“A smooth transition or a giant leap?” The challenges posed by the transition from secondary education to higher education in relation to EMI in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Although bilingual education has been offered in some schools of Sri Lanka since 2001, primary and secondary school education has been conducted mainly in the first language (L1), that is, Sinhala/Tamil. As a result, most stu- dents sit for the General Certificate of Education – Advanced Level (GCE (A/L) examination, which determines university entry, in their L1. Thus, the majority of students entering state universities do so after receiving their entire edu- cation in their L1. At the tertiary level, where many (if not most) degree pro- grams are conducted in the English medium, students struggle to make the transition from Sinhala/Tamil medium instruction to English medium instruc- tion (EMI).1 This study examines the challenges faced by students and lectur- ers in three selected state universities due to this language transition. It em- ploys a qualitative research design. Data were collected through official docu- ments and semi-structured interviews with forty academics. Three focus group interviews were conducted with thirty undergraduates. In addition, eighteen noparticipant lectures were observed in mainstream2 classrooms. The findings indi- cate several structural, institutional, and linguistic challenges on the way to a suc- cessful implementation of EMI in state universities and demonstrate that the tran- sition from GCE (A/L) to EMI in universities is a challenging experience for both stu- dents and lecturers. We propose that the concept of academic literacies be used as a productive means of supporting undergraduates through their transition to EMI