American Association for Applied Linguistics
2026

Presenters: Kristin Terrill, Iowa State University Graduate College; Elena Cotos, Iowa State University English Department and Graduate College; Lily Compton, Iowa State University Graduate College

Abstract: In academic scholarship, foundational activities of reading and writing have been unsettled as a ramification of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Correspondingly, preparing novice researchers in graduate programs must now address GenAI literacy in addition to previously established multiliteracies of analog and digital modalities (New London Group, 1996; Selber, 2004). This presentation reports a one-year design-based research study (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003) to develop, deploy, and evaluate a GenAI-facilitated literature review workshop. Grounded in multiliteracies theory, the study focused on fostering GenAI literacy in the context of scholarly reading and writing, which is reified in literature reviews. The IRB-approved study built on a model of situated practice based on selected stages of Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic's (2014) hermeneutic literature review process. Overt instruction to raise functional and critical digital literacy was provided in in-person presentations and live demonstrations, along with activities to scaffold critical framing and transformed practice. Thirty-nine graduate student participants from various disciplines consented to provide data for analysis through pre- and post-workshop questionnaires and in-workshop activities. Responses were analyzed qualitatively by mapping themes to digital literacies. Findings indicated that workshop participants gained functional and critical literacy with respect to GenAI; notably, they demonstrated context-specific critique regarding the effectiveness, efficiency, and ethicality of GenAI use. Participants’ evaluation of appropriateness of GenAI for various literature review process stages was heterogenous; in open-ended responses they noted personal abilities, such as literature search and academic reading, that they could rely on to counteract the risks of GenAI use. This finding suggests that GenAI literacy may help raise learners’ awareness of the suitability of certain affordances of GenAI tools for the completions of specific tasks inthe LR process. The presentation includes examples of materials developed for the workshop and recommendations for addressing GenAI literacy as a component of academic reading and writing support.

References: 

Selber, S. A. (2004). Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. In Studies in Writing and Rhetoric (series). Southern Illinois University Press. 

The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-93. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u