Academic literacy and communicative skills in the Ghanaian University: A Proposal

Abstract

In the last two decades academic literacy has received considerable attention in tertiary education in several English-medium universities. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and similar writing programs have constantly been revised in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Australia as a result of globalization, the increasing numbers of international students and the dominance of English as an academic language. In contrast, EAP programs in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced very little innovation and change. In this paper, I argue for a change in the curriculum of an EAP program (Communicative Skills) in an English-medium university in Ghana, advancing three key reasons. Such a curriculum, it is argued, should address issues of general and discipline-specific writing, foundation and remediation, and lastly the teaching approach. The paper then concludes with a discussion of some implications worth considering for both theoreticians and implementers of EAP in university education