This article highlights findings from evaluation of a bridging program for international students at a large Canadian university. Designed specifically for the postsecondary context, the program moved along the continuum from a general, skills-based approach to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching and learning, in which the focus may be on developing linguistic and communicative strategies common across academic subject areas, toward an approach that emphasizes context-specific, disciplinary uses of language. This shift from general to specific reflects the program's interest in cultivating a more embedded, discipline specific model for language teaching and learning in higher education, toward an English for Specific Purposes (ESAP) framework. Understanding this approach from a disciplinary literacy lens, the article describes the program model and examines relations among students' language proficiency assessments, performance in the program, and subsequent performance in degree programs.