The effects of language use on responses in English/East Asian bilingual individuals: A meta-analysis
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Date
2024-10
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University of New Brunswick
Abstract
According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, language use can influence the way individuals interact with the world (Whorf, 1956). Compelling evidence for this claim comes from research on bilingual individuals. Specifically, experimental studies in which bilingual individuals have been randomly assigned to communicate in one language or another have shown that language use can affect the way that bilingual individuals think (e.g., Lechuga & Wiebe, 2011), feel (e.g., Alvarado & Jameson, 2011), and behave (e.g., So, 2010). An attempt has not yet been made to integrate these findings, and establish a unified understanding of how the language used by bilingual language users affects their behaviours. Therefore, with this dissertation I addressed this gap by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis, wherein I attempted to gather all available published and unpublished research up until 2022 in which bilingual individuals proficient in English and an East Asian language were assigned to complete a culturally relevant task in either language, and in which outcomes from the task in each language were compared. Through multilevel meta-analysis including 269 effect sizes drawn from 63 independent samples reflecting the responses of 6693 participants, I found an overall significant effect (g = .27), indicating that when language is manipulated, responses are generally consistent with the cultural norms associated with the language being spoken. The magnitude of this language effect, however, was moderated by the East Asian language being used, and the Task Type under examination. The language effect was not moderated by the Design of the study, Language Acquisition Style, the Country or the City in which the study took place. This meta-analysis offers a synthesis of an existing research program and poses intriguing questions that warrant investigation in future studies.