Why Are Some ESL Learners Quiet in the Classroom?

All ESL teachers have the same phenomenon of quiet learners in their classrooms. Come parents day, many teachers and parents will be talking about how much progress the student has made and most inevitably the comments of "he's too quiet" will be brought up. What is the cause of this quietness that involves second language learning?

Generally speaking, during a silent period an ESL student is nTo sum up, a learner may be quiet in the ESL classroom, but he is deeply processing the language. It is important to weigh in this factor when discussing the student's performance in front of the parents as some parents may not be aware of this important factor especially bilingual children whose first language interferes with second language learning.ot forced to produce but only to listen to the language. It has been found that this act of listening greatly enhances the speed and quality of learning. Therefore, the language environment , whether it be formal or natural, plays a crucial role during the silent period in terms of second language acquisition.

The silent period is a conscious and active period where simply listening to the target language is associated with the notion of a one-way communication which can extend for many months at a time without producing the language. Dulay states that when language finally does appear, it is produced quite minimally either in some form of elicitation or the communication of basic needs. (Dulay 19)

Premature pressure upon the second language learners to perform in the target language in terms of taking examinations, writing compositions and participating in oral classroom discourse can be exacerbatingly intense as well as discouraging and futile. in this learning situation, the second language learner such as a tourist in a foreign country, does not possess an adequate amount of knowledge of the target language and so, he or she will lean on the first language in order to facilitate communication. In this respect therefore, a silent period may be tremendously beneficial in terms of helping the learners to strengthen some competence in the target language which can be "enough to permit some spontaneous speech production without relying on the first language" (Dulay 25).

A second language learner will use his or her first language in proportion to his or her comprehension of the second language during the silent period. However, if premature discourse on part of the learner's speaking the target language should occur, a great deal of the learner's first language will be employed due to the learner's lack of knowledge in the target knowledge.

To sum up, a learner may be quiet in the ESL classroom, but he is deeply processing the language. It is important to weigh in this factor when discussing the student's performance in front of the parents as some parents may not be aware of this important factor especially bilingual children whose first language interferes with second language learning.

Dulay, H., M. Burt and S.D. Krashen. 1982. Language Two. Oxford University Press.