The Quiet Period of Second Language Acquisition: Know This Before Frustration Takes Over!

There are five different stages in the second language acquisition process:

1) The Silent Period

2) The early production period

3) The Emergence Period of Speech

4) The Intermediate Production Period

5) Advanced production period

Although there is a great deal of research on these different stages, of these five periods, probably the most misunderstood, ignored, or even unknown by teachers and students alike is the first, the Silent Period, which will be the focus of our article. from today. .

What is the Quiet Period?

The first stage of the language acquisition process is called “The Quiet Period” simply because students don’t speak much yet. For some students, this period can be shorter or longer, ranging from 2 to 6 months, although it can also take much longer, depending on the foreign language exposure the student has.

For example, a foreigner who lives abroad and is surrounded by a new language all day may have a shorter quiet period than a student in their home country who attends a bilingual school where a second language is taught. for four or five hours a day. In turn, this student’s silent period may be considerably shorter than that of a student studying a second language for only two hours a week. Then it becomes clear that generalizing how long this period can last is almost impossible because it depends on many personal and individual variables that come into play.

The main characteristic of this stage is that after an initial exposure to the language, the student can understand much more than he can produce. You can easily see this in two year olds too! You can talk to them normally and they can definitely understand what you say. However, even if they wanted to say exactly what you said, they couldn’t. They may use some of your words, but it would be impossible for them to express their ideas in a similar organized way, even though they can understand every single word we said.

This goes hand in hand with the fact that understanding preceded production. We will always be able to understand much more than we can produce. For example, despite knowing little or nothing about economics, accounting, and marketing, when I see or read reports in those fields, I can get a pretty good and accurate idea of ​​what those reports are about. However, if someone asked me to explain what the reports say, I would probably resort to general language and simpler explanations to describe what the experts said using specific jargon and technical analysis.

In other words, at the comprehension level, I might come to understand everything, but at the production level, I might not be able to express everything I heard in exactly the same way. However, with more exposure to those topics, and if they become meaningful to me and part of my everyday reality, after a while I might start using that specific slang as part of my everyday vocabulary. In this example, the time lapse between my initial exposure to the topic, perhaps the first time I heard a report on those topics, and the time when I was able to talk about it freely without jargon or language issues could be considered my silence. period in the field.

I want to point out here that I am stretching the linguists’ definition of this period a bit by saying this. Linguists refer specifically to the moment when a person begins to acquire the language through exposure to it, understands a lot but is still unable to express the ideas of it. When they say “Quiet Period” they do not imply that they are referring to language acquisition at any stage of the second language acquisition process as I do. This is my humble opinion after several years of working with second language learners. Again, this is something I’ve personally noticed and I think it could perfectly apply to language learners at any stage of their learning, as shown in the example above.

As we have just seen, when it comes to the first contact between a language student with a second language, this takes on a new dimension, of course. They may not be able to pronounce a single word for a long time and that is perfectly fine and an integral part of the language acquisition process. What is so peculiar about this period is that it has the special ability to make adult students anxious and teachers completely crazy! This is by far the most difficult period for both teachers and students.

One of the main reasons why I decided to write this article was to remind teachers of this crucial stage in the acquisition of a second language and to make students aware of its existence so that they do not place a heavy burden on themselves. By knowing this simple fact, both teachers and students can share the joy of teaching and learning without the stress associated with feeling like they are not reaching their goals.

Sometimes, the teacher’s ignorance about these types of issues can produce unintended disastrous results in the self-esteem of their students. How common it is for those of us who specialize in teaching methodologies to find disappointed or even angry teachers complaining about their students’ lack of progress.

“We’ve been working on Present Tense for over two months now. We’ve been doing exercises, lots of iterations, creating real life situations to bring the language to life, and yet they can produce little to nothing.” nothing!”

“How come they don’t learn after doing this for over three weeks!”

My answer in most cases is the same: “Give them more time.”

Over time, as long as our students are in a truly communicative environment, they will begin to produce what they cannot now.

The general ignorance of this stage in the language acquisition process can generate very unwanted situations. As a Colombian saying goes: “ignorance is daring”.

In the absence of an exact English language, or at least without knowing one, I will proceed to explain its meaning. The saying basically goes that “ignorance is rude and leads us to do stupid things”.

On one occasion, while I was working at a rather nice school in the US teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to a kid from Mexico, I got a call from my supervisor. She was extremely concerned because the principal of the school she worked at had called her to complain about my teaching skills since my student had “not progressed at all” since she began receiving my services. Although this same principal had sat in on one of my classes and even wrote a report that my work was “above average,” I seriously doubted that my teaching approach would really work. After all, while the lesson had been fun and provided many communicative opportunities for students to put the language to use, she hadn’t seen any exercises, repetitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and grammar rules that had never been presented to my group of students. “seven”. -years older.” So, in his opinion, it was natural that this student could not do or say much in English. The funny thing was… this student has been in the US for less than two months and had been receiving ESL services for less than a month and a half!

What’s more, unlike the idea this director had, she had made HUGE progress. She could already understand most of the greetings and basic classroom directives; She could understand various types of questions on different everyday topics. She Even she could understand many things that people told her to do and basic facts! However, when it came to speaking, she could only say one or two greetings and produce “yes” or “no” responses. Does this mean that she hadn’t made any progress? Does this mean that she hadn’t learned anything? No way! On the contrary, she was well advanced in her initial stage of second language acquisition and very soon she entered the early production period. Plain and simple, she was going through her silent period.

When I spoke to the director and explained, as nicely as possible, what the quiet period consisted of and how much this child had progressed, she couldn’t help but blush and sigh with relief at the thought that “we hadn’t been wasting time”. time!”

Once again, by knowing this simple fact we can relax, enjoy what we are doing without the frustrating feeling that we are not getting anywhere. Students can also enjoy the freedom of knowing that sooner or later they will be able to put what they are now learning into practice, given the proper language settings (for more information on proper language settings, read my other articles: “Are you in a Truly Communicative Second Language Classroom?” Getting the Most Out of Your Second Language Acquisition Program” and “Second Language Acquisition in Adult Learners – Parts 1 and 2”).

If we are “masters and commanders” of our class, as can happen if you have your own language school or if you have the freedom to do what you want, just knowing this simple fact can give you a completely different perspective on your work. . However, if you work for someone who demands quick and immediate results, the best advice I can give you is to do your own research on this topic; read as much as you can and be prepared to account for what you do with your students. Talk to your supervisor, peers, students, or anyone demanding results now, and simply explain what the wealth of research on this topic shows. More often than not, the light that knowledge casts will dispel the darkness that surrounds ignorance. They will not only understand what you mean, but they will also appreciate your efforts to make your classes more enjoyable and stress-free.

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