[_1a]

Is halfstep and whole steps common academic practice?

Not being from the US I was always taught with semitones and tones. Whenever I saw YouTube videos with half steps and whole steps I thought they were dumbing down for the audience.

[InitialLastName]

Half step and whole step is really standard in US. I spent my entire childhood studying instruments, but I don't think I saw the "semitone" nomenclature until I started studying music theory directly in high school.

[bsedlm]

aren't they synonymous (at least in a 12-tet system)?

a tone is whole step. a semitone is a half step.

[jedimastert]

It's basically a British/American vernacular difference. They're the same thing.

Sort of like semi/hemi/demi quavers and the like versus whole/half/quarter notes

[emerged]

I’ve lived in the US for my entire life and do lots of music production. I never use half step or whole step. I tend to refer to things in terms of semitones or intervals (3rd, 5th, octave, etc).

I thought half step, whole step was a grade school thing mostly. But I really wouldn’t blink at either style, it’s all the same to me.