The Silent Period
Have you ever taught a student who was a complete beginner?
When it comes to teaching English, this is far more common with young learners, but if you teach other languages, you have probably had adults who were beginners.
Have you noticed that with beginners, they often do not start speaking right away?
What is the Silent Period?
The silent period, also sometimes called the pre-production period, is a phenomenon noticed particularly among beginner students when learning a language.
Essentially, the idea is that for some period of time beginner students are unlikely to speak much, if at all.
For teachers, and of course for parents and even the students themselves, this might seem concerning. If students are not speaking, is the teacher doing something wrong? Surely the students should be becoming more talkative with every lesson.
Well, not necessarily. The idea of the silent period is that while the students are not speaking, they are still learning. Before they are able to speak, they need to be able to hear the language.
When you think about first language acquisition, this makes sense. As babies, we hear a lot of input, perhaps as much as eighteen hours a day of input, for several years before we get anywhere in our first language (although admittedly, babies do babble in preparation of making words which is not usually a feature of second language acquisition!).
What Causes the Silent Period?
The idea of the silent period is often attributed to Stephen Krashen, who cites the silent period as evidence of his input hypothesis. However, it isn’t universally accepted among teachers or linguists as a concept.
The fact that some students do not speak at first is likely the result of a number of factors, the biggest of which are perhaps motivation and confidence.
How Long is the Silent Period?
How long is a piece of string? It typically takes around a year for a baby to start producing single recognisable words. In second language acquisition, the silent period does at least tend to be shorter. However, it can last from a few weeks to six months or even a year or longer.
From Krashen’s perspective, the question is not so much “how long” but “how much input does one need to be ready to speak?” James J. Asher (known for Total Physical Response) states that students are generally ready to produce language after ten hours of TPR input.
However, Krashen suggests that this shorter time could be because that is ten hours of highly comprehensible input. Under more natural circumstances, the silent period is likely to be longer.
Helping Students Through the Silent Period
Whether the reasons are agreed or not, if students are going through a silent period in their learning, there are a number of things we can do to help them.
Check Understanding
Firstly we do still want to know that students understand what is being taught. To do this we can give students non-verbal ways of responding such as providing an answer by standing up, sitting down, raising their hand, or moving to a particular spot in the classroom. They could also point to a picture, hold something up or use a fly swat to touch part of the board. They might even be able to draw a picture to demonstrate their understanding.
Use Stronger Students
Secondly, we can use stronger students who are ready to speak to set the example for those who are not. You might do this by asking stronger students first, or getting them to demonstrate how you want the students to complete a task.
Create a Safe Space for Errors
Thirdly, it is very important to demonstrate that the classroom is a safe space for the students to have a go. Ignoring mistakes and praising any effort from the students is likely to have a more positive impact than harsh correction.
Talking to the Teacher can be Scary
Fourthly, for some students talking to the teacher, especially one who is a native speaker, can be a very challenging task. Students may put the teacher, and native speakers in particular, upon a pedestal creating a psychological barrier. This is one of the reasons why peer checks and paired discussion are popular in English classrooms. It allows the students the chance to rehearse why they will say if called upon by the teacher.
Summary
In my opinion, it is still important to give the students opportunities to speak, even if it is just isolated words or as part of the whole class (drilling).
There still needs to be an expectation that the student will eventually speak, although we do need to be careful not to put too much pressure on the student to do so. I would suggest asking these students, but when you do, make sure you do these things:
- Start with closed questions – try getting them to say “yes” or “no” before expecting other words and longer answers.
- Give them ample wait time – 15 seconds at least.
- Give them an alternative to speaking – this could be a thumbs up or down, nod or shake of the head.
- If they are really stuck, don’t criticise. Just say we’ll come back to you later. Don’t show frustration, but patience.
- And as mentioned, praise any attempt they make to speak.
