The Silent Period

The silent period refers to a period of time when a beginner English language learner does not produce language (or produces a small amount of language).  This period of time happens at the very beginning of language learning in the pre-production stage of second language acquisition.  It is natural and typical for every student learning English to experience the silent period.  The silent period lasts from a couple of weeks to an entire school year depending on the individual student.  

English language learners experience the silent period for two reasons.  One is because they do not have enough language skills to communicate.  ELLs need time to absorb and digest the language by actively listening for vocabulary words, grammar, and pronunciation.  Two, English language learners may not be confident enough in their English skills to communicate.  They may prefer to gain more knowledge of the language before feeling safe to express themselves.  Some students take risks with the language and feel comfortable making mistakes, so their silent period may be shorter than other students who want to make sure that whatever language they are producing is perfect.  These students do not want to make mistakes when expressing themselves in English, so their silent period is usually longer.

During the silent period, English language learners are actively learning about and adjusting to the culture.  They are observing classroom etiquette, rules, routines and discipline.    

Keeping ELLs’ affective filters low is key during this time.  Students experiencing the silent period need to feel safe, valued and need to feel a sense of belonging.  Providing a safe environment for ELLs is imperative.  This is why beginner ELLs who are experiencing the silent period should not be forced to speak.  Students should only speak when they feel ready to do so.  Forcing output too early will increase stress and anxiety within your students and hinder language acquisition.

There are two important points about the silent period.  One is that although English language learners are silent, they are actively learning the language and culture.  It appears that students are “just sitting and doing nothing” as I’ve been told by some of my former colleagues who were classroom teachers.  As stated above, this could not be further from the truth!  Two is to allow ELLs to produce language when they are ready to do so.  Students should not be forced to speak.  I have observed classroom teachers forcing beginner ELLs to repeat words.  This is unnecessary and counterproductive.  

Strategies to Use During a Student’s Silent Period:

1. Keep ELLs’ affective filters low.

2. Accept nonverbal responses such as nodding, pointing, smiling, or drawing. 

3. Incorporate Total Physical Response. 

4. Assign the student a buddy.

5. Speak slowly and clearly emphasizing key words.

6.   Teach BICS (basic vocabulary words, short and simple sentences). 

7.   Use cooperative learning.

8.   Use body language and gestures to convey meaning.

9.   Use manipulatives, realia, or visuals.

10.  Use iTranslate or a translation app if needed.

11.  Allow the student to rest or sleep.  Being immersed all day in a second language has its benefits, but can be exhausting for students.  Usually, it is not appropriate for students to sleep in your classroom, but in this case, it’s okay! 

Personal Experience:

I had a kindergarten student who experienced the silent period for the entire school year.  One strategy that I used with this student is having our high school Chinese language teacher come to the school to talk him.  I wanted to obtain more information about his thoughts, feelings, struggles, and experience.  While the Chinese teacher was talking with him, he began to cry.  He said that before he entered kindergarten, he had just arrived in the United States from China and had just met his parents for the first time in years.  For most of his life, he lived with his grandparents in China.  When he came to America, he was not only adjusting to the new language, country, and culture, he was meeting his parents for the first time and adjusting to a new family situation.  I had this student for four years and I learned that he did not like change.  All of these factors contributed to his long silent period.  This student became very special to me.

I have also had students with a much shorter silent period.  One student in particular took risks with the English language and didn’t care if she made mistakes.  If she made a mistake or didn’t know how to say something, she would say, “Tell me.”  She meant, “Tell me the correct way to say this.”  She wanted to be corrected or taught directly in order to learn the English language.  

Factors Affecting Second Language Acquisition

There are numerous factors that could impede your ESL student’s learning.  The following factors may make acquiring the English language more challenging for your student.

1. Language. The more differences between the student’s first language and English, the more difficult it will be for this student to acquire English. Languages such as Arabic and Russian are languages that are very different from English. The closer the student’s native language is to English, the easier it will be to acquire English. Cognates or similar sounding vocabulary words, similar grammatical structure, and the Roman or Latin alphabet used for writing are all similarities that make learning English easier.

2. Culture. Does your student come from a culture where students are more passive in the classroom? Students may be discouraged from asking questions or admitting that they do not understand the content that has been taught. Is critical thinking valued in the student’s culture or is rote learning? Eye contact may be perceived as rude in some cultures, whereas in the United States, eye contact in the classroom means that the student is being respectful, paying attention, and cares about their learning. Is education valued at home or is education believed to be solely the school’s responsibility? Does the student have many responsibilities at home either with helping their parents at work or taking care of their siblings? These are just some examples of cultural differences that may affect the student’s language learning and progress.

