Integrating transdisciplinary literacies into higher education

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged as a global agenda to address challenges such as social inequality, environmental degradation, and the quality of education. Higher education plays a strategic role in achieving these goals by fostering students’ critical thinking, academic literacy, and social responsibility. This study employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of scholarly publications from 2025 to examine the integration of SDG values into Indonesian Language courses in higher education. The review identifies key themes, including the role of higher education in SDG implementation, academic literacy development, character formation, social awareness, and strategies for integrating the SDGs into language learning. The findings indicate that Indonesian Language courses possess significant potential as a medium for SDG integration because of their emphasis on academic literacy, critical thinking, and scientific communication. However, the review also reveals that SDG integration remains partial and unsystematic, highlighting the need for a structured conceptual framework. This study recommends the planned incorporation of SDG values into learning objectives, instructional materials, teaching strategies, and assessments, as well as the development of SDG-based learning guides for lecturers. The results provide theoretical and practical implications for enhancing Indonesian Language instruction in alignment with sustainable development.

The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in higher education has transformed learning practices, prompting concerns about their influence on students’ critical thinking, originality, and independent engagement with academic materials. This study explores the perceived impact of AI on academic literacy among Indonesian university students, with particular attention to critical thinking, originality, and independent learning. Employing a qualitative approach, the study captures students' experiences and perspectives, revealing that while AI tools such as ChatGPT and Grammarly are perceived to enhance learning efficiency, they may also diminish deeper engagement with academic content and critical thinking processes. Many participants reported a tendency to rely on AI-generated summaries, which they associated with reduced independent analysis and creativity. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that when AI tools are integrated with thoughtful pedagogical strategies, they can support the development of academic literacy within ethical boundaries. The study underscores the importance of implementing AI literacy programs and ethical guidelines to foster responsible and reflective use of AI in academic contexts.

Evidence-based nursing practice requires strong academic literacy (AL) and critical thinking (CT) skills, yet the link between these two competencies has not been adequately explored. This study aimed to assess nursing students' AL and CT levels and to examine the relationship between them. A descriptive and correlational design was used with 120 nursing students. Data was collected using a Socio-demographic Information Form, the Academic Literacy Scale (ALS), and the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS), and analyzed through descriptive statistics and correlation analyses. Students' mean ALS score was 86.54 (SD = 9.54), and the mean CTDS score was 3.85 (SD = 0.56). AL was strongly correlated with CT disposition (r = .641, p < .01). Regression analysis indicated that CT disposition explained 41% of the variance in AL (R2 = .410). Critical thinking significantly predicts academic literacy, underscoring the need for educational strategies that foster both skills.

This conceptual paper attempts to map the terrains of academic literacies work as it has evolved over the past twenty or so years in South Africa. In mapping these terrains, one of the areas the paper considers is how the dominant 'skills' Discourse continues to frame the way in which academic literacies work is implemented in South Africa. Drawing on the New Literacies Studies the paper also explores how academic literacies as a body of work defines itself, as well as the range of conceptualisations that inform such definitions. The paper then turns to a consideration of how different contextual agendas drive academic literacies work in different ways across the higher education sector in South Africa. The paper then goes on to explore the different frameworks that academic literacies work in South Africa draws on to theorise this field, as well as some of the premises underlying our thinking and informing our practices, such as: generic and disciplinary-specific approaches to academic literacies development; the role of collaborative partnerships between academic literacies and disciplinary specialists; and how to shift from tacit knowledge of the norms and conventions of disciplines to explicit teaching of these norms and conventions. Drawing on academic literacies research emanating from the United Kingdom, the paper then argues for a shift from normative to transformative approaches to the development of academic literacies in South African higher education. Finally the paper turns to the question of knowledge and its place in debates about how to develop academic literacies. My conclusions point to the need for a shared ontology within which to frame academic literacies work and research in South Africa. I am suggesting that by placing knowledge at the centre of how we understand our work, we might move closer to such a shared ontology.

ABSTRACTThe National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy is designed to assess the ability of first-year students to cope with the typical language-of-instruction, academic reading and reasoning demands they will face on entry to higher education. Drawing on quantitative data, this paper reports on the overall performance levels of a large-scale (n = 6500) national sample of test-takers who took the test as applicants for the 2013 intake into higher education. Overall test-taker performance is disaggregated by performance on sub-scales of the overall construct of academic literacy. The argument is made that the National Benchmark Test provides a framework for a nuanced and practicable understanding of test-takers’ academic literacy ‘proficiencies’. The conclusion to the paper evaluates the extent to which the test enables higher education lecturers’ greater engagement with students’ academic literacy shortcomings and with research-led information aimed at the improvement of teaching and learning.

