Penetration of culture and language in the language of third culture kids

The question that follows was aimed to identify whether the participants faced some challenges while traveling, moving abroad or studying. This question is also pivotal as it deals with student's childhood memories, in particular, a child's ability to adapt and actually get exposed o new cultural environments which was a new experience. Experiencing that at this young age influences the way a kid perceives the world, their linguistic and adjusting abilities. Around 40% of students claimed that during the time of migrating they did not face any challenges related to changing circumstances but acted accepting new ways of dealing with situations. Number of answers that it was painful to leave everything behind starting with the place of the former residence ending with leaving friends makes up around 20%. Only 12% said that they do not quite remember what was going on as they were too little. Finally, approximately 32% assured that they did not experience anything above. Notably, those who chose this option were either born outside of their home country that is why sometimes they are confused when asked questions about migrating and the reason for that because they feel that they belong to that very culture they were first introduced with.

After answering this question participants were asked to chose how many countries they have visited and I got to see to how many cultures these people got exposed to and how open minded they became. It should be taken into consideration that the next question reveals a lot of peculiarities to elaborate on. The question was simple: “Do you know what is a Third Culture Kid?” as a term. Unfortunately, the number of those who do not have any idea on what it means to be a TCK prevails the number of those who can actually explain what it is. This way, 15 respondents out of 25 cannot define the notion; however, 10 persons could easily explain it. In particular, students who are TCKs selected the second option.

The answers to the next question should be clarified because it does not go along with the previous one. Here students had to pick whether they feel like there is more than one culture within them and whether they share same values, principles and they way of living. Only one respondent picked “no” which indicates that in the globalized world more and more people feel like belonging to several cultures at the same time. I emphasize that both those who has been traveling a lot, migrated and those who did not do it showed similar answers.

As the survey goes along students had already thought about their identities so they did not have any difficulties at answering the question that proceeds. The question was to think of respondent's family members, in particular, to analyze whether they had two of more representatives of different cultures and so languages within their family. Six people confirmed it, however, only one of them considered herself to be TCK.

As Espada-Campos (2018) pondered upon the issue when a TCK has a passport of one country but actually does not feel like belonging to this country culturally. I wondered whether me fellow students have the same viewpoint on that. Interestingly, the answers were 50:50. The number of students who did not feel like belonging to the country which passport they have and those who do not feel this way along with those who have not thought about it are equal. Fifty percent of those who chose `unfortunately, yes' and fifty percent of both options `I have not thought about that' and `no'.

The last question of the section leads to the second part of the survey which is all about the studying experience and the influence of the languages that participants know and use. Here students had to elaborate on their identity: values, principles and norms. Approximately 56% claimed that it not hard for them to reflect on their identity which indicates that they are sure of their cultural and linguistic background, in comparison with around 40% that assured that it is hard for them, and only one person said that it is too complicated and, notably, this person was a TCK.

3.4 Second Section

The next section of the questionnaire as it was explained before was aimed to check how the knowledge of more than two languages and belonging to more than two cultures affected the academic performance of both TCKs and students with non-mixed cultural background. Answering the first question of the section respondents had to think about their academic performance in general. The number of students who chose that they have no difficulty in adjusting to changing environment in University was 23 students. As it was anticipated all participants who are TCKs, except one, picked this option. Only 2 people opted for that they usually fall behind classes and it is hard for them sometimes to follow what is going on.

To make participants to think deeply about their educational experience I asked them whether they consider the mix of cultures beneficial. The majority of all respondents including 11 TCKs out of all 25 participants answered that it is beneficial and they do not feel like they are being off-balance with their `own' culture and 20%, notably, all respondents were TCKs, picked the option that they just have broad knowledge base rather than having uncertain values.

The purpose of the next question was to reveal if participants are judgmental or they consider themselves to be `social chameleon' meaning that they are more flexible and adjusting to situations. All TCKs participated along with non-culturally mixed students chose that they are good observers, non-judgmental people and they know how to handle misunderstandings. However, only 2 people, who were not TCKs, responded that they feel like they are `cultural chameleons' and they do not really feel comfortable being so.

Then the survey offered students to elaborate on how fast they process information. Remarkably, 18 people along with 10 TCKs, think that they process information pretty fast and that is not really difficult for them. In comparison, 7 respondents, including 5 TCKs, need more time to understand what something is about.

