This exploratory qualitative study identifies and tests a unit of analysis in order to describe and interpret, in a holistic manner, the hypertextual academic reading and writing practices that take place on a teacher training programme in Chile. The practices are observed from an overall perspective and are characterised as a system made up of elements and dynamic, changeable interactions related to cognitive, sociocultural and multimodal variables.

Based on Burke’s model (1969a), mediated action is taken as the basic unit through which the technology-supported academic literacy practices are reviewed. The model’s components are act, scene, agent, agency and purpose. They allow the object to be observed, its constituent elements to be highlighted, and the dialogic interaction that mobilises the system to be underscored.

The research is organised as a case study that draws on the perceptions of a group of students taking part in the production of an academic report with hypertextual support. The significance of the study lies in the fact that it validates a model of analysis in which the object is shown from an integrating perspective, thus revealing aspects that should be taken into account in competency training for hypertextual academic literacy in teacher training programmes.