In this episode of The Accent Journey, we explore one of the least taught but most important aspects of conversational fluency: backchannels and discourse markers.

Native speakers constantly use small listener responses such as mhm, uh-huh, right, I see, really?, and wow to show attention, understanding, interest, and engagement. They also use discourse markers like so, well, anyway, and I mean to organize ideas and guide conversations.

You'll learn:

• What backchannels are and why they matter
• The six most common backchannels in American English
• How intonation changes the meaning of expressions like uh-huh and really
• What discourse markers are and how th ...