~ in the beginning of lang learning, learners are reluctant to produce language

This stage is also known as the "silent period", "receptive phase" [9, p. 14] or “non-verbal period” [6]. Learners in this phase exhibit a reluctance to produce the target language (TL) [12, p. 3]. During the early exposure to a TL, there is often an observable period where learners refrain from speaking the language [20, p. 129]

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: THE SILENT PERIOD