The Paradox of Comprehensible Input: Hesitation Phenomena in L2 Teacher-Talk

Hesitation phenomena (HP) have previously been shown to be
sources of perceptual error for NNSs. Difficulties of decoding
HP, especially filled pauses, are revealed when NNSs are
asked to transcribe recorded texts. This procedure was
employed in the first of two studies reported in this paper.
Results of an analysis of HP-generated errors in the transcripts
showed a high proportion of filled pauses (in the region
of 20%) to be misperceived. The second study was, therefore,
undertaken to investigate the occurrence of filled pauses in
segments from 30 lessons given by 10 EFL teachers. A
significant reduction in the frequency of filled pauses was
observed in the classroom deliveries when compared to NS-NS
baseline frequencies. This is presumed to indicate a recognition
of the difficulty experienced by NNSs in decoding filled
pauses, and a (probably unconscious) monitoring of HP in input
by EFL teachers.