diff --git a/r/DESCRIPTION b/r/DESCRIPTION
index f682de189e7..89de026d96c 100644
--- a/r/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/r/DESCRIPTION
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Imports:
     methods,
     purrr,
     R6,
-    rlang (>= 1.0.0),
+    rlang (>= 1.2.0),
     stats,
     tidyselect (>= 1.0.0),
     utils,
diff --git a/r/NAMESPACE b/r/NAMESPACE
index 46c29b3e937..eb7581a5fac 100644
--- a/r/NAMESPACE
+++ b/r/NAMESPACE
@@ -429,7 +429,6 @@ export(write_to_raw)
 export(write_tsv_dataset)
 importFrom(R6,R6Class)
 importFrom(assertthat,assert_that)
-importFrom(assertthat,is.string)
 importFrom(bit64,integer64)
 importFrom(glue,glue)
 importFrom(methods,as)
@@ -461,8 +460,12 @@ importFrom(rlang,call2)
 importFrom(rlang,call_args)
 importFrom(rlang,call_name)
 importFrom(rlang,caller_env)
+importFrom(rlang,check_bool)
 importFrom(rlang,check_dots_empty)
 importFrom(rlang,check_dots_empty0)
+importFrom(rlang,check_number_decimal)
+importFrom(rlang,check_number_whole)
+importFrom(rlang,check_string)
 importFrom(rlang,dots_list)
 importFrom(rlang,dots_n)
 importFrom(rlang,enexpr)
diff --git a/r/R/array.R b/r/R/array.R
index f2b34fc03f8..4bfef5ec615 100644
--- a/r/R/array.R
+++ b/r/R/array.R
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ StructArray$create <- function(...) {
 
 #' @export
 `$.StructArray` <- function(x, name, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   if (name %in% ls(x)) {
     get(name, x)
   } else {
diff --git a/r/R/arrow-datum.R b/r/R/arrow-datum.R
index 5ac72bf3685..fa6918b7ed8 100644
--- a/r/R/arrow-datum.R
+++ b/r/R/arrow-datum.R
@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ ArrowDatum <- R6Class(
       call_function("cast", self, options = opts)
     },
     SortIndices = function(descending = FALSE) {
-      assert_that(is.logical(descending))
-      assert_that(length(descending) == 1L)
-      assert_that(!is.na(descending))
+      check_bool(descending, allow_na = FALSE)
       call_function(
         "sort_indices",
         self,
@@ -285,8 +283,7 @@ filter_rows <- function(x, i, keep_na = TRUE, ...) {
 #' @importFrom utils head
 #' @export
 head.ArrowDatum <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
+  check_number_decimal(n)
   len <- NROW(x)
   if (n < 0) {
     # head(x, negative) means all but the last n rows
@@ -306,8 +303,7 @@ head.ArrowDatum <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
 #' @importFrom utils tail
 #' @export
 tail.ArrowDatum <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
+  check_number_decimal(n)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
diff --git a/r/R/arrow-package.R b/r/R/arrow-package.R
index 2706faee5cb..32efc856429 100644
--- a/r/R/arrow-package.R
+++ b/r/R/arrow-package.R
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
 # with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 #
-#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#   https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 #
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
 # software distributed under the License is distributed on an
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #' @importFrom R6 R6Class
 #' @importFrom purrr as_mapper map map2 map_chr map2_chr map_dbl map_dfr map_int map_lgl keep imap imap_chr
 #' @importFrom purrr compact flatten reduce walk
-#' @importFrom assertthat assert_that is.string
+#' @importFrom assertthat assert_that
 #' @importFrom rlang list2 %||% is_false abort dots_n warn enquo quo_is_null enquos is_integerish quos quo
 #' @importFrom rlang eval_tidy new_data_mask syms env new_environment env_bind set_names exec
 #' @importFrom rlang is_bare_character quo_get_expr quo_get_env quo_set_expr .data seq2 is_interactive
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #' @importFrom rlang is_list call2 is_empty as_function as_label arg_match is_symbol is_call call_args
 #' @importFrom rlang quo_set_env quo_get_env is_formula quo_is_call f_rhs parse_expr f_env new_quosure
 #' @importFrom rlang new_quosures expr_text caller_env check_dots_empty check_dots_empty0 dots_list is_string inform
-#' @importFrom rlang is_bare_list call_name
+#' @importFrom rlang is_bare_list call_name check_string check_number_whole check_number_decimal check_bool
 #' @importFrom tidyselect vars_pull eval_select eval_rename
 #' @importFrom glue glue
 #' @importFrom bit64 integer64
diff --git a/r/R/arrow-tabular.R b/r/R/arrow-tabular.R
index a83226a728c..15fd2a2c3f3 100644
--- a/r/R/arrow-tabular.R
+++ b/r/R/arrow-tabular.R
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ as.data.frame.ArrowTabular <- function(x, row.names = NULL, optional = FALSE, ..
 
