Although there has been research on literacy as a sociocultural practice, L2 literacy researchers have yet to incorporate and consider how the material characteristics of a writing system interact with sociocultural factors in shaping literacy practices. Drawing on conceptions of literacy as a sociocultural practice, psycholinguistic and developmental work, this paper seeks to expand the understanding of ''literacy practice'' by considering both material and sociocultural factors. It focuses the discussion on Chinese L2 literacy practices that concern the learning of Chinese characters in a Mandarin Chinese-as-a-second language classroom. The paper concludes with implications for L2 literacy pedagogy.