Visual cues and perception of emotional intensity among L1 and LX users of English

A total of 97 monolingual and multilingual users of English participated in an adaptation of a matched-guise design to investigate the effect of visual cues (co-speech gestural intensity and facial expression) on perception of emotional intensity of the same speaker in two video stimuli in which verbal and vocal emotional information was kept constant. Participants included 41 adult British first language (L1) users of English and 56 highly proficient adult foreign language (LX) users of English. Statistical analysis revealed that gestural intensity was significantly linked to perceptions of emotional intensity by all participants. However, LX users perceived both the low and medium gesture video as significantly more emotional than L1 users. We suggest that LX users may have relied more on the visual channel over the vocal and verbal channels compared to L1 users. The difference between both groups might also be the consequence of overcompensation for the detachment effect of LX emotion speech. Number of languages known, gender, LX users’ English proficiency and length of stay in the UK turned out to be unrelated to perceptions of emotional intensity

Personality and l2 use: the advantage of being openminded and self-confident in an immigration context

Researchers working on the effects of study abroad are always baffled by the huge individual differences in the development of a target language (TL) among students – who could be considered as temporary immigrants (Kinginger 2011, Regan, Howard and Lemée 2009). Researchers often speculate that these differences are linked to socialization issues, such as the amount of authentic TL interactions that students engage in. What research designs usually lack are the unique psychological characteristics that could predict the frequency with which L2 users’ engage in L2 interactions. The present study investigates this question by looking at the link between personality traits and frequency of use of English L2 as well as self-perceived proficiency in English L2 by 102 adult Polish immigrants living in Ireland and the UK. Participants filled out a Polish version of personality questionnaires (OCEAN and TEIQ) and a sociobiographical questionnaire. Statistical analyses revealed that length of stay was positively correlated with English L2 use and self-perceived proficiency in that language. Linear regression analyses revealed that Openness and Self-esteem were significant predictors of frequency of use of English L2. Openness was the best predictor of self-perceived English L2 proficiency. In sum, our results suggest that progress in the L2 depends not just on the immersion in the L2 but also on the L2 user’s basic inclination to seek out social interactions in the L2

"A voice from elsewhere': acculturation, personality and migrants' self-perceptions across languages and cultures

The majority of multilinguals immersed in different cultures report feeling different when switching languages. Although the influence of personality on self-perceptions has been investigated, little attention has been paid to acculturation aspects. The present study is based on a mixed-method approach combining questionnaire and interview data. Participants are 468 Italian migrants living in English-speaking countries. Results suggest that participants’ personality characteristics determined their sense of belonging to either the heritage or host cultural scenarios. Migrants reporting to feel different when using the local language scored significantly lower on Emotional Stability and Social Initiative and were less attached to the host culture compared to those who reported feeling no change. More specifically, respondents’ Emotional Stability and attachment to host culture practices constrained their sense of feeling different when using the local languag

European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

Background: Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular, meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems, are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these deficits, we conducted a standardized European survey, on 9200 first-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, comprehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as well as influencing factors on evolution acceptance. Results: We found that, despite European countries’ different cultural backgrounds and education systems, European first-year university students generally accept evolution. At the same time, they lack substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in a biology-related study program. Additionally, we developed a multilevel-model that determines religious faith as the main influencing factor in accepting evolution. According to our model, knowledge about evolution and interest in biological topics also increase acceptance of evolution, but to a much lesser extent than religious faith. The effect of age and sex, as well as the country’s affiliation, students’ denomination, and whether or not a student is enrolled in a biology-related university program, is negligible. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that, despite all their differences, most of the European education systems for upper secondary education lead to acceptance of evolution at least in university students. It appears that, at least in this sample, the differences in knowledge between countries reflect neither the extent to which school curricula cover evolutionary biology nor the percentage of biology-related students in the country samples. Future studies should investigate the role of different European school curricula, identify particularly problematic or underrepresented evolutionary concepts in biology education, and analyze the role of religious faith when teaching evolution. © 2021, The Author(s)