This study was conducted in the South African context, where education is in a state of transition. One of the central issues in higher education is the development of academic literacy. However, as a result of an inadequate focus on educational linguistics and a lack of explicit instruction in academic literacy, many students do not achieve their full potential. This study focuses on aspects of academic literacy in the examination responses of a group of students studying in the discipline of speech-language pathology. The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the students’ academic literacy skills and their ability to answer examination questions. By means of an exploratory retrospective longitudinal record review, the examination scripts of 20 students were rated for evidence of various academic literacy skills. The ratings were highly correlated to the actual examination marks in both years of study, suggesting that there is a need to incorporate explicit instruction in academic literacy to develop students’ metacognitive processes while reading and writing for academic purposes.

Evaluating the impact of Academic Literacies teaching (Lea and Street [1998. “Student Writing in Higher Education: An Academic Literacies Approach.” Studies in Higher Education 23 (2): 157–72. doi:10.1080/03075079812331380364]) is difficult, as it involves gauging whether writers (1) gain better understanding of what influences written social interactions, and (2) improve their ability to manipulate language to address readers. Self-report can assess the first; the second can only be evaluated by examining texts and their effect on readers. Texts are commonly assessed with rubrics-based tools focussing on textual features, but their insensitivity to communicative context and readers’ perception makes these inappropriate for an Academic Literacies framework (Canton [2018. “‘It’s Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it’: Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?” Journal of Academic Writing 8 (1): 13–27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). Consensual assessment used by Amabile ([1996. Creativity in Context. Boulder, CL: Westview Press]) for creativity, offers a potential solution (Canton [2018. “‘It’s Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it’: Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?” Journal of Academic Writing 8 (1): 13–27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). This paper presents a new instrument based on consensual assessment and empirically tests it. Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) found moderate (Koo and Li [2016. “A Guideline of Selecting and Reporting Intraclass Correlation Coefficients for Reliability Research.” Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 15 (2): 155–63. doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2016.02.012]) to good (Cicchetti [1994. “Guidelines, Criteria, and Rules of Thumb for Evaluating Normed and Standardized Assessment Instruments in Psychology.” Psychological Assessment 6 (4): 284–90. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/50d7/f68422d0c0424674f6b235ac23be8300da38.pdf]) agreement among raters, which offers proof of concept for capturing the readers’ perception of the complex interactions in writing.

Student difficulties with the transition to writing in higher education are well documented whether from a ‘study skills’, an ‘academic socialisation’ or an ‘academic literacies’ perspective. In order to more closely examine the challenges faced by students from widening participation backgrounds and diverse routes into undergraduate study, this project focuses on first-year undergraduate experiences of developing academic literacies on an Education Studies programme at one university in England. It highlights the impact of different support and guidance within and beyond their degree programme where attempts to embed academic literacy development are part of subject modules. The paper reports the findings generated using a mixed methods interpretive approach. Questionnaires were collected at the beginning (n = 48) and end of the students’ first year (n = 44), and interviews and visual data collection methods (n =19) were used at the mid-point of the academic year. Key findings highlight students’ expectations of achievement on entry to university and the influence of the emotional journey of students as they begin to make progress as academic writers. Identifying, selecting and applying academic reading were an enduring concern whilst some students struggled with the digital literacy implicit in undergraduate work. Importantly, some strategies developed to support student transition to academic writing in higher education may have unintended consequences as they progress through the first year.

