Background: This study explores the English literacy practices of students in Ghana, in particular their time spent on reading, the availability of reading resources and their use in the curriculum, and the importance of reading from the perspectives of students and lecturers. Methods: Student diaries (6,364 reported hours) and interviews (12 students/14 lecturers) were used for data collection. Results: Students spend many hours on academic work, but little time on processing academic texts. Their low reading proficiency is maintained at university due to the following factors: little time spent on reading, the type of reading students engage in, institutional values and poor resources. Conclusion: Universal mechanisms that determine literacy practices from the more affluent Western world are prevalent in Ghana. These mechanisms, in combination with contextual factors, especially poor resources and low reading levels, make the Ghana case distinct.