Community of practice: how bilingual Chinese Americans use backchannels to negotiate identity

This study investigates how bilingual Chinese Americans (BCAs) employ backchanneling as a strategic tool to navigate and construct their dual social identities within different local speech communities. Utilizing the Community of Practice (CoP) analytic lens, the research analyzes the linguistic practices of BCAs in both Mandarin Chinese and American English contexts, focusing on how their backchannel behaviors reflect and negotiate their bicultural identities. The findings reveal three key insights: (1) BCAs selectively switch backchannel patterns between speech communities, using them as markers of social identity and tools to align with local interactional norms; (2) Despite equal proficiency in both languages, BCAs exhibit distinct linguistic patterns in backchannel use, including variations in frequency, phonology, lexicon, embodiment, and placement; (3) These divergences are shaped by the interplay between fluid social identities and language-specific mechanisms. The study highlights the dynamic nature of identity construction through micro-level linguistic practices and underscores the role of backchanneling in different CoPs.