 #' @export
 `$.ArrowTabular` <- function(x, name, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   if (name %in% ls(x)) {
     get(name, x)
   } else {
@@ -166,7 +166,9 @@ as.data.frame.ArrowTabular <- function(x, row.names = NULL, optional = FALSE, ..
   if (!is.character(i) && !is.numeric(i)) {
     stop("'i' must be character or numeric, not ", class(i), call. = FALSE)
   }
-  assert_that(length(i) == 1, !is.na(i))
+  if (length(i) != 1 || is.na(i)) {
+    stop("`i` must be length 1 and not NA", call. = FALSE)
+  }
 
   if (is.null(value)) {
     if (is.character(i)) {
@@ -209,7 +211,7 @@ as.data.frame.ArrowTabular <- function(x, row.names = NULL, optional = FALSE, ..
 
 #' @export
 `$<-.ArrowTabular` <- function(x, i, value) {
-  assert_that(is.string(i))
+  check_string(i)
   # We need to check if `i` is in names in case it is an active binding (e.g.
   # `metadata`, in which case we use assign to change the active binding instead
   # of the column in the table)
diff --git a/r/R/compression.R b/r/R/compression.R
index 4cd50d47a06..3477f9cbd84 100644
--- a/r/R/compression.R
+++ b/r/R/compression.R
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Codec <- R6Class(
   )
 )
 Codec$create <- function(type = "gzip", compression_level = NA) {
-  if (is.string(type)) {
+  if (is_string(type)) {
     type <- util___Codec__Create(
       compression_from_name(type),
       compression_level
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ compression_from_name <- function(name) {
 CompressedOutputStream <- R6Class("CompressedOutputStream", inherit = OutputStream)
 CompressedOutputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = "gzip", compression_level = NA) {
   codec <- Codec$create(codec, compression_level = compression_level)
-  if (is.string(stream)) {
+  if (is_string(stream)) {
     stream <- FileOutputStream$create(stream)
   }
   assert_is(stream, "OutputStream")
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ CompressedOutputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = "gzip", compression_le
 CompressedInputStream <- R6Class("CompressedInputStream", inherit = InputStream)
 CompressedInputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = "gzip", compression_level = NA) {
   codec <- Codec$create(codec, compression_level = compression_level)
-  if (is.string(stream)) {
+  if (is_string(stream)) {
     stream <- ReadableFile$create(stream)
   }
   assert_is(stream, "InputStream")
diff --git a/r/R/compute.R b/r/R/compute.R
index d5da9024bf4..9de6d29c0b4 100644
--- a/r/R/compute.R
+++ b/r/R/compute.R
@@ -44,8 +44,10 @@
 #' @include chunked-array.R
 #' @include scalar.R
 call_function <- function(function_name, ..., args = list(...), options = empty_named_list()) {
-  assert_that(is.string(function_name))
-  assert_that(is.list(options), !is.null(names(options)))
+  check_string(function_name)
+  if (!is.list(options) || is.null(names(options))) {
+    stop("options must be a named list.", call. = FALSE)
+  }
 
   datum_classes <- c("Array", "ChunkedArray", "RecordBatch", "Table", "Scalar")
   valid_args <- map_lgl(args, ~ inherits(., datum_classes))
diff --git a/r/R/csv.R b/r/R/csv.R
index a0ecd48677a..1e991ea4139 100644
--- a/r/R/csv.R
+++ b/r/R/csv.R
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ csv_read_options <- function(
   encoding = "UTF-8",
   skip_rows_after_names = 0L
 ) {
-  assert_that(is.string(encoding))
+  check_string(encoding)
 
   options <- csv___ReadOptions__initialize(
     list(
@@ -635,25 +635,23 @@ readr_to_csv_write_options <- function(
 #' write_csv_arrow(airquality, tf, write_options = csv_write_options(null_string = "-99"))
 #' @export
 csv_write_options <- function(
-  include_header = TRUE,
-  batch_size = 1024L,
-  null_string = "",
-  delimiter = ",",
-  eol = "\n",
-  quoting_style = c("Needed", "AllValid", "None")
+    include_header = TRUE,
+    batch_size = 1024L,
+    null_string = "",
+    delimiter = ",",
+    eol = "\n",
+    quoting_style = c("Needed", "AllValid", "None")
 ) {
   quoting_style <- match.arg(quoting_style)
   quoting_style_opts <- c("Needed", "AllValid", "None")
   quoting_style <- match(quoting_style, quoting_style_opts) - 1L
 
