Common speech disfluencies among grade 12 academic track students: a content analysis of extemporaneous speeches

Abstract

This study explored and described the common types of speech disfluency observed among the Grade 12 academic track of Anonang National High School. Further, this study made use of a mixed-method, wherein the frequency of the occurrence of the speech disfluency among the respondents are measured for the quantitative data, and utilized the conceptual content analysis to describe the types of speech disfluencies occurring among the student speakers for the qualitative data. Additionally, the results obtained from the recorded extemporaneous speech of the respondents revealed the commonly recurring speech disfluencies as Interjection, Blocks, Prolongation, Revision, Code Switching, Word Repetition, Restart, Stuttering, Phrase Repetition, and Syllable Repetition, with Interjection gaining the highest percentage of frequency, and Syllable Repetition as the least. In relation to this, it has been observed that most of the interruption in speech occurs due to the linguistic difficulty and anxiety that the speaker faces during the speech delivery. Hence, to address this concern, the Department of Education, together with the school principals, schools heads, teachers, and students should collaborate in diminishing the occurrence of disfluency in speech.