Abstract:
This study seeks to explore the possibility of designing a syllabus that can
account for the teaching of the productive skills namely writing and
speaking to medical students. The study took as its point of departure the
setting a diagnostic test to determine the different standards of the students,
then two more tests have followed, pre and post test. Then two distinct
groups of students adopted to conduct the experiment. The pre-test was used
to examine the students’ knowledge of the affixation as the medical
language heavily draws on prefixes and suffixes. The researcher carried out
the study at Alyarmok Medical College where a number of as many as 60
students have formed the population of the study
The obtained data from the pre and post test were analyzed by means of a
number of statistical methods including namely SPSS. The findings revealed
that students need right from the beginning as part of their English syllabus a
good dose of morphology which exposes them the different uses of
affixation. Moreover, the type of medical English language course to be
adopted should not neglect this very important aspect of language. Based on
the findings the study came up with a number of recommendations that
tutors should seek to enrich their students’ scientific vocabulary in general
and medical vocabulary by drawing heavily on texts and materials from the
internet. Moreover, they should encourage their students to browse the
internet for original interesting ESP and medical material that suits their
likes and inform them on different topics. This will help them a lot as they
prepare to fill reports, conduct seminars and attend forums. Tutors should
encourage conducting of seminars to help improve their student oral
abilities. Good authentic texts should be used in classroom as they improve
other productive skills such as writing which is very important for medical
students who fill sick and medical reports