-  assert_that(is.logical(include_header))
-  assert_that(is_integerish(batch_size, n = 1, finite = TRUE), batch_size > 0)
-  assert_that(is.character(delimiter))
-  assert_that(is.character(null_string))
-  assert_that(!is.na(null_string))
-  assert_that(length(null_string) == 1)
+  check_bool(include_header)
+  check_number_whole(batch_size, min = 1, allow_infinite = FALSE)
+  check_string(delimiter)
+  check_string(null_string, allow_na = FALSE)
   assert_that(!grepl('"', null_string), msg = "na argument must not contain quote characters.")
-  assert_that(is.character(eol))
+  check_string(eol)
 
   csv___WriteOptions__initialize(
     list(
diff --git a/r/R/dataset-factory.R b/r/R/dataset-factory.R
index 02b2b8553c1..ed93bc39cf4 100644
--- a/r/R/dataset-factory.R
+++ b/r/R/dataset-factory.R
@@ -285,15 +285,15 @@ fsf_options <- function(factory_options, partitioning) {
   if (!is.null(factory_options$partition_base_dir)) {
     if (
       inherits(partitioning, "HivePartitioning") ||
-        (inherits(partitioning, "PartitioningFactory") &&
-          identical(partitioning$type_name, "hive"))
+      (inherits(partitioning, "PartitioningFactory") &&
+       identical(partitioning$type_name, "hive"))
     ) {
       warning(
         "factory_options$partition_base_dir is not meaningful for Hive partitioning",
         call. = FALSE
       )
     } else {
-      assert_that(is.string(factory_options$partition_base_dir))
+      check_string(factory_options$partition_base_dir)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/r/R/dataset-scan.R b/r/R/dataset-scan.R
index c4b651d419d..d56aa5c64e6 100644
--- a/r/R/dataset-scan.R
+++ b/r/R/dataset-scan.R
@@ -160,10 +160,8 @@ names.Scanner <- function(x) names(x$schema)
 
 #' @export
 head.Scanner <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
   # Negative n requires knowing nrow(x), which requires a scan itself
-  assert_that(n >= 0)
+  check_number_decimal(n, min = 0)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
@@ -176,10 +174,8 @@ tail.Scanner <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
 }
 
 tail_from_batches <- function(batches, n) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
   # Negative n requires knowing nrow(x), which requires a scan itself
-  assert_that(n >= 0)
+  check_number_decimal(n, min = 0)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
diff --git a/r/R/dplyr-funcs-string.R b/r/R/dplyr-funcs-string.R
index 158bae2db87..627e15efc4f 100644
--- a/r/R/dplyr-funcs-string.R
+++ b/r/R/dplyr-funcs-string.R
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ register_bindings_string_regex <- function() {
     "stringr::str_count",
     function(string, pattern) {
       opts <- get_stringr_pattern_options(enquo(pattern))
-      if (!is.string(pattern)) {
+      if (!is_string(pattern)) {
         arrow_not_supported("`pattern` must be a length 1 character vector; other values")
       }
       arrow_fun <- ifelse(opts$fixed, "count_substring", "count_substring_regex")
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ register_bindings_string_regex <- function() {
   })
 
   register_binding("base::strsplit", function(x, split, fixed = FALSE, perl = FALSE, useBytes = FALSE) {
-    assert_that(is.string(split))
+    check_string(split)
 
     arrow_fun <- ifelse(fixed, "split_pattern", "split_pattern_regex")
     # warn when the user specifies both fixed = TRUE and perl = TRUE, for
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ register_bindings_string_other <- function() {
   register_binding("stringr::str_pad", function(string, width, side = c("left", "right", "both"), pad = " ") {
     assert_that(is_integerish(width))
     side <- match.arg(side)
-    assert_that(is.string(pad))
+    check_string(pad)
 
     if (side == "left") {
       pad_func <- "utf8_lpad"
diff --git a/r/R/dplyr-funcs-type.R b/r/R/dplyr-funcs-type.R
index 0c8864ac6c7..cca58f44fd1 100644
--- a/r/R/dplyr-funcs-type.R
+++ b/r/R/dplyr-funcs-type.R
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ register_bindings_type_cast <- function() {
   })
 
