Foreign Language Acquisition Anxiety and Project-Based Learning in Collaborative L2 Instruction: A Case Study

Abstract

This article discusses the experiences of an instructor-student collaboration in combining English as a Second Language instruction with a project-based model. It provides information about a year-long period of instruction that made use of extensive collaboration in language instruction for the creation of business documents geared to a specific purpose. The article suggests that such a project-based and collaborative approach to Foreign Language Learning might be useful in alleviating foreign language learning anxiety for advanced speakers of a second language. Additionally, the article discusses instruction performed via the Zoom platform. The use of platforms such as Zoom, or Skype, are becoming more ubiquitous as an instructional trend that pre-dates recent public health concerns, and this technology is discussed here in terms of the opportunities for collaborative learning and feedback it offers in a discipline that is still favors traditional face-to-face instruction. Although the experiences described here occurred in a non-academic setting with an instructor-student dyad, we suggest that it may be useful in academic settings with additional students and fewer collaborative opportunities to create highly specific objectives.