During the rapid shift to remote teaching and learning that came with the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020, for many students and instructors, important interactions and collaborative learning took place via online platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Our study focuses specifically on the impacts of remote learning on students who speak and write English as an additional language (EAL) taking academic literacy/writing courses during their first year of study. For these students, the shift from face-to-face to remote learning environments had major impacts on their ability to interact and collaborate with peers, key factors for successful academic literacy development and success in their studies. We present selected data from a one-year study at a university in the Vancouver Metropolitan area, specifically, interviews with EAL students about their experiences in remotely-taught academic literacy classrooms. Our analysis is informed by the theoretical lenses of academic literacies and academic discourse socialization in higher-education contexts, while also considering recent literature on remote learning in higher education. When asked about their experiences in interviews, participants described challenges related to interacting and collaborating with peers, making friends, and developing competence in English language and academic literacy. We conclude by discussing the lessons we can bring forward into the post-remote teaching era. Dans le contexte du virage rapide vers l’enseignement et l’apprentissage à distance qui a accompagné la pandémie du COVID-19 au début de l’année 2020, les interactions importantes et l’apprentissage collaboratif ont eu lieu sur des plateformes en ligne telles que Zoom et Microsoft Teams pour de nombreux étudiants et enseignants. Notre étude examine l’impact de l’apprentissage à distance sur des étudiants de première année de l’anglais en tant que langue additionnelle (ALA) qui suivent des cours de littératie académique et d’écriture. Pour ces étudiants, le passage d’un environnement d’apprentissage en personne à un environnement d’apprentissage à distance a eu un impact majeur sur leur capacité à interagir et à collaborer avec leurs pairs, des facteurs clés pour un développement réussi de la littératie académique et pour la réussite dans leurs études. Nous présentons des données sélectionnées issues d’une étude plus large menée au cours d’un an dans une université de la région métropolitaine de Vancouver, à savoir des entretiens avec des étudiants ALA sur leurs expériences dans des cours de littératie académique enseignés à distance. Notre analyse s’appuie sur les théories des littératies académiques et de la socialisation au discours académique dans les contextes de l’enseignement supérieur, tout en tenant compte de la littérature récente sur l’apprentissage à distance dans l’enseignement supérieur. Interrogés sur leurs expériences lors des entretiens, les participants ont décrit les défis liés à l’interaction et à la collaboration avec leurs pairs, à se faire des amis et au développement de leurs compétences en anglais et en littératie académique. Nous concluons en discutant des leçons que nous pouvons mettre de l’avant dans cette ère qui suit l’enseignement à distance.

This study examines whether integrating digital literacy–based activities into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instruction enhances undergraduate students’ academic reading skills and critical thinking. Addressing a gap in the literature where academic reading and critical thinking are often treated as separate outcomes and digital literacy is frequently reduced to tool use, this study conceptualizes digital literacy as a pedagogical framework that supports higher-order engagement with academic texts. Eight sessions of digitally enhanced EAP instruction were implemented in an experimental class (n = 44), focusing on students’ abilities to critically access, evaluate, and construct meaning from academic readings, while the other class (n = 45) received conventional EAP instruction. The results revealed that the experimental group achieved significantly greater gains than the control group in both academic reading (U = 596.50, p = 0.001) and critical thinking (U = 253.00, p &lt; 0.001). These findings suggest that digital literacy functions as a mediating pedagogical approach that deepens students’ engagement with academic texts and fosters higher-order reasoning. Conceptually, the study extends EAP instructional models by demonstrating that academic reading and critical thinking can be developed simultaneously through integrated digital literacy practices. The study recommends that EAP instructors systematically embed digital literacy–oriented activities to strengthen students’ academic literacy.

This paper describes and justifies the conceptualisation and adoption of a socio-cultural approach to academic writing support which was part of the inception of a broader orientation programme in a newly established Centre for Postgraduate Studies at a research intensive South African university. The role of writing support is considered in relation to the increasing pressure being placed on academic writing in higher education, in light of growing demands to increase postgraduate student outputs. The paper argues for the use of an ‘academic literacies’ approach for the initial conceptualisation of a writing support programme that accommodated both discipline knowledge as well as the linguistic experiences of the students. The paper provides conceptual insights which may contribute to the literature on this topic in South Africa and stimulate further debate. Keywords: Academic literacies, academic writing support, postgraduate, socio-cultural, South Africa, best practice

&lt;p&gt;In the midst of an increasingly changing world, the ability to think critically has become a crucial attribute expected of university graduates. However, the endorsement of critical thinking in higher education has been challenged by the growing cultural diversity in university classrooms. Concerns about Asian students' lack of critical thinking and the appropriateness of critical thinking instruction in international education have been raised by teaching professionals. The present dissertation sought to understand the influence of culture on the teaching and learning of critical thinking in higher education. Chapter 2 presented a study examining the instructional contexts of Hong Kong and New Zealand. It was found that similar assessment methods were employed in the university courses in both cultures, but university courses in Hong Kong placed more emphasis on knowledge development whereas those in New Zealand explicitly described critical thinking in the course objectives. Chinese international and New Zealand European postgraduate students were individually interviewed to investigate the exact influence of cultural-educational contexts in Asia and New Zealand on university students' conception and practice of critical thinking (Chapter 3). Both samples of students held similar conceptions of critical thinking, but reported differences in their socialization experiences regarding the practice of critical thinking in their respective cultures. Specifically, stronger inhibition on students' practice of critical thinking was noted in Asia than in New Zealand. In Chapter 4, two studies that investigated the differences in critical thinking skills between Asian and New Zealand European students are presented. In both studies, New Zealand European students were found to perform better than their Asian counterparts on an objective measure of critical thinking skills. The difference was explained by students English language ability but not cultural factors such as cultural differences in cognitive styles or behavioral adoption of New Zealand culture. It was suggested that observed cross-cultural difference in critical thinking skills is related more to language ability rather than cultural variables. A significantly positive relationship between critical thinking skills and academic performance was found, and the relationship was not significantly different between Asian and New Zealand European student samples (Chapter 5). The relationship was also not different as a function of students' adoption of New Zealand culture, indicating that pedagogy with an emphasis on critical thinking is similarly applicable to both Asian and New Zealand European students. Overall, the present findings indicated that culture has an important influence on students' practice of critical thinking. Although there is cross-cultural difference in critical thinking skills between Asian and Western student samples, the difference appears to be related more to language ability rather than cultural factors. The present thesis provided empirical evidence to show that culture influences the educational practice of critical thinking, but the influence of culture does not necessarily impede the application of critical thinking instruction in international classrooms. With appropriate adaptation, critical thinking instruction can be beneficial to the intellectual development of students regardless of their cultural backgrounds.&lt;/p&gt;

