NON-LINGUISTIC DOMAINS: A STRESS-FREE PATHWAY TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
NON-LINGUISTIC DOMAINS: A STRESS-FREE PATHWAY TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Summary/Abstract: Foreign language learning in secondary education is often hindered by anxiety, performance pressure, and fear of linguistic error. This article investigates how non-linguistic domains—such as literature, the arts, law, medicine, and history—can serve as stress-free environments that lower the affective filter and stimulate spontaneous communication in L2 French and L3 Spanish. Grounded in Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis and Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, the paper argues that interdisciplinary tasks create emotionally safe contexts in which language becomes a functional tool rather than an evaluated object. Five application-based units demonstrate how the same group of high school learners can acquire linguistic competence implicitly when the teacher introduces French and Spanish through non-threatening, domain-specific activities. The study highlights the study advantages of integrating cross-curricular learning strategies to enhance learner confidence, motivation, cultural awareness, and communicative fluency.

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