Increasing Competence through the Acquisition of Subject-Specific Vocabulary: Case of Second Year Medical Students

Abstract

One of the main demands of globalization is the need for people to learn English for academic and professional purposes, thus teaching English to medical sciences students in Algeria is now more important than ever. In this line of thought, the objective of the current study is to examine how medical sciences students at Tlemcen University may best use English medical vocabulary for particular objectives. It is intended to ask for the adoption of specialized vocabulary in the medical field and the creation of efficient ESP programs for medical sciences students who have expressed an urgent need to acquire the medical terminology. In order to increase the success of learning medical English vocabulary, a needs analysis in the relevant sector was necessary. Three(03)research instruments were used to gather the essential data for this investigation. These include a questionnaire submitted online to fifty (50) medical sciences students from second year, an interview with two(02) ESP teachers who are supposed to know more about medical sciences students’ lacks in English, and another interview with four(04) teachers from the Department of Medicine. On the total, the results uncovered were first the nonexistence of real ESP courses for medical sciences students and the absence of any kind of preparing for the so-called ESP instructors within the medical faculty. Second, the participants confirmed a remarkable weakness in general English competence, not to mention ESP and specialized vocabulary. Third, medical vocabulary seemed essential to ensure success in academic and professional career. Correspondingly, based on those results, it is of incredible importance to signify some efficient measures and practices to be carried out to ESP preparation in the Algerian faculties of Medicine, with a view to reach prosperous vocabulary teaching, course effectiveness and meet medical sciences students’ learning needs.