Abstract
Language in the early childhood years shapes children’s communication, identity, and sense of belonging within classroom communities. Multilingual preschoolers’ oral language development is inseparable from cultural identity. Despite extensive research on bilingualism and positive cognitive outcomes, few studies center multilingual preschoolers’ own perspectives on how classroom contexts influence their linguistic identities and participation. This qualitative case study examined the affective, behavioral, and cognitive factors which shape multilingual preschoolers' oral language development and home cultural connections use in early childhood classrooms. Using classroom observations, interviews, and child-centered photo-elicitation conversations, preschool student voice was prioritized to understand how children experience and use language in school settings. Findings revealed multilingual preschoolers actively negotiated agency and identity through play, peer interactions, and flexible language practices. Children used translanguaging, gestures, and strategic silence as meaningful communicative tools, as the students lacked shared language partners. Linguistically affirming environments increased children’s verbal risk-taking, engagement, and confidence. In contrast, English-dominant practices limited participation and subtly positioned home languages as peripheral. These findings position multilingual preschoolers as active language agents rather than passive learners. Implications call for early childhood practices intentionally designed across affective, behavioral, and cognitive domains: fostering emotional safety, identity affirmation, and belonging (affective); expanding peer interaction, play-based language opportunities, and modeling (behavioral); and nurturing strategic language use, metacognition, and agency (cognitive). When these braided dimensions are aligned, multilingual oral language development becomes not simply a literacy outcome, but a holistic process grounded in voice, participation, and identity.