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BackgroundAlthough students in teacher education programmes in Namibia study through the medium of English, their academic language (AL) proficiency remains a challenge for most of them. In the Junior Primary Education programmes, they are not only required to master AL for their own studies, but they must also learn how to teach emergent academic AL in the primary school.AimThis study aimed to address this dual challenge, a practitioner research study was undertaken to assess and compare students’ AL proficiency skills in English cross sectionally in 2020.SettingThe study was conducted online with (N = 78) student teachers at one of 12 campuses of the University of Namibia during the COVID-19 pandemic period.MethodsA standardised test compiled by Uccelli et al. was administered to 78 randomly selected students to measure their core AL skills.ResultsThe assessment results revealed distinct gaps in students’ AL proficiency. In addition, the findings demonstrated a statistically significant variance in assessment outcomes across different year groups.ConclusionThe university, despite provision of several courses, has taken note that AL should ideally be integrated across the curriculum.ContributionThe study revealed usable evidence about students’ AL proficiency, indicating patterns across cohorts.