ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 1, December 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 37 INVESTIGATION OF DECODING FILLERS USED IN AN ENGLISH LEARNING TALK SHOW “ENGLISH WITH ALICE” Ridwin Purba English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Simalungun, Pematangsiantar, Indonesia Email: nridwin@yahoo.com Herman (Corresponding author) English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of HKBP Nommensen, Medan, Indonesia Email: herman@uhn.ac.id Veronika R. M. Manullang English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of HKBP Nommensen, Medan, Indonesia Email: veron9515@gmail.com Magdalena Ngongo English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Kristen Artha Wacana, Kupang, Indonesia Email: magdalenangongo12@gmail.com APA Citation: Purba, R., Herman., Manullang, V. R. M., Ngongo, M. (2021). Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice”. English Review: Journal of English Education, 10(1), pp. 37-48. doi: https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v10i1.5352 Received: 16-08-2021 Accepted: 23-10-2021 Published: 31-12-2021 INTRODUCTION Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Language is the ability possessed by humans to communicate with other humans using signs, for example words and movements. Language is used to know how to produce and understand and acquire sentences with particular meanings in communicational interaction (Sitanggang, Hutahaean, and Herman 2019). According to Devianty (2018), language is a communication tool used to convey intentions, ideas, messages, and feelings to others. Language becomes one of the important connecting tools between human beings, because humans are creatures that interact and socialize with other human. With language, human can be easily connected with other people. Therefore, language can be said to be mandatory and important in terms of communication. Communicating with others can use several Abstract: This research was conducted to analyze decoding fillers in English learning talk show. The researchers made two groups of non-native English speakers to investigate fillers, Group one with little or no abroad experienced speakers and Group two with long term abroad experienced speakers. The researchers used descriptive qualitative as a method that describes an objective situation or certain event based on facts that appear or should be followed by an attempt to draw general conclusion. The procedure is ethnographic research which is ethnographic by qualitative enable researchers to understand the data by the functions of language (words, phrase and sentence) by grouping words that have same functions into categories. The researchers would analyze and conclude the data to be studied. In this research the data to be reviewed is English with Alice which contain fillers. The researchers found one hundred sixty-eight fillers with the exclusion of filler used by the host and both of speakers. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that 2 groups (14 guests) in the talk show English with Alice used different functions of decoding fillers. The functions in Group one are mostly (a) to begin and close a discourse and (c) to hold the floor. Moreover, the functions in Group two are mostly (c) to hold the floor and (g) to express the response. Keywords: conversation; decoding fillers; English learning; literature; talkshow. Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 38 types in language, those are oral language, written language, sign language, and inner language. Oral language is a communication between humans to express their intentions through words spoken from oral or mouth. Written language is a form of communication of vocabulary arranged into sentences that have meaning and then poured in written form. Sign language is a form of communication that uses limbs such a hands and lips movement. The inner language is a direct mental interaction of sound using the contents of heart. (Emmorey, 2011). Interaction with others can use English as a tool. English is one of some international language which is used by most people around the world. English is important because English is a means for globalized community to interact socially, educationally and economically (Kilickaya, 2009). English knowledge is needed if someone wants to coming up in life (Mishanthi, 2018). The importance of English can be seen from some sides of life, for example job requirement, one of the requirements is language competence, both of spoken and written form (Herman, Purba, Thao, & Purba, 2020; Sinaga, Herman, and Pasaribu, 2020). It must be learned by people who consider communicating in English as a foreign language or a second language wanting to compete and survive. Communication can be defined as