Next question stems from the previous one and is to identify whether mixed cultural background helped those students as they accustomed to process a lot of information. Only 4 students, in particular 3 TCKs, opted for `no', nevertheless, 15 students picked the option saying that their mixed cultural background actually helped them with that. Despite that 6 participants abstained from providing a response.

In this section one of the most important questions was whether the knowledge of two and more languages helps students during their studying, for instance, having better and trained memory because of using those languages. It should be noted that only 1 person who is TCK chose `no'. Nonetheless, 96% of all the respondents said `yes' which proves that knowing and using more than two languages is always beneficial and those who apply them daily in Universities can show high levels of academic performance.

Finally, the last question was an additional one as it dealt with the fact whether participants got praised a lot in school which might have had a profound impact on further educational performance of a student. The number of students who picked `I got praised a lot' and `no' reached 40% and 60% respectively. It should be pointed out that the number of TCKs who opted for `I got praised a lot' was 6, and those TCKs who picked `no' was 9 which was not a big difference.

3.5 Face-to-Face Interviews

I picked five interesting cases that I would like to draw attention to. All interviewees left their home countries when they were little and they rarely go back. These people home countries are: Kazakhstan, Moldova, Armenia, Albania and Russia. I will quote some of the respondent's answers connected with ability to process information faster as they know more than 3 languages and I will focus on how they identify themselves both culturally and linguistically.

The first student is originally from Kazakhstan and his name is Edyge and he is currently studying in HSE. His parents are both Kazakhs but when he was little his father had to move to Armenia for some time as he is a diplomat. This way all his family members moved to Armenia where they were all living for 4 years. After living in Armenia they came back to Kazakhstan but soon left to Russia. Nevertheless, I would like to focus on these 4 years of his early life as he was little and this period of one's development is important not only because a child is mentally vulnerable but also his cognitive flexibility was developed enough to learn a lot during that period and after. When I asked Edyge whether he noticed any differences in his behavior and elaborate on his experience in general he said:

“I had a lot of friends in Armenia and as my parents knew a lot of people there as well we would spend a lot of our free time at our friend's house who was Armenian. So I got to know some words in Armenian and could actually talk on simple topics with my peers during that time, however, I was attending Russian school but, of course, the influence if Armenian culture and language was enormous”

As about his information processing abilities he stated:

“I could always process information faster than others and as I selected in your questionnaire I had and still have no difficulty at processing a lot of information”

It should be said that the ability to process information may not only stem from being a TCK and having an experience of exposing oneself to various cultures. In many cases the way parents raise their children and the values and priorities that they share among each other also influences a child. In Edyge's case it is both as his parents are really hardworking and it could be that during his childhood he noticed that and saw that it is a good thing and he started to act like this as well. Moreover, as he said in the questionnaire he got praised a lot in school and he is a fast learner, so one should consider individual's psychological features as well as it goes along. However, Edyge himself told me that, definitely, the knowledge of Kazakh, Russian, Armenian and later English helped him to be not only tolerant and understanding, but also he got an opportunity to train his memory which helped him later in his life.

The next respondent that I would also like to present is Emma. She lives in Moscow and studies in HSE as well but originally she is from Moldova as well as her parents, however her mother has Ukrainian roots. Her family did not move to Russia because her parents' jobs imply constant travels but because they were seeking better life. Later on Emma's parents decided to move to Moscow with their 2 kids when Emma was 8. She attended Russian school where she faced some difficulties but not with studying, on the contrary, she was praised a lot as Edyge, but with cultural stereotyping from her classmates. That made a big impact on the little kid, however, she was making progress during her lessons of French and English and now she is studying languages and international communication. She said:

“When I fell behind classes it was not because I did not understand something my teachers were asking me to do, but because very often I would neglect doing something for my classes as I got bullied and I did not feel like doing anything. I can say that after I got back on track again and my teachers were praising me”

When she was little Emma could use Moldovan, Russian and a little of French and English. She did not face any challenges during Russian language lessons, conversely, she was grasping information presented faster. When got asked about how it all affected her she states:

“Now that I know one more language which is Spanish I can easily process more information as I was doing that in school, when I was with my family members and we talked in different languages. That is how I got the ability to read and use data pretty fast”

