¿What is?
The silent period is a stage in second language acquisition where learners do not attempt to speak. Silent periods are more common in children than in adult learners, as there is often more pressure on adult learners to speak during the early stages of acquisition.
This can be due to communication demands such as a language being necessary at work, or to mainstream language teaching methods insisting on production from the very start of instruction.
EXAMPLE
When learners begin to study a new lenguage, the can go through a silent period where they are exposed to sufficient comprenhensible input to allow them to begin acquire language.