<![CDATA[Religious moderation in higher education is usually measured as an attitude, yet in public life moderation can be enacted through language: writing balanced arguments and engaging openly in dialogue with those who think differently. This study maps the profile of communicative competence for moderation, namely students’ perceived writing and speaking competence in communication tasks on religious diversity, across gender, academic achievement, intensity of social media use, and information and communication technology (ICT) proficiency. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 571 students from three state Islamic higher education institutions in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Data were analysed using t tests and one-way ANOVA, complemented by Welch tests and effect sizes. ICT proficiency emerged as the broadest and strongest differentiator: all eleven dimensions differed with medium effects (η² = .048–.079), almost four times larger than the effects of academic achievement. Academic achievement produced an asymmetric profile, relating to self-belief, self-efficacy, and expression in writing, but to self-efficacy, interaction, and organisation in speaking. These differences stemmed mainly from students with a GPA below 2.50. Gender did not differentiate the profiles (g ≤ 0.22). Students who used social media for less than 60 minutes a day reported better organisation of ideas in both writing and speaking than those using it for 180 minutes or more, although the effect was small (η² ≈ .02). These findings indicate that communicative-digital capital is the main dividing line in students’ readiness to articulate moderation. Moderation education therefore needs to shift towards the teaching of integrative argumentation, structured dialogue, and critical digital literacy, assessed through performance.]]>
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