ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS AFFECTIVE REACTIONS TO COMMUNITY LANGUAGE-LEARNING - A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

The importance of effective variables in the language learning experie nce has become prominent in recent literature and research. A review o f the literature has revealed that since 1970, more than 100 empirical studies have been conducted. Most of these studies are quantitative i n nature. The present study, however, is qualitative. It uses as its d ata, graduate students' self-report papers about their Community Langu age Learning (CLL) experience. These reflection papers revealed three affective variables-anxiety, motivation, and attitude. The findings in this study confirm existing research which indicates that affective b arriers can be responded to positively by approaches, methods, and tec hniques which focus on 1) a supportive environment; 2) a nonjudgmental teacher attitude; 3) peer support; 4) activities that relate personal ly to learners; and 5) activities that facilitate individual and commu nity achievement.