Habit Reversal to Decrease Filled Pauses in Public Speaking: A Partial Replication

Abstract

Purpose: Many students have difficulties in public speaking because of their use of filled pauses (e.g., utterances like “um”; misuse of the word “like”). Mancuso and Miltenberger used habit reversal to decrease filled pauses in public speaking. The present study aimed at replicating this study as a student project. Method: Participants were four undergraduate students of social work. The training phase and total number of sessions were shortened compared to the original study. Results: The mean number of responses (filled pauses) per minute decreased throughout the study and during follow-up measurement. Discussion: Nevertheless, the replication of experimental control wasn’t successful because three of the four participants showed a decrease in response frequency already during the baseline. As a project, the study demonstrates that students of social work with only rudimentary training in single systems research methods can implement evidence-based practice procedures in their work with clients.

Identifying the Used of Filers in Speaking Fluency of Asian Novice Teachers

“…Furthermore, the research conducted by Bördlein and Sander (2020), entitled Habit Reversal to Decrease Filled Pauses in Public Speaking: A Partial Replication was created due to related concerns. Many students have difficulty speaking in public which makes them use too many pauses to fill in (such as "um", "like", etc.).…”