You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <templates tlcontinue="1684|10|Main_Page:Statistics" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="1684" ns="0" title="Main Page">
        <templates>
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:About" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:IAG1" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:MIT Freshman" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:MIT Junior" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:MIT Senior" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:MIT Sophomore" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:Misc" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:News" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:OtherSchool" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Main Page:Photos" />
        </templates>
      </page>
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>