When AI becomes a part of literacy : A literature review on reading, writing and assessment

AI has become an increasingly central part of both students’ schooling and everyday lives, creating new opportunities as well as challenges for the educational system. In the Swedish subject, where reading, writing, and language development are at the core, these practices are easily influenced by various AI tools. Such tools can support the learning process, but they also raise questions about how to determine what constitutes students’ own work and what has been produced by AI. This also affects how student work is assessed and how reading and writing skills develop in a time when AI can generate complete texts. Many teachers and students lack clear guidelines for how AI should be used in pedagogically meaningful ways. The purpose of this study is to examine how previous research explains the impact of AI on students’ reading and writing abilities. The focus lies on both the opportunities and challenges that arise when AI is integrated into teaching, as well as on how AI influences conceptions of knowledge, creativity, and fairness in school. The study is guided by the research question: What impact does AI have on students’ reading and writing skills? The study was conducted as a qualitative literature review based on ten scientific articles. The material includes both Swedish and international studies and consists of empirical research, theoretical discussions, and policy texts. A thematic analysis was used to identify recurring patterns and central themes in the research. The result reveal four main themes, showing that students’ use of AI is often broader than commonly portrayed. AI is not only used for cheating but also as support for idea generation, text structuring, and feedback. At the same time, the research highlights risks, such as the difficulty of determining what students have produced themselves and what has been generated by AI. Several studies emphasize that AI can be used as a basis for strengthening critical reading and classroom discussion. However, assessment emerges as a particularly problematic area, making the teacher’s role crucial in establishing clear boundaries and ensuring fair practices.