When deciding on a student, I had two options. One girl will not speak at school. The little boy I chose did not speak at school last year, which caused a low score, however is this year. This made me wonder if it was common for ELL students to have a silent period. Here’s what I found- and there is so much out there on the topic!
“According to Stephen Krashen, most new learners of English will go through a “silent period” which is an interval of time during which they are unable or unwilling to communicate orally in the new language. The silent period may last for a few days or a year depending on a variety of factors. It occurs before ELLs are ready to produce oral language and is generally referred to as the “Pre-production” stage of language learning. ELLs should not be forced to speak before they are ready and we don’t want to embarrass students by putting them on the spot.. What determines the length of the" silent period?" There are several factors involved. First, personality plays a key role. A normally shy and quiet youngster in native language is usually going to take longer before they feel comfortable speaking. Native culture will also play a role. In many cultures, for example, girls are not expected to speak out. They play a more passive role in family and classroom dynamics.
The Pre-production Stage of Language Learning
Your students are learning during this silent, pre-production stage. They are acquiring language every day.
- They may have up to 500 words in their receptive vocabulary.
- New learners of English can listen attentively and they may even be able to copy words from the board.
- They will be able to respond to pictures and other visuals.
- They can understand and duplicate gestures and movements to show comprehension.
- Choral reading and Total Physical Response methods will work well with them.
- English language learners at this stage will need much repetition of English.
- They will benefit from a “buddy” who speaks their language.
- Teachers should focus attention on listening comprehension activities and on building a receptive vocabulary.
I also found that students are able to comprehend what is being said. This is very true in the young girl at my school. She is able to nod or shake her head to questions, and she will do her work at school. However, it harder for ELLs to express their ideas. This shows that comprehension precedes actual production. “Nevertheless, with more exposure on those topics, and if they became meaningful to me and part of my everyday reality, after a while I would be able to start to use that specific jargon as part of my everyday vocabulary. In this example, the stretch of time between my initial exposures to the topic, maybe the first time I heard a report on those topics and the time when I could talk about it freely without jargon or any language-related problems could be considered my silent period in the field.”
http://www.eslbase.com/articles/acquisition
No comments:
Post a Comment