Daniel is another interesting example of TCKs experience. He came to Russia as an exchange student from Germany in summer semester of 2019 in HSE for his second year bachelors programme. In October I got the opportunity to get to know him and I was surprised when he understood what I was telling my friend in Russian. Then I got curious and I asked him whether he knew Russian and he replied that he always used it as his parents can talk proper Russian. When I was collecting data from my survey for face-to-face interview I asked him whether he could help me and he did. Daniel is a TCK but he does not know that and after the questionnaire he was still confused. We talked about his experience and he said:

“When I was little I was living in Uzbekistan with my parents. During WWII families of my parents went to this country for some time. After the war many countries started to launch the “repatriation program” that made it easy for those who have relatives or family members like grandparents in another country to actually move there. Now that I have German last name and some relatives from Germany we went to live in Germany. That is how we got there. I attended German school and now I sound and act very German as a lot of Germans say”

During his childhood Daniel could use German, Russian and sometimes English. I asked him whether using all these languages and being exposed to different cultures he could process and retain a lot of information. He said:

“Indeed, it is easy for me. I have a good memory and I see no difficulty in showing high level of academic performance”

Another good example of TCK's experience is the students from winter semester of exchange program in HSE of 2019. Fatos is originally Albanian and he was living in his home country for some time before he had to move to France with his parents and brothers. When he was little he could talk Albanian and French. In April of 2019 I got an opportunity to talk with Fatos about his childhood and why his family left Albania. After the survey I got a chance to talk about it with him again. Talking about possible obstacles that he had to overcome while moving and living far away from his home country Fatos said:

“I did not have any problems at adjusting really as I was with my family and I knew that it was something that we need to go through together in order to live a normal life. My family left Albania for both job prospects and education for me and my brothers. I feel more French than Albanian to be honest, and my whole family does. We celebrate French holidays, we share French traditions, I have become a real French person. What is for my studying experience I would say that as I picked from the questionnaire sometimes I have difficulties at understanding what the task is about and what I have to do with it. I do not know whether it is connected with using 2 languages and training my brain and improving the way I memorize things but it is like this. I have not thought about this really”

In his case attention should be paid to how he processes information himself, not emphasizing that he is a TCK, but an individual.

This brings me to my last interviewee who I thought needed to be included in a survey as he is not only a TCK but his way of living is different compared with TCKs who live in Europe or big cities in Russia. This student is my cousin and we experienced a lot of cultural obstacles while growing up together. Originally Erik is Armenian and he does not study in HSE, however, his case was interesting enough to analyze that I included him in this section. Erik and his parents moved to Russia for better job and life as my parents did. Most of the time we would spend together as little children and our parents would teach us both Armenian and Russian same way. Nevertheless, Erik has never been abroad and he did not experience interacting with people who belong to different cultures as he lives in a small city. It is important to acknowledge that as in small cities even if a kid is a TCK very often they cannot express their international side as in small cities there are less people who have multiple cultural backgrounds not taking into consideration the level of knowledge of languages. Erik said:

“I do not use Armenian as I study in Russian University and there everyone is using Russian both during classes and after while talking with each other. There is no opportunity for me to practice languages. I think less than 50% of people living in my city can even speak English. As for me, I remember that when I was a kid I got praised a lot in school and I got straight A's and I could process information not that fast but it was not hard for me to deal with a lot of data, on the contrary, I was enjoying it”

Here it is clear that it is not only up to family members to teach languages to their kid and use it daily in order to train their memory and remember their cultural heritage. Besides, it is fundamental to understand that a TCK needs an opportunity to communicate in several languages that they know.

All in all, by interviewing some of my participants who wanted to share their educational experiences and some memories from childhood it is clear that languages do help at receiving, processing, retaining and applying data. Cases above show that languages do help a TCK to absorb information more effectively as they have trained memory and cognitive flexibility.



Chapter 4. Results

The research itself was complicated to a certain extent, though the most confusing part was the analysis of the answers of TCKs. It should be noted that everyone, not only the ones who participated in the survey, have different worldview, they grew up in different cultural environments, thus, some experiences are hard to compare. In addition, people have different mindset and ways of processing information that they get and they have developed that for their whole life. However, nowadays people get closer to each other, acting more tolerant, though sometimes not, but often different cultures share similar features now as they get influenced by each other which also makes it hard to draw the line between some of them. This makes it difficult for researchers to further examine tendencies of the phenomenon, what is shared between its representatives and whether it is beneficial not only for them but also for society. Most importantly, it makes it hard for TCKs to analyze their own behavior, find their cultural identity and who they are in life. That is why a lot of works deal with such notions as `fitting in' and `lost identity'.

