Andraspråksstudenter och generativ AI – en potentiell väg för att omforma akademiska literacypraktiker?

As higher education places increasing demands on academic reading and writing, students with Swedish as a second language face growing linguistic and epistemic challenges due to the instructional language not being their mother tongue. The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into academic practices offers both opportunities and risks for these students. This article explores how GenAI reshapes the conditions for academic reading and writing among second-language students in higher education. Based on 16 qualitative interviews with eight preschool teacher students, the study increases knowledge about how GenAI can support language development, comprehension, and academic confidence. The findings highlight the emergence of AI-literacy as a critical competence, where students navigate GenAI with varying degrees of agency, awareness, and ethical reflection. While GenAI can foster independence and inclusion, concerns about plagiarism, overreliance, and unequal access remain. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of how GenAI affects second-language students’ participation in academic discourse and discusses implications for higher education pedagogy, particularly in teacher education.