3. Previous education. Has the student had interrupted schooling because of moving frequently or because he or she has been a refugee? How much does the student know in their first language? Do they know academic vocabulary words in their first language? Do they know how to read and write in their native language? The more the student knows in their first language, the faster and easier it will be for this student to acquire English.

4. Affective filter and personality. Affective filter is a term that refers to a student’s emotions and motivation that may impact student’s learning. It can be very daunting and overwhelming for a student to move to the United States without knowing the culture or language. Having anxiety and feeling overwhelmed may negatively affect language learning. Does the student want to live in the United States? Are they motivated to learn English? Is the student shy or fearful of making mistakes or are they risk takers and self-confident? All of these factors may affect the progress of acquiring English.

5. Intelligence.  The more intelligent the student is, the faster they will learn English.

   What do these factors have to do with ESL students having a learning disability?

   When questioning whether or not your ESL student has a learning disability, you need to strongly consider the above factors. These factors do not mean that the student has a disability, but rather, are natural barriers that may impede your student’s learning of English. Keeping these factors in mind, it is best to wait and give the student time to learn English and acclimate to the American culture. What could become problematic is assuming that your student has a disability without considering the factors that make learning English naturally challenging for your student. This could result in inaccurately labeling your student as a special education student when they are not. This could also lead to possibly upsetting and confusing parents. In the education field, misidentifying students with having a learning disability and over identifying English language learners as having learning disabilities should be, and usually is, strongly discouraged and frowned upon. If you misidentify an ESL student with a learning disability and this student begins to adjust to the culture and new life in the United States, this student may begin showing progress with their English language learning and overall learning in the classroom. As a result, it may be clear that this student did not need special education services at all. If this happens, you could greatly lose your credibility as a teacher even though you had good intentions for your student.

   At times, you may feel confused and may not know the reasons for why your student is exhibiting much difficulty with learning English despite considering the above factors and giving your student plenty of time and opportunities for learning. You may feel concern for your student and you may express your concerns and your confusion to the classroom teacher and to the academic intervention team. Your goal may be to gain ideas and strategies to help your student, to monitor your student at that point, and to give a heads up to the team that this student may need extra services in the future. Just because you meet with the academic intervention team does not necessarily mean that you feel strongly that your student has a learning disability and needs additional support. It is acceptable to say, “I do not know why my student is not making progress.” It is okay to admit this! Even though you are an expert in the ESL field, it does not mean that you know everything. You are only human!

   Personal Experience:

   I had a student from China who entered the school district as a kindergartener without knowing English or the American culture. He exhibited a lot of difficulty learning English that first year. He experienced the Silent Period for most of the year and exhibited anxiety and shyness while learning. Because of these factors, I waited until the end of the school year to consult with the academic intervention team. I explained to the team that this student was having difficulty learning English and was not making progress similar to his peers. I admitted to the team that I did not know why after the entire school year that he was making such little progress. We decided to closely monitor this student he following school year. When this student entered first grade, he blossomed from the start! I had this student for a number of years and I asked him why he changed so much. He told me that one day toward the end of kindergarten, his father came to school to pick him up. His father saw that he was standing against the wall of the school away from the other students and not interacting with these students. His father strongly encouraged him to make friends and to participate in school. This is exactly what he did! From the beginning of first grade, he began making friends and participating in the classroom. When I expressed my concerns to his first grade teacher at the beginning of the year, she could not believe what I was saying and I did not believe her when she was telling me that this student was making friends and was eager to participate in class. He later told me that he lived with his grandparents in China when he was very young. When he was ready to begin school, his grandparents flew him to the United States to live with his parents. When he saw his father, he asked his grandparents who this person was. He not only began living with his parents who he did not know, he did not know any English, the American culture, and he had never experienced being in a school setting before. This student is also very uneasy with change. These were all major factors that greatly influenced his learning in school and his English language learning. Needless to say, I did not need to meet with the team to follow up on this student!

Stages of Second Language Acquisition

There are five language development stages for students learning English. I will briefly explain each stage.

The Pre-Production stage, or Silent Period, occurs when the ESL student is not producing any language and is therefore silent. This stage is natural and all students experience this stage when first learning English. It may appear that the student is not learning much English during this stage, but the student is actually learning a lot of English! During the Silent Period, the ESL student is building their receptive vocabulary, which means they are listening and learning various vocabulary words. They are also figuring out and learning English grammar. While learning these English skills, the student is also observing teacher and student behaviors or, in other words, learning the school culture while also learning the country’s culture.

The Silent Period may last from a few days to an entire school year! This period of time needs to be respected. Teachers and peers should not force the student to speak and should accept the fact that this is a challenging time for the student as they adjust to the new language and culture in their own way.