4.1 The Examination of Data

When analyzing the answers I noticed major tendencies. Apart from that all respondents except one were living outside of their home country the key points are that TCKs are usually fast learners and they are able to adapt to changing circumstances easily as they got used to being exposed to different cultural environments and situations. Nevertheless, the survey showed that very small percentage of participants could explain who is a TCK which reveals lack of being aware of the term and also not being enough culturally aware. Importantly, while analyzing the answers I paid attention to the fact that 50% of respondents do not consider themselves fully belonging to the country and its culture which citizenship they have which illustrates the problem of TCKs' “lost identity”. This may directly influence the way TCKs see themselves culturally that is not usually a positive image which can prevent them from being successful later in life and being more self-conscious.

It should be clarified that when answering the question whether respondents feel as they have more than two cultures within themselves students provided information about cultures that they really belong to as well as cultures with which they share similar values and ways of living and norms.

One of the main tendencies identified is that a lot of respondents assured that being a TCK and knowing more than two languages is definitely beneficial and does facilitate the processing of information. In addition, it helps them during their studying. Nevertheless, low percentage of participants feel lost during learning processes but others show above average or high levels of educational achievements.

Being a TCK and talking with those who consider themselves belong to the group and analyzing the answers I could finally answer the questions that I stated in the first chapter. As TCKs are used to obtain a lot of information while growing up in international environment it was revealed that the knowledge of two or more languages positively influences the way a Third Culture Kid processes information being able to complete tasks faster than non-culturally mixed children. Secondly, the main difference that I identified between the way TCKs and infants with non-mixed cultural background process information is only in the way they are taught languages and how frequent they use them which affects their memory and cognitive flexibility while learning, acquiring new skill and being academically successful. Finally, my survey and face-to-face interviews proved that integration of cultures result in benefits for TCKs as they have broad knowledge base.

If we examine what interviewees were saying about their life and minor challenges that they faced it is clear that they all shared a lot of common features. I decided that there are two main ones apart from psychological characteristics of a student. First, as it was pinpointed in the questionnaire, leaving their friends, some family members and a place TCKs used to live in was painful, though later they could accustom to a new cultural environment as they were already bilingual and were exposed to several cultural backgrounds during their childhood. Secondly, TCKs who participated in the survey assured that the knowledge of two and more languages is absolutely beneficial during the learning processes of any kind: new language, subject at school or a new skill. Importantly, those who did not know that they were TCKs eventually came to the conclusion that, indeed, they belong to the group and it really helps them with studying as well.



Chapter 5. Discussion

The world is constantly changing and affects not only economies of the countries, major policies within a country, political situation, but also families who have to change their place of living. Adults who leave their home countries for work feel the necessity to adapt faster to a new environment and make sure that their family members feel safe, nevertheless, sometimes what children feel is neglected. This happens not because parents do not love or care for their kids but because of the fact that very often an infant cannot fully explain how they feel in this case, what they think and go through emotionally. The best thing that adults can do in this situation from a linguistic perspective is to make their children culturally aware and teach them their native language along with a second one so the child would not be lost in the new cultural environment and feel secured.

Not only should parents understand the importance of paying attention to what their international kids' needs are but also schools, Universities and, especially, kindergartens should focus on how this group of children behaves and whether they have difficulties at communicating with peers and learning new things. In globalized world more and more kids become TCKs and very often parents, authorities and teachers do not know how to act and to what they should pay attention. Consequently, TCKs may deal with difficulties at processing information in schools or Universities because they have not been taught how to do it properly as Glozman (2009) stated. Little did many people know that understanding and using two or more languages is not a curse but a blessing for them. They can easily switch from several languages, they notice linguistic features in different languages and know how to handle cultural miscommunication. Thus, mixed cultural background of a TCK and special environment that they grew up influences them profoundly.

As it was proved in this work students who are now ATCKs and who helped me with this research are clear examples of how a TCK can be successful and how they can be proud of the fact that they are multicultural. We as the observers have to devote special attention to it so that we can facilitate their educational success which improves the way they perceive themselves as individuals.

