Psychobiological impact of speaking a second language in healthy young men

Abstract

The use of second languages is ubiquitous in modern societies. Despite many benefits, there is also evidence for this to cause or exacerbate stress (e.g. in the form of foreign language anxiety). The aim of the present study was to examine to which extent speaking a second language increases acute psychobiological stress in a social context. A total of N = 63 healthy Swiss males were randomly allocated to one of two conditions: completing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in Swiss German (their first language) vs. standard German (perceived as a second language). Repeated measures of self-reported stress, anxiety, salivary cortisol, and heart rate were obtained. Participants speaking standard German showed significantly larger cortisol increases in response to the TSST when compared to those speaking Swiss German (F(1, 61) = 5.53, p = .022, eta2 = .083). The two groups did not differ in terms of selfreported stress and anxiety, nor in their heart rate response (all p > .216). This study provides initial evidence that speaking a second language in social contexts increases the cortisol stress response. Future research should explore the short-and long-term effects this may have in populations frequently using second languages (e.g. learners of a second language, migrants).

Listening to a Foreign Text as a Stress Influence Factor

“…So, stress factors can affect human organism and course the development of cardiovascular diseases [12]. Our results are consistent with earlier studies [4,7].…”

“…Thus, S. Hagi and J. Scharloth report "more than a third of Swiss people experience depression when they speak standard German" [7]. Moreover, the study by S. Fisher showed an increase in the biological (cortisol) response to stress in participants speaking a second language [4]. Nevertheless, some authors believe that most people are able to cope with mild to moderate stressful effects because of the foreign language impact [2,8].…”

Improving Nursing Education in Sri Lanka to take on New Challenges faced by Global Healthcare Systems

“…As society moves ahead in an era where every aspect of society is governed by technology, English language proficiency has become the dominant agent that mediates globalization and modernization (Fischer et al, 2019). With increasing diversification and the frequent encounters of people who belong to different cultures, there is an evergrowing demand for second language acquisition.…”

Second language anxiety in conversation and its relationship with speakers’ perceptions of the interaction and their social networks

“…For both state- and trait-anxiety, physical symptoms include increased heart rate, trembling, and sweaty palms through activation of the autonomic nervous system (Croft et al, 2004; Friedman & Thayer, 1998; Witt et al, 2006). Physiological measures, such as heart rate, hair and salivary cortisol levels, skin conductance (sweating), or electro-photonic emissions from fingertips, have thus been adopted to capture changes in state-anxiety during L2 communicative events (Dewey et al, 2018; Fischer et al, 2019; Gregersen et al, 2014; Kostyuk et al, 2010; Lindberg et al, 2021). Physiological response through skin conductance, one of the most commonly used physiological measures, particularly has been shown to measure moment-to-moment stress reactions related to anxiety reliably (e.g., Santos Sierra et al, 2011; Setz et al, 2010), and it provides researchers with a more dynamic measure of emotional reactions than retrospective approaches or self-report data (e.g., Liu & Jackson, 2008; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Matsuda & Gobel, 2004).…”