An investigation into the foreign language effect in moral dilemmas*

Abstract

Recent research suggests that late bilinguals’ decisions might be less influenced by emotionality and be characterized by more logical thinking in a foreign language. This phenomenon has been named the foreign language effect. This study aims to understand to what extent this effect is seen in Turkish-English bilinguals’ decisions about moral dilemmas through presenting the dilemmas in English or Turkish. To this end, 173 bilinguals responded to moral dilemmas in a survey in either language. A group of monolinguals (n=102) also responded to the dilemmas as a comparison group. In a second study, 63 Turkish-German heritage speakers were asked to indicate their decisions on moral dilemmas presented in German, Turkish, or in their foreign language, English. In both studies, the rate of the utilitarian responses, associated with more logical thinking was higher in the more emotional dilemma presented in the foreign language; however, the difference was not statistically significant.

Keywords

• Moral dilemmas
• foreign language effect
• bilingualism
• heritage language

Ahlaki ikilemlerde yabancı dil etkisi üzerine bir araştırma*

Öz

Yakın zamanda yapılan araştırmalar geç ikidillilerin yabancı dil ortamında verdikleri kararların duygusallıktan daha az etkilendiğini ve daha mantık odaklı olabileceğini göstermiştir. Buna yabancı dil etkisi adı verilmiştir. Bu çalışma Türkçe-İngilizce ikidillilere İngilizce veya Türkçe olarak sunulan ahlaki ikilemlerle ilgili kararlarında yabancı dil etkisinin görülüp görülmediğini araştırmaktadır. Bu amaçla üniversitede İngilizce öğretmenliği bölümünde okuyan 173 ikidilli öğrenciye ahlaki ikilem anketi Türkçe veya İngilizce dilinde verilmiştir. Karşılaştıma grubu olarak ayrıca tekdilli bir grup üniversite öğrencisine (n=102) de aynı anket Türkçe dilinde uygulanmıştır. İkinci çalışmada 63 Türkçe miras dil konuşucuna ahlaki ikilemler ilk dilleri olan Almanca, Türkçe veya yabancı dilleri olan İngilizce dilinde verilmiştir. İki çalışmada da anketi yabancı dilde alan grup, duygusallık içeren ahlaki ikilemde daha mantıklı düşünmeyle ilişkilendirilen faydacı yanıtları diğer gruplara göre daha çok vermiştir; ancak bu fark istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde çıkmamıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ahlaki ikilemler
• yabanci dil etkisi
• ikidillilik
• miras dil

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