   register_binding("methods::is", function(object, class2) {
-    if (is.string(class2)) {
+    if (is_string(class2)) {
       switch(
         class2,
         # for R data types, pass off to is.*() functions
diff --git a/r/R/dplyr-summarize.R b/r/R/dplyr-summarize.R
index 7c2a44eec3d..2e63373ef5d 100644
--- a/r/R/dplyr-summarize.R
+++ b/r/R/dplyr-summarize.R
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ do_arrow_summarize <- function(.data, ..., .groups = NULL) {
       # But we don't support anything that returns multiple rows now
       .groups <- "drop_last"
     } else {
-      assert_that(is.string(.groups))
+      check_string(.groups)
     }
     if (.groups == "drop_last") {
       out$group_by_vars <- head(.data$group_by_vars, -1)
diff --git a/r/R/dplyr.R b/r/R/dplyr.R
index 097a48489ab..2c68c7cca9d 100644
--- a/r/R/dplyr.R
+++ b/r/R/dplyr.R
@@ -230,8 +230,7 @@ as.data.frame.arrow_dplyr_query <- function(x, row.names = NULL, optional = FALS
 
 #' @export
 head.arrow_dplyr_query <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
+  check_number_decimal(n)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
@@ -241,8 +240,7 @@ head.arrow_dplyr_query <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
 
 #' @export
 tail.arrow_dplyr_query <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
+  check_number_decimal(n)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
diff --git a/r/R/expression.R b/r/R/expression.R
index 78272323c70..66dd202f127 100644
--- a/r/R/expression.R
+++ b/r/R/expression.R
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Expression <- R6Class(
   )
 )
 Expression$create <- function(function_name, ..., args = list(...), options = empty_named_list()) {
-  assert_that(is.string(function_name))
+  check_string(function_name)
   # Make sure all inputs are Expressions
   args <- lapply(args, function(x) {
     if (!inherits(x, "Expression")) {
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Expression$create <- function(function_name, ..., args = list(...), options = em
 
 #' @export
 `$.Expression` <- function(x, name, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   if (name %in% ls(x)) {
     get(name, x)
   } else {
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ get_nested_field <- function(expr, name) {
   if (expr$is_field_ref()) {
     # Make a nested field ref
     # TODO(#33756): integer (positional) field refs are supported in C++
-    assert_that(is.string(name))
+    check_string(name)
     out <- compute___expr__nested_field_ref(expr, name)
   } else {
     # Use the struct_field kernel if expr is a struct:
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ get_nested_field <- function(expr, name) {
 
 Expression$field_ref <- function(name) {
   # TODO(#33756): allow construction of field ref from integer
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   compute___expr__field_ref(name)
 }
 Expression$scalar <- function(x) {
diff --git a/r/R/extension.R b/r/R/extension.R
index 1fe073d7401..43065254641 100644
--- a/r/R/extension.R
+++ b/r/R/extension.R
@@ -227,11 +227,11 @@ ExtensionType$new <- function(xp) {
 }
 
 ExtensionType$create <- function(storage_type, extension_name, extension_metadata = raw(), type_class = ExtensionType) {
-  if (is.string(extension_metadata)) {
+  if (is_string(extension_metadata)) {
     extension_metadata <- charToRaw(enc2utf8(extension_metadata))
   }
-
-  assert_that(is.string(extension_name), is.raw(extension_metadata))
+  check_string(extension_name)
+  assert_that(is.raw(extension_metadata))
   assert_is(storage_type, "DataType")
   assert_is(type_class, "R6ClassGenerator")
 
diff --git a/r/R/feather.R b/r/R/feather.R
index 23d5e4ed20c..4c33c138fb1 100644
--- a/r/R/feather.R
+++ b/r/R/feather.R
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ write_feather <- function(
 ) {
   # Handle and validate options before touching data
   version <- as.integer(version)
-  assert_that(version %in% 1:2)
+  check_number_whole(version, min = 1, max = 2)
 
