L2 Learner Anxiety And Perceived Competence: The Case For Task-Based Language Teaching

This study explores task comfort and anxiety levels among learners enrolled in two equivalent yet pedagogically distinct online introductory Spanish language courses. The first course adopts a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach while the other aligns with a more traditional Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) orientation. Results indicate that both groups of learners experience mild levels of anxiety, but learners in the TBLT course developed a stronger sense of competence and felt more empowered overall to successfully negotiate communicative tasks. Therefore, this study promotes the adoption of TBLT at the beginner level as an approach to advance the development of oral competence and appeal to populations of learners with diverse interests and needs.