| This quasi-quantitative study examines the "Foreign Language Effect" (Takano & Noda, 1995) which is a transient decline of thinking ability during the simultaneous activities of cognitive tasks and foreign language processing (p. 657). The purpose of this study is to investigate Takano and Noda's hypothesis as well as to test the role of a language proficiency level in the phenomenon in order to inform and benefit foreign language learners and educators. An experiment was designed and conducted with 30 participants in total: 14 native speakers of Japanese and 16 native speakers of English. They were required to complete two tasks concurrently; thinking tasks (spatial-reasoning tests) and linguistic tasks using English and Japanese languages (question-answering,) in three trials: a single-task trial (only thinking tasks), a dual-task trial in Japanese (thinking tasks and linguistic tasks), and a dual-task trial in English. The results revealed that unskilled foreign language learners experience a temporary decline in linguistic performance instead of in their cognitive ability during foreign language use. The second hypothesis was also rejected with the finding that a higher proficiency level does not necessarily mean better performance in a dual-task trial with a foreign language. The post-interviews with participants showed there was strong involvement of affective factors during the experiment. Theories of cognition such as those focusing on working memory, attention, dual-task processing, and the affective domain of second language acquisition are studied in order to comprehend the mechanism of the predicted phenomenon, Foreign Language Effect. Implications for foreign language teaching are suggested based on the findings drawn from the study. |
