“My Heart is for Vietnamese, but i think and write in English”: Identity (Re)Construction of Third Culture Kids – The Interplay between Language, Culture and Identity.
Creators: name: Dam, Ha Thuy
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 479999
subject: Other language, communication and culture not elsewhere classified

description: The thesis uses a case study approach to investigate the bilingual/bicultural identity negotiation of six Vietnamese-English primary school children during their sojourn in Australia and after they return to Vietnam or become permanent residents. The research aims to provide an understanding of how these children perceive and negotiate their bilingual/bicultural identity in and between the two different contexts and how this process is influenced by surrounding family, school and societal factors. Driven by that objective, the study is informed by a poststructuralist approach to identity and draws on three theoretical frameworks for data analysis and discussion: Bronfenbrenner’s (1979; 1986) model of human development, Gee’s (2000-2001) identity framework, and Fielding’s (2015) bilingual identity negotiation framework.

Data were collected in two phases corresponding to the children’s stay in Australia and Vietnam though in the second stage, three of them were still residing in Australia and three had returned to Vietnam. Inspired by the Mosaic approach, the study incorporated findings from (1) questionnaire surveys delivered to parents and their children; (2) interviews with parents and children; (3) journal writing, (4) language portraits and (5) self-chosen artefacts provided by the children which they thought best represented their connection with Australia and Vietnam. Common themes were extracted from the dataset for the discussion of how the children’s bilingual/bicultural identification was perceived by themselves and their parents.

The findings suggest that the children constantly negotiated their subject positionings in relation to other social agents and structures in order to achieve their desired identity. Regarding their bilingual identification, translanguaging was commonplace with the children actively selecting the language(s) appropriate for different interactional situations in both Australia and Vietnam. Having said that, the children tended to identify themselves as unbalanced bilinguals and to show a stronger identification with the English language than with the Vietnamese language in both stages. In Australia, their identification with Vietnamese was primarily based on its intrinsic value of familial and cultural connection while their identification with English was built upon its instrumental value to their life in the host country. Similarly, the children’s affiliation with Vietnam seemed to be primarily initiated by familial influences and the associated sense of Vietnamese ethnicity while their affiliation with Australia was gradually moulded by their firsthand experiences in the country, especially through their connection with peers and schooling. For those who returned to Vietnam, their identification with Vietnamese was fortified by their recognition of the utilitarian benefits of the language in the new context while their identification with English was sustained by the impact of elite bilingualism. Being aware of the cultural differences when the context shifted from Australia to Vietnam, the children also managed to develop a new sense of self by both acquiring and challenging sociocultural norms in the new context. The children’s bilingual/bicultural identification appeared to echo the influencing factors from the microsystem levels (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1986) (i.e., family, peers and schooling) they interacted with.

Parents functioned as a counterbalance against the significant impact from outside family settings (especially peer and school contexts) in sustaining a positive bilingual/bicultural identification for the children both during the sojourn and upon repatriation. Parents’ imagined communities (Norton, 2001) were a major factor in deciding how they perceived and supported their children’s bilingual identification through specific family language policies and practices. Intergenerational and cross-cultural conflicts were prevalent in both contexts, suggesting the misalignment between the children’s Western sense of self versus the parents’ and the home communities’ expectations of a Vietnamese sense of self from them and thus necessitating parental support for the preservation of the home culture while in Australia and for the children’s adaptation to the new sociocultural context back in Vietnam.
 
These findings were translated into recommendations for relevant stakeholders (i.e., community, school, and family) in both the host and home countries to facilitate a positive bilingual/bicultural identification process for sojourner children in particular, and for children of immigrant backgrounds, in general.