the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another (Keyton, 2011; van Thao, Herman, Ha, Thuy, and Tho, 2020). The speaker and listener have different levels of ability or understanding. Moreover, English speakers or listeners are foreign or second language. The level of language proficiency, interruption, emotions and attitudes can change or prevent messages to be conveyed. Although there is always a problem in communication, the recipient needs to decode the message. Feedback is needed to find out whether the message was received and understood correctly by the recipient. (Luneburg, 2010). When the sender and receiver interact verbally face to face, they will tend to communicate spontaneously. Usually the interaction is not planned. Most spontaneous utterances are produced with a very different preparation from the planned communication. Speakers prepare themselves in advance when they participate in planned speaking situations: speeches, presentation, and ceremonies (Kurniawati and Astita, 2011). The preparation before speaking helps speech to flow fluently. In contrast, it is predicted that a spontaneous speech will tend to have some disfluencies (Uwasri, 2018). Disfluencies are prevailingly found in spontaneous interactions. Shiberg in Uwasri (2018) has identified that in normal speech naturally produced, disfluencies can affect the words and disfluencies occur one third of utterances of speakers (p. 2). The disfluencies in spontaneous utterances consist of various functions: Example [1] Filled pause : uh, um Repetition : the the Repair : any health cov – any health insurance False start : it’s fir – I could get it where I work Fillers are the sounds of words without meaning that indicate hesitation (Oroh, 2016). They contain both lexical (e.g. I mean, you know, actually, you see) and non- lexical words (e.g. uh, um, uh-huh). There are various fillers given by different researchers such as silent pause, filled pause, repetition, false start, and lexical fillers (MacGreger, 2008). These terms depend on the view of each scholar towards the functions of fillers. As mentioned, fillers are normally found in verbal communication. Oral communication skills seem difficult to develop for non-native English. Because of non-English speaking context and least opportunity to interact with native English speakers, oral skills difficulty is a perquisite issue for learners (Khan, 2011). As fillers to cognitive processing load, when people engage in spontaneous interaction, fillers can be seen as stigmata of speech production. Moreover, the flow of speech requires willingness to communicate that ground on self- efficacy of speakers. In other words, the speaker's own evaluation of their communicative abilities has an impact on the verbal performance of language (Doordinejad and Afshar, 2014). So, the speech flow in interactions partly depends on speakers’ confidence to communicate. Speaking English for non-native speaker is not as simple as people think. They acknowledged that it was really difficult to understand the words because poor of vocabularies in English and lack of experience to use English in their life. Many non- native English speakers do not speak English well which results in disfluencies and fillers when ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 1, December 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 39 speaking. The previous study of disfluencies and filler have been conducted by Oroh (2016) entitled “The Eloquence of Cast in the Harry Potter Series Six and Seven”. This study aims to show the disfluencies produced by characters in the Harry Potter series six and seven. In the conclusion, she found five types of speech disfluencies. The types are: silent pause, filled pause, filled pause, repetition, repair, and lexical fillers. Schanadt in Oroh (2016) stated that disfluencies is a natural part of language, and therefore an understanding of the role of speech fluency is broadly an understanding of speech fluency itself as an influence in the communication process. Example [2]: Harry: She want um the blue…uh…the red ball. From the example, Oroh (2016) found that fillers used by Harry showed his disfluency in speaking make the people difficult to understand. This happens because Harry doesn't know what he wanted to say to the person who spoke to him, and makes Harry a little confused and thinking. Uwasri (2018) argued that fillers are considered as one of the deficiencies in speaking. The use of fillers in speaking can damage or change the actual meaning of the mind. Uwasri also said that fillers were considered as impolite in speaking. Therefore, the researchers choose to analyze fillers in this research. The researchers want to show that fillers can be seen not as a form of deficiency but rather as an aid in conversation. Researchers believed