Towards a framework for teaching multiliteracies in the age of generative AI

As generative AI technologies rapidly evolve, they are transforming how students build meaning, presence, and identity across physical and virtual spaces, demanding a rethinking of existing pedagogical frameworks. This paper proposes a reimagined approach to multiliteracies education grounded in three intersecting domains: critical digital literacy, ethical AI literacy, and adaptive, student-centred pedagogy. Situating the argument within debates on pedagogical innovation and virtual identity, it explores how students co-create multimodal texts with AI systems that mediate how they are seen, heard, and recognised online. Methodologically, the paper develops a conceptual framework synthesising scholarship in multiliteracies, critical pedagogy, and sociotechnical AI ethics, illustrated through pedagogical examples. The framework foregrounds learners’ need to interrogate algorithmic systems, navigate civic and moral complexity, and leverage AI as a resource for inclusive and creative expression. It demonstrates how multiliteracies pedagogy can support students to read, design, and remix AI-mediated representations of self and others while cultivating reflexive, ethical virtual identities. The paper argues that adaptive AI should function not as an efficiency instrument but as a strategy for justice-oriented inclusion, enabling diverse learners to engage with literacy practices that honour their cultural, linguistic, and virtual lives.