Children’s foreign language learning research under traditional research paradigms is often designed, implemented, and interpreted by adults, with children merely serving as objects and data sources. Such research paradigms often fail to genuinely reflect children’s real learning needs and experiences. This paper systematically examines an emerging new paradigm little adopted in China—the childparticipatory research paradigm. It aims to demonstrate how participatory research redefines children’s roles in foreign language learning studies, what unique advantages the new paradigm offers compared to traditional approaches, and key considerations for implementing child participatory research in authentic contexts. The article first introduces the new paradigm’s theoretical foundations and core concepts. Then the advantages of the paradigm along with popular research methods and practical approaches to integrating it into primary school English teaching in China are provided. The article further discusses the real world challenges and ethical considerations while conducting child participatory research. Exploring these issues can provide new theoretical perspectives and methodological references for children’s foreign language learning research in China.