It is very helpful for teachers, staff, and peers to make the student feel as comfortable and secure as possible. The ESL student usually feels overwhelmed and exhausted at this stage (especially at the end of the school day), so the student may need to rest or sleep throughout the day. It is acceptable for teachers to allow their ESL students at the Pre-Production stage to rest or sleep. Teaching and developing the student's BICS is key at this stage. Total Physical Response (TPR) is effective at this stage as well as repetition of vocabulary words and phrases.

Early Production Stage.

ESL students will eventually begin to say a few words and short phrases. Because of this, the teacher can elicit one word or two word responses such as asking Yes/No questions. If the student feels comfortable, he/she can state commands during a TPR activity instead of the ESL teacher giving the commands. Texts that contain a predictable pattern are effective for ESL students at this stage. Students learn frozen language such as, “My name is _____. I come from _____. I am _____ years old”. The student continues to increase their receptive vocabulary and is still in the process of learning English grammar whether he/she is actually producing language or not.

BICS, or social language, is the priority at this stage. Depending on the student, the Early Production Stage may last several weeks. The teacher needs to continue to provide a supportive and low stress environment for the student. If the student makes an error, do not correct the student unless he/she wants to be corrected. Instead, correct the student by modeling the correct language to him/her. The reason for this is that you want to encourage the student to produce and learn the language in a very low anxiety environment. Praising the student is very helpful at this stage as you want your student to feel safe to produce language. The Pre-Production and Early Production Stages fall under the Beginner Proficiency Level.

The Speech Emergence Stage

The Speech Emergence Stage falls under the Early Intermediate Proficiency Level. In the Speech Emergence Stage, the student has developed about 3,000 words and is able to use simple phrases and sentences when producing the English language. Language is used more naturally at this stage meaning that you can begin to have more natural conversations with the student. Students at this stage may not be grammatically correct, so teachers need to model the correct grammar instead of directly correcting the student (unless the student wants to be corrected in a direct way). The reason for this is that you still want to provide a safe and low anxiety learning environment for the student, so students feel safe to use or apply the language they have learned.

Students at the Speech Emergence Stage are able to participate in their classroom, especially in small groups and can understand and learn some academic content with support. BICS, or social language, is still key at this stage in addition to some academic language. Journal writing and writing riddles are two appropriate activities that the student can do at this stage. ESL students can also complete classroom work that is adapted to their language abilities.

The longest stage among the five stages of language development is the Intermediate Fluency stage. At this stage, ESL students are producing more complex sentences and the focus is less on social language (BICS) and more on academic language (CALP).  It is important for ESL teachers to develop the student's CALP at this stage.  Students are able to understand classroom content with some support. The more the student learns the English language, the better they are able to understand academic content and the less support they will need. Academic vocabulary instruction is crucial along with intermediate grammar instruction, so students are able to express themselves in an academic setting. Students’ writing skills are weak at this stage and need to be a focus as well. The Intermediate Fluency stage may last for a few to many years.

The last stage is the Advanced Fluency stage. Students at this stage are very close to having native-like proficiency in content areas. They are able to understand content in the classroom, but may still need help with academic vocabulary or abstract language such as phrasal verbs or idioms. Students at this stage are close to, or already have, exited from ESL services. It is important to express to classroom teachers that students at this stage are still learning English and may need help with vocabulary words and abstract language.

Each student is different, so the time is takes for an ESL student to progress through each stage or a particular stage will vary. Typical English language learners move through each stage and show progress with their language skills. A sign that an ESL student may have a disability is when the student remains at a stage for a very long time and is exhibiting great difficulty at a particular stage. The student is unable to progress with their language skills or demonstrates very little progress with their English language development.

Helpful Suggestion:

Many of my colleagues did not understand how to recognize a disability in an English language learner. They did not know how a typical ESL student learns English and, therefore, how to recognize a disability in an ESL student who was an atypical learner. Showing the work and progress of typical ESL students to a colleague who is questioning whether or not an ESL student has a disability is very helpful.

When teaching English language learners, I documented my students’ progress and language development. Each student had a folder that contained the lists of vocabulary words and grammar structures they had learned and were currently learning. I wrote the date that indicated when the student began learning the vocabulary words and grammar structures and also wrote the date of when they fully learned these words and structures. I also did the same for each reading level (when we began a reading level and when the student finished this level and moved on to the next level). This shows how the students progress and at what speed. In addition, I kept writing samples or photocopied writing samples of the student with the date on each sample. By doing this, I documented each student’s progress. For some students, I made two copies (removing the student’s name for confidentiality purposes) and placed the second copy in a folder as a reference. These copies were used as a reference to show colleagues typical English language development, which helped them to better understand atypical development.