The article examines the level of development of sociolinguistic competence among students in the early stage of primary education, as perceived by their teachers. Sociolinguistic competence is conceptualised as a key component of communicative language competence, encompassing students’ ability to use language appropriately in relation to social context, communicative purpose, and cultural norms. Against this theoretical background, the study aims to identify teachers’ professional assessments of students’ sociolinguistic skills in the context of Bulgarian language and literature education. The research is based on an empirical survey conducted among 150 primary school teachers from different educational settings, including metropolitan, urban, and rural schools. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire comprising three sections: an introductory part, a set of Likert-scale items assessing students’ sociolinguistic competencies, and a demographic profile of the respondents. The survey focuses on teachers’ observations of students’ abilities related to language use in literary communication, sentence construction, lexical choice, stylistic awareness, and participation in communicative situations. The findings reveal that teachers recognise purposeful efforts within primary education to support the development of sociolinguistic competence through literary instruction, creative interaction with texts, and communicative classroom practices. At the same time, the results indicate persistent difficulties in students’ ability to adapt linguistic forms to specific communicative contexts, particularly in relation to sentence structure, lexical precision, and pragmatic appropriateness. The study highlights the decisive role of the teacher as a mediator between literary texts, authors, and students, emphasising the importance of authentic communication and pedagogically guided interaction for the formation of sociolinguistic competence. The article contributes empirical evidence to current discussions on communicative and sociolinguistic competence in primary education and offers pedagogical insights relevant to language teaching practices aimed at fostering context-sensitive and meaningful language use among young learners.