Translanguaging in digital play: a Chinese–English bilingual child’s multimodal practices with touchscreen

This study applies a New Materialism lens to explore how translanguaging practices emerge from the partnership between bilingual children and touchscreen technology at home. Drawing on the concept of thing-power, this research examines a bilingual girl’s translanguaging space within a Chinese heritage family in England, to understand how touchscreen mediates her language use. Using family interviews, parent-recorded videos, and mediagrams, the findings of this study indicate that the translanguaging space is not a pre-existing context but is flexible and co-created by a three-way partnership. It is initiated by the relationship between the children's agency and her interaction with the touchscreen. Parental inputs then enter this dynamic to strengthen these practices. The study shows that the monolingual design of an app or a touchscreen does not necessarily restrict a child’s language output; instead, its limitations can prompt creative translanguaging practices. This research contributes to the understanding of digital literacy in bilingual families by identifying the affordance of monolingual touchscreen technology in bilingual development. It suggests that parents and practitioners should see monolingual apps as opportunities when heritage language resources are limited, embracing them as partners that help create unique spaces where children’s language skills can develop.