In higher education, genre theorists and academic literacy practitioners have examined evolving genres, but they have not specifically focused on the multimodal nature of texts that students need to produce for assessment purposes. This paper explores the increasing influence and incorporation of the visual into academic texts, and ways of enabling student access to academic discourse in a multimodal environment. Taking a multimodal perspective on ‘academic literacies’, it looks at examples from different disciplines and provides guidelines on how writing centres can assist students with the designs of their multimodal texts in a changing representational landscape. In particular, it focuses on helping students with predominantly visual texts, integrating visuals into written assignments, and ways of writing about images.

Chatbots have emerged as innovative tools with the potential to significantly impact academic literacy skills across various domains. This study investigates the impact of chatbots on academic literacy skills across four domains: source evaluation, writing, critical thinking, and accessibility. Comparative analysis of Google Bard, Microsoft Bing Chat, and QuillBot reveals distinct features. Bard excels in source evaluation, offering robust fact-checking and citation assistance. It also provides comprehensive writing support and tools for critical thinking. Moreover, Bard offers personalized, accessible support, including 24/7 availability and language learning assistance. Bing Chat and QuillBot offer limited features compared to Bard. Overall, chatbots show promise in enhancing academic literacy, particularly in source evaluation, writing, and critical thinking skills.

Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) are increasingly prevalent in higher education to adapt to educational changes and promote critical thinking among learners. Past research has emphasized instructors' facilitation roles in encouraging learners' critical thinking in AODs, while fewer studies explored peer facilitation and peer participants' critical thinking from the students' perspective as facilitators. This study used a lag sequential analysis approach to examine peer facilitation techniques and critical thinking in a peer‐facilitated AOD spanning six tasks over 12 weeks with 40 undergraduate participants. Results highlighted that the most frequently used peer facilitation techniques were giving own opinions or experiences and questioning, with the latter demonstrating the highest number of significant sequential patterns. Peer participants' critical thinking primarily involved analyse and evaluate, with significant sequential patterns observed in lower level and higher order critical thinking stages but not between them. Further investigation revealed the impact of peer facilitation techniques on critical thinking, and a new three‐phase model was developed to describe their associations. These findings suggest that dynamic peer facilitation techniques effectively enhance critical thinking, with specific techniques targeting distinct phases of its development in AODs. The study provides actionable insights for educators, offering strategies to optimize facilitation approaches and foster critical thinking skills in higher education settings. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Asynchronous online discussions are widely used in higher education to encourage learners' critical thinking. Instructors as facilitators play a positive role in encouraging learners' critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions, while the role of peer facilitators is less discussed. In peer‐facilitated asynchronous online discussions, the facilitation techniques used by peer facilitators affect the development of critical thinking in peer participants. What this paper adds Uses lag sequential analysis to examine the sequential patterns of peer facilitation techniques and critical thinking in peer‐facilitated asynchronous online discussions. Reports common peer facilitation techniques used by peer facilitators and observed significant sequential patterns. Presents the distribution and developmental sequential patterns of critical thinking in peer participants. Examines the association between peer facilitation techniques and critical thinking, and develops a new three‐phase model to describe this association. Implications for practice and/or policy Dynamic peer facilitation techniques can effectively promote the development of critical thinking in peer participants, with specific relationships existing between different phases of critical thinking and different types of peer facilitation techniques. This study reveals the facilitation of critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions from the perspective of learners as facilitators, filling a research gap. The findings provide practical guidance for effectively encouraging critical thinking among college students in higher education.