fillers can help students to gather ideas or words that will be spoken next when speaking next. The use of fillers can also help students to convey their true intentions and objectives (Fabelia, 2020). Nowadays, students are raised in age where technology in advancing rapidly and they are constantly exposed to digital media, making them very different from earlier generations of learners. Up to date IT is needed to make them interested in learning. Implement audiovisual media such as audio, television, film and video that are more effective than traditional repetitive practices and exercises (Pun, 2013). Moreover, students can gain authentic language use that includes a number of varieties, dialects, and accents of English (Kenne, 2014). One of the audiovisual media is a talk show program. It represents spontaneous conversation that the use of fillers can be predicted to occur. The use of language in a talk show has been remarked that it intertwines both casual conversation and institutional talk. Institutional talks are adapted patterns of talk and action from casual conversation by pressing conversational dialogue to more restricted practices (Uwasri, 2018). Therefore, the language use in a talk show can be concerned as spontaneous speech. English with Alice is a talk show welcomes guests who are non-native English speaker. Guests invited to this program have different levels of English language skills, accents, dialects, and even varying English. Guests of this program have different English learning experiences. This program consists of everyday expressions and simple words that are often used. The researchers choose English with Alice because this program very interesting to be examined and researched in more detail. Researchers also chose to use this program for research because English with Alice is a program where conversations in this program use a lot of fillers. This research investigated the filler function used in the English learning talk show program, English with Alice. This study investigates the use of in-depth fillers found in spontaneous responses through the interaction of speakers of English as a foreign language and a second language. This research serves to help English teachers to create communicative responses through the use of fillers as a communication strategy for learning. Based on the reasons above, the researchers would like to conduct a research entitled: An Analysis of Decoding Fillers Used in English Learning Talk Show “English with Alice”. METHOD Because the research aimed to examine fillers’ functions used by non-native speakers of English when they were engaging in conversational response, the qualitative content-based analysis was appropriate for this current study. Qualitative research method was a research procedure that produced descriptive data in the form of written or oral words from people and observable behavior (Moleong, 2011; Munte, Herman, Arifin, Nugroho, and Fitriani, 2021). In collecting, expressing various problems and objectives to be achieved, this research was conducted with a descriptive analysis study approach. According to Sugiyono (2017), that Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 40 descriptive qualitative research is a research method based on a postpositive philosophy that is usually used to examine natural objective conditions in which researchers play a key instrument. Meanwhile Ufie (2013) discussed a descriptive method as a method that describes an objective situation or certain event based on facts that appear or should be followed by an attempt to draw general conclusions based on these facts (Herman, Murni, Sibarani, 2019) According to Rahardjo (2011) there are 8 types of qualitative research that are relatively often conducted or used in qualitative research; qualitative case study, phenomenological research, ethnographic research, grounded theory research, natural observation, focused interviews, document studies and historical research. The researchers used ethnographic research to analyze this research. Ethnography is a qualitative methodology that lends itself to the study of the beliefs, social interactions, and behaviours of small societies, involving participation and observation over a period of time, and the interpretation of the data collected (van Thao et al, 2021). Ethnography is a very in-depth study of behavior that occurs naturally in a particular culture or social group. Ethnographic research is research that has the aim to examine the forms and functions of language available in culture which are then used to communicate by individuals within it. And see how the form and function of these languages become part of the life of a society. (Rahardjo, 2011). In order to gain precise understandings following the research questions set in the Chapter 1, fillers’ functions were examined through interactants’ conversation in talk show settings. Fillers were predicted to occur by speakers of English who possessed different levels of English verbal performance and English language learning background experiences. In addition, both groups shared some characteristics: guests need to hold a non-native English speaker citizenship or have one of parents who was born non-native because this study investigated the verbal interactions of foreign nonnative speakers of English, and guests possessed willingness to communicate and a motivation. These represented a role model of how an inquisitive non-native learner of English. However, the English learning background experiences of guests were necessary to classify the guests into different groups: 1. little or no abroad experienced speakers, and 2. long term abroad experienced speakers. Group 1: Little or no abroad experienced speakers This group was regarded guests who encountered less English speaking surroundings. The guests who had an experience in any study programs in universities which contained any languages of instruction were classified into this group. It included any programs conducted in an international school because English speaking atmosphere that speakers experienced was still limited. Also, speakers who have abroad experiences in short-term visit as less than a year in any English speaking countries or English as a foreign language/ second language countries were considered to this group because staying abroad for a few months had no effect on oral performance gains (Llanes, 2011). Group 2: Long term abroad experienced speakers Guests have abroad experiences in English speaking countries or English as a second language countries for long-term visit, study or even stay abroad at least more than a year led success to speakers’ oral production. They held an educational certificate from any English speaking countries or English as a second language countries: a diploma, a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree, or a doctoral degree. From both groups above, it shows that guests exposed to different levels of English environment were grouped differently because speakers will appear with ease and confidence when they have study or living abroad experiences. This lead to less disfluencies in speech. Moreover, study abroad or living abroad helps speakers acquire speech fluency and oral proficiency (Kenne, 2014) due to speakers’ confidence to speak or communicate that come from speakers’ self-efficacy or their own judgments towards themselves. The researchers searched the fillers used in those speech and categorized them into each function by using Uwasri’s functions of fillers to analyze. The source of data in this study is subject from which the data can be obtained (Arikunto, 2013; van Thao et al, 2020). This research focuses on analyzing decoding fillers in English talk show, English with Alice. This English learning talk show, English with Alice, can be classified as one of day time talk shows due to the air time of the program that will be broadcast at 20:00 P.M.-20.15 P.M on Instagram @Alissayatsoi every fridays. Researchers got the video from https:// ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 1, December 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 41 instagram.com//happyalicetsoi?Igshid=Igywz8. According to the definition of day time talk shows mentioned above, celebrities, politicians, or ordinary people who engage in controversial issues are welcomed as guests of the show. The guests of this English learning talk show are mainly Thai celebrities whose English oral performance is different since they experience English learning language atmosphere dissimilarly. Among various English learning talk show programs in Thailand, English with Alice was considered as the suitable data for analysis due to the popularity of the program. English with Alice has a channel on IG website that is currently followed by over 400k of Instagram accounts (This information was collected on June 17, 2020). The availability of the program, Instagram website helps audience easily accessible. The show welcomes guests who possess a wide range of English speaking performance as they were born, raised, and educated in different English environment. Some grew up in Thailand and have had little or no abroad experience in any English speaking countries while some have a long-term visit and study in English speaking countries. Unlike other English learning programs that solely focus on teaching English grammar and vocabularies, the guests in English with Alice were asked a few questions by the show host relating to English speaking experiences: the place of birth, education, work. The information was vital to the researchers to classify each Thai speaker