Stress effects on bilingual language professionals' performance

Abstract

The work of bilingual language professionals (e.g., translators, diplomats, intelligence analysts) involves substantial use of two or more languages, and often, as well, substantial amounts of stress. This stress can come from many sources, including the language tasks themselves and difficult working conditions. Yet, little is known about how the stressors that bilingual language professionals (BLPs) face influence their language performance or affect their daily lives. Here, we present pertinent psychological concepts of stress and coping, suggesting a schema for how they may interact with language performance. We then review what is known about how certain stressors influence language performance and the cognitive factors linked to language performance (attention, memory, self-monitoring), concluding with suggestions for research directions that should enable us better to understand and mitigate the negative effects of stress for BLPs.