This study examines the perspectives of stakeholders, including students, teachers, and deans/program directors, on the challenges associated with English-medium instruction (EMI) policies in higher education in Kazakhstan, with a focus on academic reading and writing. Using a mixed-methods approach grounded in literacy as a social practice, the findings show that participants often view challenges through individualistic or cognitive lenses, attributing shortcomings to personal deficiencies. This perspective neglects systemic, policy-related, and structural influences. Academic literacies in English are often perceived as neutral and technical, overlooking their roles as sites of power and identity negotiation. Deficit ideologies devalue local language literacies (L1S), perceiving them as irrelevant to academic literacy in English. Such views limit a holistic understanding by treating literacy practices as isolated and language-specific. The study advocates for a socioculturally situated approach to EMI and academic literacy, emphasising the connections between literacy, power, identity, and culture, and calls for a more critical and nuanced perspective on EMI challenges.