:

• An “uh” or “um” before almost every phrase.
• The same set phrase in each answer, such as “that’s a very interesting question” opening every reply.
• “How can I say” or “you know” in the middle of a sentence, over and over. The band 6 wording on the explorer lists filling every pause out loud with “how can I say” and “you know” as a trap.
• Repeating the examiner’s question back word for word to buy a few seconds, which the same wording also lists as a trap.

The test is simple. If you delete the filler from the recording, does the answer lose anything? If not, and it appears again and again, it is a habit. One “well” at the start of a hard answer is a tool. Eight in two minutes is a tic.

Self-correction: when it helps and when it shows a gap

Correcting yourself is part of ordinary speech, and IELTS does not penalise it as such.

A quick, accurate repair

“I go there every week, sorry, every weekend.” You noticed, fixed it in a beat and moved on. The listener hears control: you knew the right word and used it. A few repairs like this in a long answer do no harm.

Repairing every sentence

“I was go… I went to the… to the market, and I buy… bought…” This shows a gap. Each repair breaks the flow, and the pattern tells the listener the language is not coming easily. The band 7 wording describes correction as an occasional slip, not as the way each sentence is built; at band 6, a correction still breaks the thread at times.

What to do instead

If you notice a small error, you can usually leave it and keep going. Finishing a sentence imperfectly costs less than abandoning it, which is also the advice the explorer gives at the lowest bands. Repair only when the error changes the meaning, or when the right form comes to you at once. Over time, drilling the forms you keep repairing, past tense and articles for most learners, reduces the need. The post on common grammar mistakes in Speaking lists the usual ones.

Buying time without stalling

There are better ways to gain thinking time than silence or a stream of fillers. All of these keep the listener with you.

1. Start the answer with something you can say before you know the rest. “There are two sides to that.” Then decide the sides while you finish the sentence.
2. Repeat part of the question in your own words. “How I spend my evenings? Mostly at home.” This differs from echoing the whole question. It reframes it and lets you start.
3. Use one honest short phrase. “Let me think for a second.” Once is fine.
4. Answer the part you can, then add. A direct first sentence gives you time to find the second.
5. Work round a missing word. If you cannot find “commute”, say “the journey to work”. The ability to work around a missing word is part of what the criteria look at, and it keeps you moving.

When you did not catch the question

Sometimes the hesitation is not about content or language but about hearing. If you did not catch or understand a question, ask for it to be repeated. This is acceptable in the test and far better than guessing and answering a different question. A short polite request is enough. The answer on asking the examiner to repeat a question covers what to say and how often it is sensible.

How to practise with recordings

You cannot hear your own hesitation reliably while you speak. A recording makes it visible. A plain routine:

1. Record a two-minute answer to a Part 2 prompt from the cue card hub, or to three Part 1 questions in a row.
2. Listen once for stops only. Each time you stop, write down whether it was a content pause (start of an idea) or a language pause (inside a phrase).
3. Count fillers. Note which ones repeat. Do not aim for zero. Aim to vary them and to cut the ones that carry no meaning.
4. Count repairs. Mark which were quick and accurate and which were repeated attempts at the same phrase.
5. Fix one thing. Choose the most frequent language pause, such as a topic word you keep missing, and look it up, say it aloud five times in sentences, then re-record the same answer.

Do this a few times a week and compare the first and last recordings of the month. The count falling is the evidence, and it does not depend on any score. The guide to practising IELTS Speaking alone builds this into a full routine, and the post on Part 1 questions shows the short-answer shape where fillers tend to creep in. Hesitation and linking work together: a speaker who links ideas cleanly needs fewer fillers to hold the floor, which is the subject of the guide to linking words for IELTS Speaking.