Enhancing bilingual development through emotional agency: a positive psychology perspective in Chinese families

• Wang, Yingna ^[1]
  1. [1] Jilin University

     Jilin University

     China

     
• Localización: International journal of bilingual education and bilingualism, ISSN 1367-0050, Vol. 29, Nº. 4, 2026, págs. 459-478
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Despite the rise of early bilingualism in Chinese households, studies on how Chinese parents’ emotional agency in family language policy shapes young children’s bilingual development are limited. This study analysed publicly posted online parental journals using the constructivist grounded theory in China’s multilingual context. Drawing on Positive Psychology 3.0, it examined how parents navigate their emotions while supporting English–Chinese development in their children aged from two to six years. Three major themes emerged: navigating the parents’ own emotions, parental agency in exploring the children’s emotional dynamics, and the co-construction of an emotionally supportive bilingual environment. Findings revealed that parents exercised emotional agency through self-regulation, sensitivity to children’s emotions, and co-constructive routines, which stabilised the input quantity and quality, increased the children’s willingness to communicate, and yielded responsive, level-appropriate feedback within the families’ language policy practices. This study offers insights into the ties among parental emotions, language ideologies, management choices, and everyday practices and recommends strategies for parents for self- and co-regulation and autonomy-supportive routines to strengthen home bilingual environments. The limitations and future research directions are discussed.