   if (isTRUE(compression)) {
     compression <- "default"
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ write_feather <- function(
   # TODO(ARROW-17221): if (missing(compression)), we could detect_compression(sink) here
   compression <- match.arg(compression)
   chunk_size <- as.integer(chunk_size)
-  assert_that(chunk_size > 0)
+  check_number_whole(chunk_size, min = 1)
   if (compression == "default") {
     if (version == 2 && codec_is_available("lz4")) {
       compression <- "lz4"
diff --git a/r/R/field.R b/r/R/field.R
index f1a9c8a2eac..bd2b89c8aef 100644
--- a/r/R/field.R
+++ b/r/R/field.R
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Field <- R6Class(
   )
 )
 Field$create <- function(name, type, metadata = NULL, nullable = TRUE) {
-  assert_that(inherits(name, "character"), length(name) == 1L)
+  check_string(name)
   type <- as_type(type, name)
   f <- Field__initialize(enc2utf8(name), type, nullable)
   if (!is.null(metadata)) {
diff --git a/r/R/filesystem.R b/r/R/filesystem.R
index abbc9cd6c5b..f7c80b092a7 100644
--- a/r/R/filesystem.R
+++ b/r/R/filesystem.R
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ FileSystem <- R6Class(
   )
 )
 FileSystem$from_uri <- function(uri) {
-  assert_that(is.string(uri))
+  check_string(uri)
   fs___FileSystemFromUri(uri)
 }
 
@@ -377,7 +377,9 @@ get_paths_and_filesystem <- function(x, filesystem = NULL) {
   if (inherits(x, "SubTreeFileSystem")) {
     return(list(fs = x$base_fs, path = x$base_path))
   }
-  assert_that(is.character(x))
+  if (!is.character(x)) {
+    stop("x must be a character vector.", call. = FALSE)
+  }
   are_urls <- are_urls(x)
   if (any(are_urls)) {
     if (!all(are_urls)) {
@@ -412,12 +414,14 @@ get_paths_and_filesystem <- function(x, filesystem = NULL) {
 # variant of the above function that asserts that x is either a scalar string
 # or a SubTreeFileSystem
 get_path_and_filesystem <- function(x, filesystem = NULL) {
-  assert_that(is.string(x) || inherits(x, "SubTreeFileSystem"))
+  if (!is_string(x) && !inherits(x, "SubTreeFileSystem")) {
+    stop("x must be a string or SubTreeFileSystem.")
+  }
   get_paths_and_filesystem(x, filesystem)
 }
 
-is_url <- function(x) is.string(x) && grepl("://", x)
-is_http_url <- function(x) is_url(x) && grepl("^http", x)
+is_url <- function(x) is_string(x) && grepl("://", x)
+is_http_url <- function(x) is_url(x) && startsWith(x, "http")
 are_urls <- function(x) if (!is.character(x)) FALSE else grepl("://", x)
 
 #' @usage NULL
@@ -538,7 +542,7 @@ default_s3_options <- list(
 #'
 #' @export
 s3_bucket <- function(bucket, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(bucket))
+  check_string(bucket)
   args <- list2(...)
 
   # If user specifies args, they must specify region as arg, env var, or config
@@ -573,7 +577,7 @@ s3_bucket <- function(bucket, ...) {
 #' bucket <- gs_bucket("arrow-datasets")
 #' @export
 gs_bucket <- function(bucket, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(bucket))
+  check_string(bucket)
   args <- list2(...)
 
   fs <- exec(GcsFileSystem$create, !!!args)
@@ -755,7 +759,7 @@ AzureFileSystem$create <- function(account_name, ...) {
 #' )
 #' @export
 az_container <- function(container_path, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(container_path))
+  check_string(container_path)
   args <- list2(...)
 
   fs <- exec(AzureFileSystem$create, !!!args)
@@ -798,7 +802,7 @@ SubTreeFileSystem$create <- function(base_path, base_fs = NULL) {
 #' @export
 `$.SubTreeFileSystem` <- function(x, name, ...) {
   # This is to allow delegating methods/properties to the base_fs
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   if (name %in% ls(envir = x)) {
     get(name, x)
   } else if (name %in% ls(envir = x$base_fs)) {
diff --git a/r/R/io.R b/r/R/io.R
index 06bd47c0a88..66919636abd 100644
--- a/r/R/io.R
+++ b/r/R/io.R
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ make_readable_file <- function(file, mmap = TRUE, random_access = TRUE) {
     # file names with trailing slashes, so we need to remove it here.
     path <- sub("/$", "", file$base_path)
     file <- filesystem$OpenInputFile(path)
-  } else if (is.string(file)) {
+  } else if (is_string(file)) {
     # if this is a HTTP URL, we need a local copy to pass to FileSystem$from_uri
     if (random_access && is_http_url(file)) {
       tf <- tempfile()
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ make_output_stream <- function(x) {
     fs_and_path <- FileSystem$from_uri(x)
     fs_and_path$fs$OpenOutputStream(fs_and_path$path)
   } else {
-    assert_that(is.string(x))
+    check_string(x)
     FileOutputStream$create(x)
   }
 }
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ detect_compression <- function(path) {
   if (inherits(path, "SubTreeFileSystem")) {
     path <- path$base_path
   }
-  if (!is.string(path)) {
+  if (!is_string(path)) {
     return("uncompressed")
   }
 
diff --git a/r/R/parquet.R b/r/R/parquet.R
index 6415e36b03c..8a19e4d2335 100644
--- a/r/R/parquet.R
+++ b/r/R/parquet.R
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ make_valid_parquet_version <- function(version, valid_versions = valid_parquet_v
     version <- format(version, nsmall = 1)
   }
 
