Innovation in Language Learning

After examining their efficacy, materials for English for specific purposes (ESP) have been developed utilizing numerus topics such as hospital conversations, anatomy, physiology and diseases (Dudley-Evans & ST John, 1998[1]; Master, 2005[2]; Kozawa, 2009[3]). Additionally, also developed was more specific material concerning certain types of medical specialists in today’s more segmented medical field where a variety of specialists need to cooperate closely with each other (Kozawa, Y. & H. Takagi, 2015[4]). We adopted material of such nature and investigated its efficacy with nursing students. The results indicated that students recognized their improvement in knowledge of English terms, idioms, sentence structures, the content of the textbook, and of certain types of medical specialists. The results showed that students appreciated the activities and material that were helpful for learning regardless of the tasks being difficult or favorable. Moreover, students’ understanding of “answers to comprehension questions” in the textbook and the content of the specific medical specialists showed significantly high correlation with understanding “comprehension questions,” while on the other hand they showed little correlation with their knowledge of terms, idioms and sentence structures. These results lead to the following conclusions: First, when students cannot understand the importance of class activities, they do not eagerly perform them. Therefore, it might be necessary to help students understand the purpose of each activity. Second, unfamiliar technical terms were not serious obstacles to their reading comprehension learning and, thus, there need be no hesitation in introducing students to extensive levels of technical terms. Finally, nursing students could effectively learn ESP material concerning medical specialists using a textbook with a “comprehension questions and answers” typed study guide.

Keywords: ESP, material, nursing students, medical specialists.

References:
[1] Dudley-Evans, T., & M. J. ST John. (1998). Developments in English for specific surposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] Master, P. (2005). Research in English for specific purposes. In E. Hinkel. (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 99-115). NY: Routledge.
[3] 小澤 淑子. (編). (2009). 実践！メディカル英語. 東京: オーム社. [Kozawa, Y. (Ed.), (2009). Practical English through the study of the human body. Tokyo: Ohmsha.]
[4] 髙木 久代、小澤 淑子. (編). (2015). チーム医療のためのメディカル英語. Kozawa, Y., & H. Takagi. (Eds.). (2015). Medical English for an interdisciplinary medical team. Tokyo: Kodansha.