Quelle transition numérique pour les étudiants internationaux ?

The article investigates how one category of students, that of advanced non-francophone international students, integrate digital tools in their social and academic practices once they are in a French university. Two key concepts – digital literacies and intercontextuality – structure a literature review about the digital usage of students in higher education and about the various methodologies and recurring research issues. Then, following the principles of the sociocritical approach of digital usage in education, the reported practices of a sample of international students are examined in order to determine their nature and their diversity with a special focus on the development of their language and academic competences. In sum, this empirical research aims to study (1) how new digital practices evolve in the socio-historical context of universities that are facing fast-pace technologisation and are submitted to new organizational and pedagogical challenges and (2) how these international students negotiate the digital transition.