Ryhana Raheem Open University of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka email: rrahe@ou.ac.lk Compliance or Deviation: the Case of English Medium Instruction in the Universities of Sri Lanka

Sociolinguistic literature dealing with language policy and practice has often focused on the role on English in post colonial societies (for example,Tsui.2004,Foley,Kandiah et al. 1998) , and has recognized that "postcolonialism ....demands that we work contextually."(Pennycook.2000). This paper deals with role of English in the context of a post colonial South Asian country, Sri Lanka, and deals in particular with language use in the universities of the island. Although the country uses only 3 languages, language practice in higher education is exacerbated by a number of issues. All Sri Lankan universities as state universities are governed by state policy which dictates the use of the local national languages as the medium of education. In the late 1990s, however, this was made complicated by reforms in university education which actively encouraged the use of English as a medium of instruction for higher education. Further compounding the problem is the socio-political conflict between the two major language communities. This paper investigates the congruence between the implementation of national language policy vis-à-vis the national languages as well as English, the need to maintain high standards of learning/teaching in an internationally accepted language and indigenous academic attitudes to English as a medium of higher education.


Ryhana Raheem is the first Director of the national Post Graduate Institute of English in Sri Lanka. She is also a member of the Executive Council of Asia TEFL and former Chair, Sri Lanka English Language Teachers Association.