Presented at LILAC 2019

1. Unpacking
international student
information literacy
Recommendations for the
design of intercultural
teaching and learning
opportunities
Alison Hicks | alisonhicks0 | University
College, London

2. 2016: Reframing librarian
approaches to international
student information literacy
through the lens of New Literacy
Studies. Critical Literacy for
Information Professionals.
2016: It takes a community to
build a framework: Information
literacy within intercultural
settings. Journal of Information
Science. (with A. Lloyd)

3. Recap •Application of ‘universal’ models of
information literacy
•Deficit discourse
•Methodological issues
•Overwhelming emphasis on
measurement
•Reliance on survey methods
•Isolated and idealised
•Individually rather than socially
focused

4. 1. Extended questions
•How is information literacy made manifest by
language-learners?
•How do students engage with information within their new
setting?
•How does information literacy support this immersive and
intensive period of time?
•How are these information activities enabled and constrained?
•How does information literacy help students to
mediate transition?

5. Information Literacy
A way of knowing the many
environments that constitute an
individual’s being in the world
Lloyd, 2007

6. Transition
Change navigated by learners in their
movement within and through a
context
Gale & Parker, 2014

7. 2. Theoretical Framework
Practice Theory
• Practices not people
• Material, Embodied, Activities
Transitions Theory
• Induction (pathway); Maturation (trajectory); Becoming (identity)
• Enabling and constraining conditions

8. 3. Broader sample

9. 4. Exploratory methods
Photo-elicitationInterviews x 2
Constructivist
Grounded
Theory

10. Findings (1): Students face risks
● Legal Risk:
○ “It was a bit iffy online as to... what I needed to bring. It was translated literally from French,
so it wasn't very good English, and it was a bit confusing because I was doing an internship.
‘Was I a student or was I working?’ So, I never knew what documents I actually needed.”
(Luan)
● Financial Risk
○ “France is very expensive, so it's [the grocery store] the cheapest in France I would say. I
think it's really tough to stay in budget because the price differences are quite high” (Kamila)
● Physical Risk
○ “Going back at night on the tube sometimes just because you’re, it's dark and you're on your
own and you don't know about that.” (Charlotte)

11. Findings (2): Students mediate risk through IL
Calibrating:
● When I was looking for an apartment I went to one area and the mother of the family was like,
‘Don't go there, that's kind of infested with drugs’ and things like that. (Charlotte)

12. Findings (2): Students mediate risk through IL
Repositioning:
● I think maybe I have avoided making other friends from England... I don't want to hang around
English people, I have an aversion to it, it's like xenophobia, but with people from your own
country, I don't know if there is a word for that! (Alex S.)

13. Findings (3): IL mediates student transition

14. The theory of mitigating risk states that the pressures of
residence abroad catalyse the enactment of information
literacy practices, which subsequently mediate
language-student transition from acting like to becoming a
language-learner within a new setting.

15. Knowing what you know...
What could the implications of these findings be on the way that you
think about and design for international students?
• Students face a number of risks whilst they are overseas
• Students lack social connections and rely on families and friends
• Things get overwhelming at times!
• Locals are sometimes hostile / unwelcoming
Think in terms of teaching, outreach, engagement, library design...

16. 1. Reframe engagement within a new information
environment in terms of transition

17. A focus on transition…
...moves the emphasis from “fixing”
to complexity

18. A focus on transition…
...goes beyond physical movement
to centre on re-equilibration

19. 2. Recognise that information literacy centres on
negotiation rather than on assimilation

20. A focus on negotiation…
...illustrates how information
literacy is mediated through the
complexity of social interaction

21. A focus on negotiation…
...recognises that international
students are knowledgeable, as well
as experts in their own activities

22. 3. Design for sociality, connections and interaction

23. A focus on sociality…
...demonstrates the important role
that the bodies of others play in the
development of knowing

24. A focus on sociality…
...illustrates the need to think more
broadly about the shape of
information literacy teaching

25. Photo by Bud Helisson on Unsplash
So what?

26. The internationalisation of campus
should not lead to the expansion of
traditional models of education

27. There is a need to move from
unilateral to transformational models
of education

28. There are inherent complications
when information literacy
frameworks and standards are
designed in isolation from empirical
research

29. References
Hicks, A. (2019). Building intercultural teachers: Designing information literacy
instruction opportunities for increasingly international populations. Journal of
Academic Librarianship 45(2), 146-152. https://alisonhicks.weebly.com
Hicks, A. (2016). Reframing librarian approaches to international student information literacy through the lens
of New Literacy Studies. In: McNicol S (ed) Critical Literacy for Information Professionals. London: Facet,
pp.43-56.
Hicks, A. & Lloyd, A. (2016). It takes a community to build a framework: Information literacy within intercultural
settings. Journal of Information Science 42(3), 334-343.
Lloyd, A. (2007). Learning to put out the red stuff: Becoming information literate through discursive practice.
Library Quarterly 77(2), 181-198.

30. Images
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/m0php/3956063395/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/deadhorse/244291180/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickerwin/30798187172
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/clement127/19093561751
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/span112/2352741810
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghost_of_kuji/3444872925
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/loimere/4559006805
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomronworldwide/33189041621
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/sigmadp2j/5617380497/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/jev55/6783438551
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/wefi_official/12222957403
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/5327432805
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/joybot/13965251997
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinschoenmakersnl/5562839355
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/porphyria/14170930233