-  if (!is.string(version)) {
+  if (!is_string(version)) {
     stop(
       "`version` must be one of ",
       oxford_paste(names(valid_versions), "or"),
diff --git a/r/R/query-engine.R b/r/R/query-engine.R
index f1cbebb72a8..6c823879bd5 100644
--- a/r/R/query-engine.R
+++ b/r/R/query-engine.R
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ head.ExecPlanReader <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
 }
 
 do_exec_plan_substrait <- function(substrait_plan) {
-  if (is.string(substrait_plan)) {
+  if (is_string(substrait_plan)) {
     substrait_plan <- substrait__internal__SubstraitFromJSON(substrait_plan)
   } else if (is.raw(substrait_plan)) {
     substrait_plan <- buffer(substrait_plan)
diff --git a/r/R/record-batch-reader.R b/r/R/record-batch-reader.R
index d979a3f9fe9..87ab84f46af 100644
--- a/r/R/record-batch-reader.R
+++ b/r/R/record-batch-reader.R
@@ -134,10 +134,8 @@ as.data.frame.RecordBatchReader <- function(x, row.names = NULL, optional = FALS
 
 #' @export
 head.RecordBatchReader <- function(x, n = 6L, ...) {
-  assert_is(n, c("numeric", "integer"))
-  assert_that(length(n) == 1)
   # Negative n requires knowing nrow(x), which requires consuming the whole RBR
-  assert_that(n >= 0)
+  check_number_decimal(n, min = 0)
   if (!is.integer(n)) {
     n <- floor(n)
   }
diff --git a/r/R/record-batch-writer.R b/r/R/record-batch-writer.R
index eb96592a0f5..49766b7a600 100644
--- a/r/R/record-batch-writer.R
+++ b/r/R/record-batch-writer.R
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ RecordBatchWriter <- R6Class(
 #' @export
 RecordBatchStreamWriter <- R6Class("RecordBatchStreamWriter", inherit = RecordBatchWriter)
 RecordBatchStreamWriter$create <- function(sink, schema, use_legacy_format = NULL, metadata_version = NULL) {
-  if (is.string(sink)) {
+  if (is_string(sink)) {
     stop(
       "RecordBatchStreamWriter$create() requires an Arrow InputStream. ",
       "Try providing FileOutputStream$create(",
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ RecordBatchStreamWriter$create <- function(sink, schema, use_legacy_format = NUL
 #' @export
 RecordBatchFileWriter <- R6Class("RecordBatchFileWriter", inherit = RecordBatchStreamWriter)
 RecordBatchFileWriter$create <- function(sink, schema, use_legacy_format = NULL, metadata_version = NULL) {
-  if (is.string(sink)) {
+  if (is_string(sink)) {
     stop(
       "RecordBatchFileWriter$create() requires an Arrow InputStream. ",
       "Try providing FileOutputStream$create(",
diff --git a/r/R/record-batch.R b/r/R/record-batch.R
index f175b70ac9d..5f8fc3f4ecf 100644
--- a/r/R/record-batch.R
+++ b/r/R/record-batch.R
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ RecordBatch <- R6Class(
       inherits(other, "RecordBatch") && RecordBatch__Equals(self, other, isTRUE(check_metadata))
     },
     GetColumnByName = function(name) {
-      assert_that(is.string(name))
+      check_string(name)
       RecordBatch__GetColumnByName(self, name)
     },
     SelectColumns = function(indices) RecordBatch__SelectColumns(self, indices),
diff --git a/r/R/schema.R b/r/R/schema.R
index a02753fac55..3eff2f14346 100644
--- a/r/R/schema.R
+++ b/r/R/schema.R
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ prepare_key_value_metadata <- function(metadata) {
 
