Introduction of academic literacy practices to higher education: a case study from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Recognizing that Academic Literacy (AL) in English is vital for the success of students in English Medium Instruction, Sri Lankan academics have been paying attention to the concept over the last few years. As a result, four state universities have implemented AL courses and AL related practices in their universities, aligning content and language lecturers towards a shared goal of improved comprehension. This paper examines the newly introduced AL curricula, materials, lesson plans, and Support Programmes (SP) developed to enhance the AL of undergraduates in four specific academic contexts. Data were gathered from one department and three faculties by consulting coordinators, four representative academics, and four course/material designers. In addition, the relevant official documentation was studied in detail. The triangulated data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that the level of AL integration into the disciplinary context was relatively high and that collaboration between content and language lecturers was key to the success of the initiatives. Moreover, the introduction of SP such as Peer Assistant Writers (PAW) was identified as highly beneficial to AL development and solving specific challenges i.e., the lack of human resources and the absence of writing assistant programmes in Sri Lankan Higher Education.