Louie Giray, Kershnee Sevnarayan, Kgabo Bridget Maphoto
This column adapts Selber’s (Citation2004) multiliteracies model to the domain of academic writing, presenting an AI literacy framework for educational personnel and users. It emphasizes three interconnected literacies: functional literacy (prompt engineering, workflow management, equitable access), critical literacy (bias interrogation, design culture, institutional surveillance, transparency, accountability), and rhetorical literacy (authorial voice, genre conventions, strategic communication). Together, these literacies address concerns in academic writing: transparency, bias and representation, detection and surveillance, access and equity, authenticity, and over-reliance on AI. The framework provides actionable literacy strategies to ensure technical proficiency, ethical awareness, and rhetorical sophistication while maintaining agency and inclusivity.