In my work I reviewed works of prominent researchers who helped me with the thorough examination of the phenomenon. Also, I provided with information of my research design, theoretical and methodological implications along with major limitations of my work. All information analyzed helped me to gather relevant data and give full answers to the research questions that I stated in the first chapter of my research.



Conclusion

Going back to the survey and the data that was collected and thoroughly analyzed it should be noted that all students were open-minded and were eager to help. However, as it was highlighted in the first chapter most of them did not know who is a Third Culture Kid and that they belong to the group. Students who participated in the survey were both international students who were on their exchange program in HSE Moscow and those who still study in Russia. For current research it was essential to find TCKs but I also decided to provide a reader with different types of TCKs: those living in Russia and those who live outside of the country, for instance, moving to the countries of Western Europe and the USA.

It was not a long ago when the term of being a `Third Culture Kid' appeared and a lot of linguists, anthropologists, psychologists and experts in cultural studies have been examining the life of this unique group of kids.

The purpose of this research which was to provide general information about academic performance of TCKs has been fulfilled.

Data collected demonstrated that Third Culture Kids are usually more successful with their studying experiences than those non-culturally mixed children. Crucial evidence obtained from relevant articles, books and journals was to provide a reader with necessary information of whether TCKs process information faster by being exposed to different cultures and using a lot of languages daily. Also, it was demonstrated how the knowledge of languages that TCKs know and use helped and still help them to be academically successful. One of the key points illustrated was the importance of improving the way parents, fellow students, friends and teachers interact with Third Culture Kids and how one can avoid miscommunication to facilitate personal growth of an international child along with showing high level of educational success.



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Appendix

Survey Questions

Section 1

Where do you currently live?

How many languages do you speak?

Just 2

3 and more

Have you ever been abroad? If so, what was the purpose of your visit?

one of my family members (parent) had to move for better work opportunities

just to travel and see the world

I was studying abroad

no, I have never been abroad

Did you have problems moving to another country as a child?

yes, as I left behind friends and other family members and I didn't want to lose touch with them

no, I don't quite remember as I was a little kid

no, I got used to changing circumstances

none of the above

How many countries have you visited?

Just 2

More than 3

Do you know what is a 'Third Culture Kid'?

Yes

Have no idea

Do you feel that there is more than 1 culture within you? (i.e. you feel like you share values with more than one nation)

Yes

No

Was there a country that you fell in love with while visiting/ living there? Name it (you may list countries or just put one), or write "-" if there was no such country (open question)

Does your family has more than 2 cultural backgrounds? (for example, your relatives come from different countries, i.e. your grandmother is Spanish, though your grandfather is French)

Yes

No

If you answered yes, do you feel like you share some values, principles, etc. that representatives of a specific country do?

Yes, I do

No, I don't think so

Have you ever felt that you have a passport of a country without feeling that you belong to it?

Unfortunately, yes

No

Haven't thought about that

Is it hard for you to elaborate on your "identity"? (your values/ principles/ etc.)

Yes

No, it's not that complicated

Section 2

Choose the option that best describes your general academic performance:

I usually fall behind in classes, sometimes for me it is hard to follow what's going on

I have no difficulty in adjusting to changing environment in University

What is true for you?

I feel like the mix of cultures is a benefit, i don't feel like I'm being off-balance in my "own" culture

I feel like having broad knowledge base more than having uncertain values

What describes you best?

I'm a good observer and non-judgmental person and I know how to handle misunderstandings

I feel like I'm being a social chameleon (flexible and adjusting) and I don't like that

Do you feel like you can process information faster than others?

Yes, and that's not hard for me

No, I need more time to understand what the task is about

If not, maybe your mixed cultural background helps you? (you are accustomed to processing a lot of information)

Yes, it does

No

Do you feel that the knowledge of 2 and more languages helps you during your studying (i.e. having better memory)

Yes

No

Have you been praised a lot in school or university when you got the tasks done before or better than others?

Yes, I got praised a lot

No

Respondents' Answers



Interview Questions

Where are you originally from?

To which country your family decided to move and what was the reason?

Do you know and use the language of your home country?

Have you been taught languages by your family members?

How many languages do you know?

Do you have s good memory and can process information pretty fast?

Were you praised in school a lot?

How do you culturally identify yourself?

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