into the groups mentioned in research design. Also, fillers were predicted to be found in the conversation of these guests whose English verbal performance was different. Therefore, this English learning talk show, English with Alice, contained with resourceful data to analyze. Table 1. Thai guests name list for English with Alice 2020’ episode Episode Guests’ name Episode Guests’ name Episode 1 Love Pattranite Episode 21 Kaykai Salaider Episode 2 Puimekster Episode 22 Tul Pakorn Episode 3 Nanon Korapat Episode 23 Apple Lapisara Episode 4 Ciizephr Apichaya Saejung Episode 24 Perthpp Tanapon Episode 5 Toptap Jirakit Episode 25 Jennie Panhan Episode 6 Singto Prachaya Episode 26 Mark Siwat Episode 7 Ain Satida Episode 27 Zommarie Eugunie Episode 8 Mond Tanichai Episode 28 Aye Sarun Episode 9 Namtan Tipnaree Episode 29 Cutekiw Anongnart Y Episode 10 Nara Thepnupa Episode 30 Nae Anothai Episode 11 Praewah Nichapatc Episode 31 Kangkorn Episode 12 Pluempong Episode 32 Preenp Rasisrarat Episode 13 Fiat Pattadon Episode 33 Goyyog Arachaporns Episode 14 Janeeyah Episode 34 Pop Panu Chiraguna Episode 15 Gusbanana Episode 35 Earth Natravee Episode 16 Nammon Krittanai Episode 36 Mbabby Episode 17 Tytan Episode 37 Captain Episode 18 Toptap Napatchokenjidachai Episode 38 Nutthapong Episode 19 Bifern Episode 39 Kovasin Episode 20 Gadd_de Episode 40 Cheeren HVK Table 2. The overall English with Alice Episodes as the sample Group 1 (little or no abroad) Group 2 (abroad experience) Episode Guest’s name Episode Guest’s name Episode 3 Nanon Korapat Episode 12 Pluempong Episode 5 Toptap Jirakit Episode 17 Tytan Episode 6 Singto Prachaya Episode 18 Toptap Naphat Episode 9 Namtan Tipnaree Episode 22 Tul Pakorn Episode 24 Perthppe Tanapon Episode 27 Zommarie Eugunie Episode 25 Jennie Panhan Episode 28 Aye Sarun Episode 37 Captain Episode 36 Mbabby Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 42 The researchers chose 14 episodes English with Alice, 7 episodes in Group 1 little or no abroad experience and 7 episodes in Group 2 abroad experience because the researchers had made preliminary observations in these episodes. There are many fillers that support the data needed in this research compare the other episodes. The data of this research is collected from conversation in talk show English with Alice. The process data collection itself is: (1) Starting from watching each episode from English with Alice. The researchers watched English with Alice twice an episode because the target verbal discourse of the study was pragmatically considered. (2) Selecting the conversation through the website. Their conversation was mixed with both English and Thai because some guests had difficulties to convey proper structure or vocabularies. (3) Trying to find the words, phrases, sentences which contain fillers. (4) Collecting fillers were categorized into each function. In this research, the data is analyzed by following several steps. (1) Watching and listening the videos of the talk show. (2) Identifying the sounds, words or phrases on the conversation that contain the fillers. (3) Giving the code on the data to make easier in analyzing. (4) Analyzing the fillers meaning based on own interpretation of the data. (5) Classifying the data related to Uwasri (2020), and explaining the fillers and fillers meaning of the sounds, words or phrases on the videos descriptively. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results After analyzing the use of decoding fillers in English Learning Talk Show “English with Alice”, the researchers found that: There are eight fillers’ function are used by 14 guests in English with Alice program, they are (1) to begin and close discourse; (2) to change a turn; (3) to hold the floor; (4) to change the topic; (5) to constrain the relevance of one clause to the previous clause; (6) to repair discourse; (7) to express a response and (8) to influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener. The most dominant are used by 14 guests based on the experience of non-native English speakers. Based on the analysis, the researchers found the percentages of fillers’ function that used by 14 guests in English with Alice. It can be seen in the following table: Table 3. Summary of the number of fillers and percentages found in both groups of non-native English speakers including the host of the program Fillers’s Function Group 1 (had little or no abroad group) Group 2 (abroad group) Frequency Percentages Frequency Percentages (a) To begin and close discourse 7 10,14% 17 17,17% (b) To change a turn 4 5,79% 4 4,04% (c) To hold the floor 19 27,53% 31 31,31% (d) To change the topic 4 5,79% 6 6,06% (e) To constrain the relevance of connected discourse 5 7,24% 4 4,04% (f) To repair discourse 6 8,69% 8 8,08% (g) To express a response 16 23,18% 18 18,18% (h) To influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener. 8 11,59% 11 11,11% Total 69 99,99% 99 99,99% In Group 1 consisting of little or no abroad experienced speakers, the most used functions were (g) to express the response applied to the speech 16 times (23,18%) and (c) to hold the floor applied to the speech 19 times (27,53%). For Group 2, they were people who experienced long-term abroad. In this group, the functions, (g) to express the response was found 18 times (1818%) and (c) to hold the floor was found 31 times (31,31%). However, when fillers produced by the host of ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 1, December 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 43 the show were excluded and the researchers compared guests’ fillers found from both groups, the findings revealed the speakers from Group 1 and Group 2, which were categorized into different groups due to English language learning background experience, resulted similarly as the function (c) hold the floor was applied mostly. Table 4.8 below demonstrated the summary of the number of fillers and percentages in both groups of speakers. Table 4. Summary of the number of fillers and percentages found in both groups of guests Fillers’s Function Group 1 (had little or no abroad group) Group 2 (abroad group) Frequency Percentages Frequency Percentages (a) To begin and close discourse 3 8,10% 14 18,91% (b) To change a turn 4 10,81% 3 4,05% (c) To hold the floor 17 45,94% 27 36,48% (d) To change the topic 0 0% 3 4,05% (e) To constrain the relevance of connected discourse 4 10,81% 3 4,05% (f) To repair discourse 5 13,51% 6 8,10% (g) To express a response 4 10,81% 10 13,51% (h) To influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener. 8 10.81% 8 10.81% Total 37 99,99% 74 99,99% From Table 4 above, it showed that the speakers from Group 1, who had little or no abroad experienced, employed (c) to hold the floor 17 times (45, 94%), (f) to repair discourse 5 times (13,51%) and from Group 2, who had abroad experience, employed (c) to hold the floor 27 times (36,48%), (a) to begin and close a discourse 14 times (18,91%). Table 5. Specific forms of fillers in each function found in Group 1 and 2 included fillers used by the host Functions Group 1 (had little or no abroad experienced) Group 2 (abroad experienced) Forms of fillers Number Forms of fillers Number (a) to begin and close discourse So, okay, uhm, yeah 7 so, okay, uhm, ah, so now, ah so, right, ah. 17 (b) to change a turn ah, uhm, well 4 ah, okay, all right. 4 (c) to hold the floor uhm-uhm, like, kind of, well 19 like, uhm, uh, um yeah, and um, oh, yeah 31 (d) to change the topic well, okay 4 but, okay, so, now, uhm, well 6 (e) to constrain the relevance of connected discourse so, okay 5 so, yeah 4 (f) to repair discourse like, uhm, ah 6 yeah, I mean, oh, ah 8 (g) to express a response yeah, uh huh, uh- uhm, oh my God, wihh 16 okay, right, oh no, uh-huh, uh-uhm, ooh, yeah-yeah 18 (h) to influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener right?, yeah?, really? 8 okay?, all right?, yeah, and yeah, you know 11 Totally, Fillers were found 168 times in speech from both groups of speakers. The number of fillers in Group 1 was 68 and Group 2 was 99 respectively included fillers used by the host, and these fillers were analyzed as well as classified into different functions. Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 44 Table 6. Specific forms of fillers in each function found in Group 1 and 2 excluded fillers used by the host Functions Group 1 (had little or no abroad experienced) Group 2 (abroad experienced) Forms of fillers Number Forms of fillers Number (a) to begin and close discourse uhm, yeah 3 so, okay, uhm, ah, so now, ah so, ah 14 (b) to change a turn ah, uhm 4 ah, okay 3 (c) to hold the floor uhm-uhm, like, well 17 like, uhm, uh, um yeah, and um, oh, yeah 27 (d) to change the topic - 0 but, okay, so, now, uhm, well 3 (e) to constrain the relevance of connected discourse so, okay 4 so, yeah 3 (f) to repair discourse like, uhm 5 yeah, I mean, oh, ah 6 (g) to express a response yeah, uh huh, uh- uhm, oh, wihh 4 okay, right, oh no, uh-huh, uh-uhm, ooh, yeah-yeah 10 (h) to influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener right?, yeah? 4 okay?, all right?, yeah, and yeah, you know 8 The graph below compares different functions that two groups of speakers applied to their speech included fillers’ function used by the host. Figure 1. Fillers’ functions found in both groups of non-native English speakers However, when the researchers excluded fillers’ functions applied by the host, fillers were found 37 times in Group 1 and 74 times in Group 2 speakers who were the guests of the program. The most used functions in Group 1 speakers were (c) to hold the floor and (f) to repair the course. The most used functions in Group 2 speakers were (c) to hold the floor and (a) to begin and close a discourse. Figure 4.2 compares fillers’ functions found among the guests in both Group 1 and 2 separately. ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 1, December 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 45 Figure 2. Fillers’ functions found in both groups of guests Discussion Fillers not only found in daily activity, people can also found fillers in the talk show program. Fillers is a strategy that is used to control, master and cover up deficiency in speak English. Long term abroad experienced group of guest mostly used fillers as a habit and style in speak English. Meanwhile, had little or no abroad experience used fillers as a strategy to cover up the deficiency and to fill the blank while think and produce idea or new words to spoken next. The researchers discussed there are eight fillers’ functions are used by 14 guests in English with Alice program namely (a) to begin and close a discourse; (b) to change the turn; (c) to hold the floor; (d) to change the topic; (e) to constrain the relevance of one clause to the previous clause; (f) to repair discourse; (g) to express the response and (h) to influence the interactional and intimacy of the speaker and listener. The related research was done by Fatihurrahman (2016) “The Use of Fillers in Thesis Proposal Presentation by Indonesian EFL Learners”. Based on the research findings above, the researchers found there were similarities with the findings from the previous research. The object both research was non-native English speaker. Both of the research used same method that was qualitative research. The difference on this research was the previous researchers analyzed types of fillers, meanwhile this research analyzed functions of fillers. This research was used theory of Uwasri and the previous research used theory of Clarck and Tree. In short, fillers can help non-native English speaker to cover up their deficiency speak in English CONCLUSION The research was conducted to classify the decoding fillers into its functions. The conversation between non-naïve English speaker interactions is the main interest for this research. Because of non- English speaking context and least opportunity to verbally exchange in English, Alice welcoming non-native English speakers who differently posseses levels of English due to distinctive English language learning experience in her program is considered resourceful. Based on the findings and discussion in chapter four, it can be concluded that there are different functions of decoding fillers used in English learning talk show “English with Alice”. The fillers’ functions were differentiated to be (a) to begin and close discourse; (b) to change the topic; (c) to hold the floor; (d) to change the topic; (e) to constrain the relevance of connected discourse; (f) to repair discourse; (g) to express the response and (h) to influence the interactional an intimacy of the speaker and listener. The utterances which were analyzed in this research did not cover all functions of decoding fillers. After analyzed the data, the researchers found that 2 groups (14 guests) in the talk show English with Alice used different functions of decoding fillers. The functions in group 1 mostly were (a) to begin and close a discourse and (c) to hold the floor. Moreover, the functions in group 2 mostly were (c) to hold the floor and (g) to express the response. The researchers found out that fillers influenced the way of Alice guests. The guest with had little or no abroad experience using fillers to cover up their deficiency in speak English. They also use fillers to Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 46 fill the blank when think the idea or new words to spoken next. In the guests with had long term abroad experience, the researchers found that they are use filler as a style and a habit in speak English. REFERENCES Arikunto, S. (2013). 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A comparative study of words indicating ‘artificial containers of water’ in Vietnamese and English. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. 12(10), pp. 328-337. Van Thao, N., Herman., Ha, T. T., Thuy, N. T. T., and Tho, N. T. Q. (2020). Analysis of argumentation in Nam Cao’s Story ‘Chi Pheo’ based on a pragmatics perspective. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 12(12). Van Thao, N., Herman., Napitupulu, E. R., Hien, N. T., and Pardede, H. (2021). Code-switching in learning via Zoom Application: A study in an EFL context. Asian ESP Journal, 17(3.1), pp. 91- 111. ISSN: 2206-0979. Ridwin Purba, Herman, Veronika R. M. Manullang, & Magdalena Ngongo Investigation of decoding fillers used in an English learning talk show “English with Alice” 48