 # Alternative to Schema__ToString that doesn't print metadata
 print_schema_fields <- function(s, truncate = FALSE, max_fields = 20L) {
-  assert_that(max_fields > 0)
+  check_number_whole(max_fields, min = 1)
   num_fields <- length(s$fields)
   if (truncate && num_fields > max_fields) {
     fields_out <- paste(map_chr(s$fields[seq_len(max_fields)], ~ .$ToString()), collapse = "\n")
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ length.Schema <- function(x) x$num_fields
     # No match means we're adding to the end
     i <- match(i, field_names, nomatch = length(field_names) + 1L)
   } else {
-    assert_that(is.numeric(i), !is.na(i), i > 0)
+    check_number_whole(i, min = 1, allow_na = FALSE)
     # If i is numeric and we have a type,
     # we need to grab the existing field name for the new one
     if (!is.null(value) && !inherits(value, "Field")) {
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ length.Schema <- function(x) x$num_fields
 
 #' @export
 `$.Schema` <- function(x, name, ...) {
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
   if (name %in% ls(x)) {
     get(name, x)
   } else {
diff --git a/r/R/table.R b/r/R/table.R
index 4e8662e6e71..ea2d44f4869 100644
--- a/r/R/table.R
+++ b/r/R/table.R
@@ -85,8 +85,7 @@ Table <- R6Class(
     nbytes = function() Table__ReferencedBufferSize(self),
     RenameColumns = function(value) Table__RenameColumns(self, value),
     GetColumnByName = function(name) {
-      assert_is(name, "character")
-      assert_that(length(name) == 1)
+      check_string(name)
       Table__GetColumnByName(self, name)
     },
     RemoveColumn = function(i) Table__RemoveColumn(self, i),
diff --git a/r/R/type.R b/r/R/type.R
index 14a4c8f1d2b..042194db02f 100644
--- a/r/R/type.R
+++ b/r/R/type.R
@@ -608,7 +608,7 @@ timestamp <- function(unit = c("s", "ms", "us", "ns"), timezone = "") {
     unit <- match.arg(unit)
   }
   unit <- make_valid_time_unit(unit, c(valid_time64_units, valid_time32_units))
-  assert_that(is.string(timezone))
+  check_string(timezone)
   Timestamp__initialize(unit, timezone)
 }
 
@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ as_type <- function(type, name = "type") {
 canonical_type_str <- function(type_str) {
   # canonicalizes data type strings, converting data type function names and
   # aliases to match the strings returned by DataType$ToString()
-  assert_that(is.string(type_str))
+  check_string(type_str)
   if (grepl("[([<]", type_str)) {
     stop("Cannot interpret string representations of data types that have parameters", call. = FALSE)
   }
diff --git a/r/R/udf.R b/r/R/udf.R
index ce7a911e0d9..8bed33a5368 100644
--- a/r/R/udf.R
+++ b/r/R/udf.R
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
 #'   head()
 #'
 register_scalar_function <- function(name, fun, in_type, out_type, auto_convert = FALSE) {
-  assert_that(is.string(name))
+  check_string(name)
 
   scalar_function <- arrow_scalar_function(
     fun,
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-RecordBatch.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-RecordBatch.R
index dbb21c06568..0bc8c783723 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-RecordBatch.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-RecordBatch.R
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ test_that("[[ and $ on RecordBatch", {
   expect_error(batch[[c(4, 3)]])
   expect_error(batch[[NA]], "'i' must be character or numeric, not logical")
   expect_error(batch[[NULL]], "'i' must be character or numeric, not NULL")
-  expect_error(batch[[c("asdf", "jkl;")]], "name is not a string", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(batch[[c("asdf", "jkl;")]], "`name` must be a single string", fixed = TRUE)
 })
 
 test_that("[[<- assignment", {
@@ -226,10 +226,10 @@ test_that("[[<- assignment", {
   # nonsense indexes
   expect_error(batch[[NA]] <- letters[10:1], "'i' must be character or numeric, not logical")
   expect_error(batch[[NULL]] <- letters[10:1], "'i' must be character or numeric, not NULL")
-  expect_error(batch[[NA_integer_]] <- letters[10:1], "!is.na(i) is not TRUE", fixed = TRUE)
-  expect_error(batch[[NA_real_]] <- letters[10:1], "!is.na(i) is not TRUE", fixed = TRUE)
-  expect_error(batch[[NA_character_]] <- letters[10:1], "!is.na(i) is not TRUE", fixed = TRUE)
-  expect_error(batch[[c(1, 4)]] <- letters[10:1], "length(i) not equal to 1", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(batch[[NA_integer_]] <- letters[10:1], "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(batch[[NA_real_]] <- letters[10:1], "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(batch[[NA_character_]] <- letters[10:1], "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(batch[[c(1, 4)]] <- letters[10:1], "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
 })
 
