Fluency and reducing hesitation
Fluency is speaking at length without long pauses. Practical ways to keep going when you can't find a word.
বাংলায় সারাংশ (Bangla summary)
Fluency মানে দীর্ঘ বিরতি ছাড়া কথা বলা। শব্দ না পেলেও কথা চালিয়ে যাওয়ার কৌশল।
By the end of this lesson you can
- Use natural fillers instead of silence
- Paraphrase a word you don't know
- Build fluency with short daily timed drills
What fluency means in IELTS
Fluency and Coherence rewards speaking at length without noticeable effort, and with ideas connected logically. Pauses to search for language, repetition and self-correction lower the score.
Fluent speakers still pause, but at natural points, and they fill gaps with short phrases rather than silence or "uh… uh… uh".
When you can't find the word
Describe it: "the thing you use to… ", "a kind of…", "someone who…". If you forget "lawnmower", say "the machine for cutting grass". The examiner rewards you for keeping going.
Use a small set of natural fillers: "let me think", "well", "I mean", "the thing is", "how can I put it". Vary them; repeating one filler every sentence is noticeable.
Silence versus paraphrase
Stuck: "In my village there is a… uh… uh… [silence]… a… sorry."
Fluent: "In my village there's a… what's the word… a place where farmers bring their rice to be cleaned and stored, a sort of small mill."
Guided practice
Choose the best way to keep going.
Practise on your own
Answer on your own.
Mini test
Check what you learned. Wrong answers go to your mistake notebook for revision.