Investigating understanding of academic literacy in English medium degree programmes among stakeholders in Sri Lankan higher education

Abstract

With the proliferation of English Medium Degree Programmes (EMDPs) around the world, there is an increasing need to provide academic and linguistic support for undergraduates whose first language is not English who are enrolled in these programmes (Jacobs, 2006; Thesen, Jacobs, Paxton, 2016). While providing this support has been traditionally considered the responsibility of the language lecturer (Jacobs, 2006; McKenna, 2014), there is increasing awareness of two emerging factors: (a) the generic English as a Second Language (ESL), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses conducted by English language lecturers are inadequate to support students as they make the transition to English Medium Instruction (EMI) (Jacobs, 2006; McKenna, 2014), and (b) language and content lecturers need to work closely in order to develop curricula, lesson material and assessments that enable students to perform optimally in their EMDPs (Jacobs, 2006). This paper investigates the concept of academic literacy in Sri Lankan Higher Education (SLHE) and emphasizes the need to develop the academic literacy of the undergraduates of Sri Lankan universities. Despite mainstreaming academic literacy being the optimum approach in the EMI context, executing it in Sri Lanka is challenging. The researchers view the acquisition of academic literacy as an additive process where it is the logical next step after the acquisition of ESL and EAP/ESP. This study collects data by (a) interviewing lecturers and undergraduates and (b) analyzing official documentation of ten faculties of three state universities. Data analysis has been done through Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA). Findings of this study indicate that there is little awareness about the concept of academic literacy among the stakeholders, and when there is awareness, there is inadequate attention paid to it.