Translanguaging to Learn and Play: Young Children's Bilingual Communicative Competence in a Chinese Rural Preschool

ABSTRACT This year‐long ethnography of a rural Chinese preschool examines how Longlinghua ‐speaking children develop bilingual communicative competence as they learn Putonghua. Integrating language socialization and translanguaging, the analysis of classroom and playground interactions reveals that children creatively mobilize repertoires—shifting footing, adjusting pitch contours, and revoicing roles—to secure uptake, regulate peers, and belong. Findings challenge deficit narratives, reframing bilingualism as an interactional achievement and advocating recognition‐based, inclusive pedagogy that values local dialects alongside the national standard.