Academic Literacy-oriented Structural Arrangements in English Medium Degree Programmes in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Mainstreaming academic literacy is viewed as the best approach to develop undergraduates' academic literacy in English Medium Degree Programmes (EMDPs) (Jacobs, 2006; McKenna, 2014). This study examines academic literacy practices in EMDPs in undergraduate management, science, and social sciences/humanities. The academic literacies framework of Lea and Street (2006) which discusses three models - study skills, academic socialization and academic literacies has been used as the basis for identifying academic literacy practices in EMDPs in three state universities of Sri Lanka. A qualitative research design was employed in this study, and data collection was done through lecturer interviews and official documentation in the form of curricula and pedagogical practices. Findings reveal that the study skills view of academic literacy as an autonomous list of transferable General English skills in the mode of English as a Second Language (ESL) is the commonest practice in the three institutions. The next commoner practice is the academic socialization model in the form of English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/ English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in which students are inducted into a set of standard norms uncritically (McKenna, 2014). The third model the academic literacies model or mainstreaming