 test_that("head and tail on RecordBatch", {
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-Table.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-Table.R
index 12ef25975c7..ff1ce8cbb46 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-Table.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-Table.R
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ test_that("[, [[, $ for Table", {
   expect_error(tab[[c(4, 3)]])
   expect_error(tab[[NA]], "'i' must be character or numeric, not logical")
   expect_error(tab[[NULL]], "'i' must be character or numeric, not NULL")
-  expect_error(tab[[c("asdf", "jkl;")]], "length(name) not equal to 1", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(tab[[c("asdf", "jkl;")]], "`name` must be", fixed = TRUE)
   expect_error(tab[-3:3], "Invalid column index")
   expect_error(tab[1000], "Invalid column index")
   expect_error(tab[1:1000], "Invalid column index")
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-csv.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-csv.R
index 8fb11c2a5e3..f9fb4d4911c 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-csv.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-csv.R
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ test_that("Write a CSV file with invalid input type", {
 test_that("Write a CSV file with invalid batch size", {
   expect_error(
     write_csv_arrow(tbl_no_dates, csv_file, batch_size = -1),
-    regexp = "batch_size not greater than 0"
+    regexp = "`batch_size` must be"
   )
 })
 
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ test_that("Write a CSV with custom NA value", {
   expect_identical(tbl_out1, tbl_no_dates)
 
   csv_contents <- readLines(csv_file)
-  expect_true(any(grepl("NULL_VALUE", csv_contents)))
+  expect_match(csv_contents, "NULL_VALUE", all = FALSE)
 
   tbl_in1 <- read_csv_arrow(csv_file, na = "NULL_VALUE")
   expect_identical(tbl_in1, tbl_no_dates)
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ test_that("Write a CSV with custom NA value", {
   # Also can use null_value in CsvWriteOptions
   tbl_out1 <- write_csv_arrow(tbl_no_dates, csv_file, write_options = csv_write_options(null_string = "another_null"))
   csv_contents <- readLines(csv_file)
-  expect_true(any(grepl("another_null", csv_contents)))
+  expect_match(csv_contents, "another_null", all = FALSE)
 
   tbl_in1 <- read_csv_arrow(csv_file, na = "another_null")
   expect_identical(tbl_in1, tbl_no_dates)
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-data-type.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-data-type.R
index fa2e5bcd6e8..7a59d663c62 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-data-type.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-data-type.R
@@ -343,11 +343,11 @@ test_that("timestamp type input validation", {
   )
   expect_error(
     timestamp(timezone = 1231231),
-    "timezone is not a string"
+    "`timezone` must be"
   )
   expect_error(
     timestamp(timezone = c("not", "a", "timezone")),
-    "timezone is not a string"
+    "`timezone` must be"
   )
 })
 
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-dataset.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-dataset.R
index a64ea4cc47f..1bdd2660719 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-dataset.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-dataset.R
@@ -1446,7 +1446,7 @@ test_that("FileSystemFactoryOptions input validation", {
       partitioning = "part",
       factory_options = list(partition_base_dir = 42)
     ),
-    "factory_options$partition_base_dir is not a string",
+    "`factory_options$partition_base_dir` must be a string",
     fixed = TRUE
   )
   expect_error(
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-schema.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-schema.R
index 93fb16c77fb..11c76de1d21 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-schema.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-schema.R
@@ -132,11 +132,11 @@ test_that("Schema modification", {
 
   # Error handling
   expect_error(schm$c <- 4, "value must be a DataType")
-  expect_error(schm[[-3]] <- int32(), "i not greater than 0")
-  expect_error(schm[[0]] <- int32(), "i not greater than 0")
-  expect_error(schm[[NA_integer_]] <- int32(), "!is.na(i) is not TRUE", fixed = TRUE)
-  expect_error(schm[[TRUE]] <- int32(), "i is not a numeric or integer vector")
-  expect_error(schm[[c(2, 4)]] <- int32(), "length(i) not equal to 1", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(schm[[-3]] <- int32(), "`i` must be")
+  expect_error(schm[[0]] <- int32(), "`i` must be")
+  expect_error(schm[[NA_integer_]] <- int32(), "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
+  expect_error(schm[[TRUE]] <- int32(), "`i` must be")
+  expect_error(schm[[c(2, 4)]] <- int32(), "`i` must be", fixed = TRUE)
 })
 
 test_that("Metadata can be reassigned as a whole", {
@@ -326,6 +326,6 @@ test_that("schema print truncation", {
 
   expect_error(
     print_schema_fields(schema(tbl), truncate = TRUE, max_fields = 0),
-    regexp = "max_fields not greater than 0"
+    regexp = "must be a whole number larger than or equal to 1"
   )
 })