The following essay presents a case study based on participant observation of a group of Swedish secondary school students’ interaction in English. The study focused on what is commonly referred to as communicative competence, or more specifically strategic competence, which represents how language speakers overcome linguistic breakdowns or gaps in their communicative skill. The aim of the study was to better understand how students use linguistic fillers in different situations. By observing students in two different situations, one stressful and one regular conversational situation, it was found that when in a stressful situation, students are more likely to use linguistic fillers in general and also that some students rely on their first language, Swedish, when using linguistic fillers. In this case study, it was found that some students experience difficulties in using English linguistic fillers. Based on these findings, there is a need for teachers to address this problem if students are to develop confidence and skill in using them. For this reason, there is a need for further research on developing and testing different teaching methods on the use of linguistic fillers.   Keywords: communicative competence, EFL, language didactics, linguistic fillers, participant observation, secondary school students, strategic competence.