Investigating Strategies for Understanding the Meanings of Specialist English Vocabulary in Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum

Abstract

This study aims to investigate strategies for understanding specialist meaning of medical English vocabulary. The data were collected by using four research tools basically depend on descriptive and analytical methods qualitative and quantative information. The researcher designed two questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for the medical students. An interview was conducted by the researcher with 10 experienced teachers in English language and medical fields. Finally, a vocabulary test was done with the same medical students. The tools of the study were carried out in 2016 at Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum. The samples size were 30 teachers and 100 third-year medical students. The validity and reliability of the tools were confirmed before distribution. The data obtained from the tools were statistically analysed by employing the Statistical Package for social (SPSS). for frequencies distribution and Chi- square, P-value, T-test and Graphs. The data were analysed and the results obtained were tabulated and discussed. The main results of the study showed that the medical students are encountered by different difficulties in understanding medical English vocabulary, words' roots, irregular plural, words with multiple meaning, synonyms of words, and frequency use of prefixes and suffixes. 62% of the medical students mentioned that the English courses were irrelevant to medical field, also 70% of teachers stated that the English courses should be EAP for medical students. In addition to that the text books teaching materials were not available according to 57% of teachers and the time to cover English syllabus's objectives was not sufficient. Finally, the teaching staff were sufficiently aware of medical students' difficulties in understanding medical vocabulary and that the current English syllabus does not cope sufficiently with their medical English needs. The study ended in some recommendations and suggestions for further studies: Medical students should use some effective strategies to teach and learn medical English vocabulary; visual and auditory activities, in class group discussion, people lecture note, dictionaries, and team project. Moreover, medical English syllabus designers should build up a solid foundation for terminology based on medical vocabulary in English language courses. The syllabus designers should revise the English courses regularly so as to remedy medical students' weakness. Faculty of medicine should have good qualified teachers for medical students and suitable environment for teaching and learning process. Finally, further researches should be done to investigate optimal strategies for understanding specialist meaning of medical vocabulary.