Academic Literacy Development in Multilingual Contexts: Policy, Practice, Technology, and Pedagogy

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About this Research Topic

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Background

Academic literacy is gaining considerable attention in the field of language education. For many learners, it is an important asset for their academic attainment and social mobility. Traditional approach towards literacy studies tends to focus on the linguistic aspects of language development including vocabulary learning, trainings of reading and writing skills. With recent movements in language education such as the New Literacy Studies, an emerging body of scholarship began conceptualizing literacy as social practice which views literacy as embedded in the dynamic power relations. This strand of research is more concerned with contextual factors such as access, race, gender, emotion, and power that play into one’s academic literacy development. For example, nonnative English language speakers may be particularly vulnerable to the ideological positioning of native speakerism discourse as they navigate their academic literacy development trajectory in English medium settings. A more contextualized view of academic literacy takes into consideration of the processes that learners go through as they struggle, negotiate, resist, and challenge literacy practices that are “decontextualized”. These processes are also crucial for students to become familiar with academic communities and the norms of these communities. For example, international students’ participation in new disciplinary communities involves power negotiations, challenges and acquisition of specific socially constructed practices so they could develop legitimate membership in their academic communities. Thus, academic literacy development is seen as not only processes of knowledge accumulation but also meaning-making processes in which learners figure out ways of self-transformation and self-becoming (Wenger, 1998). While extensive research has examined academic literacy development in English learning contexts, few has investigated academic literacy development in multilingual context, such as learners of Chinese as a second language, intra-national and international immigrants, as well as ethnic minority students. In addition, language teachers’ academic literacy development has largely been less addressed in the current literature, considering the rising number of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English Medium Instruction (EMI) programs in non-English speaking contexts where teachers’ academic literacy plays an important role in learners’ academic literacy development (Borg, 2019; Zhang, 2021).

Given the paucity of research in academic literacy in multilingual context, the present Research Topic seeks proposals of all submission categories highlighting perspectives that view academic literacy development as social, dynamic, and meaning-making. The goal of the Research Topic is to enrich current understandings of the complexity of academic literacy development. The studies in this Research Topic will explore language learners’ and teachers’ academic literacy development from policy, practice, technology, and pedagogy perspectives. Specifically, we call for papers that explore identity-oriented academic literacy practices, English medium instruction (EMI) in multilingual settings, computer-assisted technology in EAP teaching and assessment, language policy on academic literacy development, pedagogical innovation in promoting academic literacy, and learner/teacher agency in classroom practice. The papers can adopt a variety of methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches, mixed-methods, and action research. We also welcome research that involves interdisciplinary perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of academic literacy development. In addition to empirical research, we welcome mini-reviews, conceptual analysis, and brief data report. We welcome submissions from both established and junior scholars (including doctoral students) from around the world, working with any type of L1, L2 and/or multilingual writers.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- Students’ interactions with language learning materials in academic settings
- The effects of EMI on subject content and language integrated learning
- Students’ language learning motivation in EMI
- Language teachers’ digital literacy practice
- Language policy on students’ and teachers’ academic literacy practice
- Academic literacy development and identity construction
- Academic literacy development in non-English academic contexts
- Empirical investigations into academic literacy practices in interdisciplinary teaching and research
- Academic literacy development and classroom instruction
- Academic literacy and teacher development
- Academic literacy and foreign language learning

Keywords: Academic literacy, language education, multilingual context, language learners and teachers, L1, L2 and/or multilingual, EMI

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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