Another important theory of Krashen's is the Silent Period.

Broadly speaking, this is a period, usually at the very beginning of language acquisition, during which the learner does not even attempt to speak. Not everybody agrees on its definition or its function, or even whether such a discernible period exists as such, but it’s an important theory of Krashen's.

In any language classroom, there are going to be students who just will not open their mouths to speak, at least not at first. Teachers usually interpret this as shyness, or inhibition, or stubbornness. If you’re socially anxious to begin with, uttering error-filled gibberish in front of classmates might be a scary thing to do! But some researchers hypothesize that this silent period is not just a failure to communicate or a function of nerves but that it is a natural part of learning another language and learners need time to build up their competence before they will speak.

What does it mean for ESL teachers?

We would not expect our students to be able to produce language immediately.
It is not a language disability if our students do not speak at first.
We should do everything we can to try to lower our students' affective filters while also encouraging interesting input so that they will be learning language through comprehensible input.
Encourage our students to speak and write through positive interactions.

Zach class