This paper presents an overview of a research project conducted at the University of South Carolina in the 1979-80 academic year. The purpose of the research was to determine whether or not Counseling Learning/Community Language Learning (CLL), an alternative approach to language learning developed by Charles Curran, would influence student anxiety level and subsequent performance in the classroom with greater precision than the audio-lingual approach. The study was begun in the fall semester with one control group and one experimental group in beginning Spanish. After the semester a standardized measure was used to determine the level of language mastery of each group. In the CLL group the students' ideas became the nucleus from which all class activities evolved. The teacher acted as a group-learning facilitator. A distinctive feature of the method was the reflection period held at the end of each class during which students shared difficulties they were having. It seemed that the revelation itself helped to reduce anxieties and aid learning. Although the results obtained did not substantiate the original hypothesis that students would perform more effectively if they were less anxious, they did indicate positive attitudes on students' part. There was substantially less attrition in the experimental group than in the control group. (Author/AMH)