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Article In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Academic writing in the matrix

A posthumanist and distributed perspective

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Abstract
This paper analyses the teaching and learning of academic communication through the lenses of posthumanism and distributed cognition and language. This is not intended as a solely philosophical exercise, but an attempt to map the factors and actants at play in the processes of learning and teaching to communicate in academic contexts. While emergent technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, make this discussion particularly timely, I suggest that an expanded, embodied lens has always been necessary to understand how students learn to communicate, how they develop knowledge, and how they are socialised into academic disciplinary communities.
Article outline
  • Introduction: Learning to communicate academically
  • Digital technologies: Tools for enhancement?
  • The transversal posthumanities
  • Distributed language and cognition
  • Sense-making, learning, writing: Embodied and distributed
  • Academic communication in the matrix
  • Conclusions
  • AI disclosure statement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (74)
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