Nuestra NEBRIJA 35 - octubre 2020

44 tachment in the use of a language that is foreign and not present in one’s usual environment. The decisions that multilingual people take, the per- ception of moral constructs -such as good and evil-, and even self-perception are clearly affec- ted by the language context of a person. Recent research has shown that a multilingual individual would take more deliberate decisions and suffer a reduced impact of intuition and of certain heuristics when confronted with a fore- ign-language scenario than when immersed in a native-language processing context. As Prof. Albert Costa and his colleagues reviewed and summarized, the use of a foreign language leads to a reduction of loss and risk aversion, reduces illusory correlations, and prompts more utilitarian choices than native-language processing. Different explanations of the effect of foreign language are usually discussed in the scientific literature, attempting to explain this phenome- non. On one hand, it is argued that the difficulty of speaking in a language other than one’s nati- ve language could operate as a form of stressor, saturating or overwhelming the cognitive system and partially impeding deeper, emotional pro- cessing of language. This is especially the case in situations that require fast responses. On the other hand, and not necessarily in opposi- tion to the former account, it is argued that the way in which foreign languages are generally acquired could lead to this emotional distancing. Native langua- ges are typically acquired in a family context, while foreign languages are generally learnt in institutionalized contexts, within academic and school spaces. Learners develop a certain level of emotional detachment to the language, possi- bly due to the disconnection that often occurs in foreign language classes between the authentic communicative and experiential goal of foreign language learning and the way they are taught. This, perhaps combined with the cognitive cost of using a non-native language, makes speaking in a foreign language substantially change the way people relate to their environment and even to themselves. This way, multilingual speakers using a native and a foreign language suffer, to some extent, from a given type of diglossia. Each language tends to be compartmentalized into specific contexts of use, each having its own relational and affective idiosyncrasy. Emotional diglossia has strong immediate implications for basic psychological processes that regulate hu- man behaviour. Minimizing emotional distancing It seems intuitive to think that if the cause of emo- tional distancing is the way the educational sys- tem manages language instruction, then possi- ble solutions should focus on that same process. This should naturally lead to actions targeted at the course of language learning in school. In spi- te of this, the great majority of scientific works so far have focused on exploring the foreign langua- ge effects on the linguistic interactions of adults. How can we mitigate or minimize the effects of foreign languages to avoid the emotional distan- ce they carry and elicit? While it is true that foreign languages are by definition foreign, and therefore distanced from the daily context of the general public who learn them, there are ways to bridge this gap. For example, one can correctly contextualize the student and the content, even if the physical distance sometimes resembles insurmountable. Or, seen from a different perspective, there are ways of not exacerbating the emotional distan- ce, such as working towards the creation of rela- tionships that counteract the stress imposed by communicating in a non-native language. It can be specifically proposed that foreign language education should pursue the development of actions that reinforce emotional content, which T he decisions that multilingual people take , the perception of moral constructs and even self - perception are clearly affected by the language context of a person