A Study Of Foreign Language Effect In Moral Judgment:Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners

Foreign language effect(hereafter called FLE)refers to the phenomenon that using a foreign language would affect individual’s opinion or decision-making.Previous studies on FLE in moral judgment are scattered and there is a lack of systematic discussion on its robustness.Also,its mechanism remains unclear.Empirical research on it in Chinese mainland is still in its initial stage.Considering the potential influence of social and cultural context on FLE in moral judgment,this dissertation aims to investigate the robustness,manifestations and influencing factors(mainly the factors concerning language experience)of FLE in moral judgment among Chinese EFL learners,and to testify the cultural-priming-through-language(CPTL)account based on the dual-process accounts.This dissertation consists of five experiments in order to address four research questions from both the breadth and depth.The four research questions are:1)What is the robustness of FLE like in moral judgment?2)What are the manifestations of FLE in moral judgment?3)What are the influencing factors of FLE in moral judgment?4)What is the mechanism of FLE like in moral judgment by evaluating the dual-process accounts and the CPTL account?A total of 1250 Chinese EFL learners provided their demographic information and completed corresponding tasks of moral judgment.In Experiments 1,2 and 3 respectively,we detected the presence of FLE in the reasoning-intensive moral judgment,the intuition-intensive moral judgment and the dilemmatic moral judgment,observed the manifestation(s)in each kind of moral judgment,and discussed the robustness systematically.Influencing factors were explored based on the collected demographic information(mainly about language experience such as number of native language,foreign language proficiency,age of foreign language arrival and length of foreign language arrival).Based on the concept of Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior(UPB),in Experiment 4 we chose collectivism and individualism as target cultural mindsets,designed five pairs of moral violations(the pro-organizational moral violation and the pro-individual moral violation)across five industries,and detected the presence of FLE in each kind of moral violation.In order to confirm the CPTL account,Experiment 5 testified whether there would be a significant difference between the pro-organizational moral violation and the pro-individual moral violation in native language and foreign language respectively after ensuring the presence of FLE in both kinds of moral violations.All the valid data were analyzed with the help of SPSS 25.0.The findings are listed as follows:1)FLE can occur in different degrees of robustness among different kinds of moral judgments.Considering that affective processing is the processing preference of moral judgment,a stronger emotional intensity(e.g.,the intuition-intensive moral judgment)would lead to a more robust FLE,and FLE would be more unstable for those scenarios with weaker emotional intensity(e.g.,the reasoning-intensive moral judgment).2)FLE in moral judgment is mainly manifested as vaguer mental simulation,fewer emotions and more tolerant moral evaluation.Besides,confidence ratings in foreign language show no consistency.Compared with participants in native language,those in foreign language tend to be less confident in the intuition-intensive moral judgment,but more confident in the dilemmatic moral judgment.3)Number of native language,foreign language proficiency,age and length of foreign language arrival are all the influencing factors of FLE in moral judgment.Specifically,participants with more native languages,lower foreign language proficiency,later and shorter foreign language arrival are easier to have FLE during moral judgment.In addition,both strong emotional intensity in moral judgment and cultural foreignness can promote FLE in moral judgment.4)It is not an either-or choice for the mechanism because for one,both the reduced-intuition account and the increased-deliberation account can work together.For the other,the CPTL account can exist among those moral scenarios with cultural foreignness.FLE would be increased or partly counteracted accordingly based on the tendencies caused by the CPTL account and the dual-process accounts.This research has confirmed the presence and manifestations of FLE in moral judgment among Chinese EFL learners,explored and summarized its influencing factors.Also,this dissertation has supported the dual-process accounts and testified the existence of the CPTL account.This research extends relevant theories of moral judgment and foreign language effect and has great significance for foreign language teaching and learning from the perspectives of ideological and political education,feedback of teaching and learning,and teacher development.