Innovation in Language Learning
Online Informal Learning of English through Medical Dramas: Medical Students’ Perspectives
Aleksandra Wach, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland)
Abstract
Out-of-class contact with English, which provides an important source of input and opportunities for communicative practice, has been recently recognized as enhancing informal learning of English (Reinders et al., 2022). Nowadays, it mostly takes place through the medium of technology, including the viewing of audiovisual input (Fievez et al., 2023; Lai & Wang, 2025; Vanderplank, 2020). Online informal learning has also been investigated in the context of English for Specific Purposes (e.g., Muñoz-Luna & Taillefer, 2018), although to a lesser extent. The present study thus contributes to this strand of research by investigating the practices and opinions of Polish students of medical sciences (N = 153) regarding their informal learning of English through watching medical dramas. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online questionnaire. The respondents indicated their watching habits, reasons for watching medical dramas in English, and the perceived benefits in terms of learning English (including medical jargon), medical content, and patient-practitioner communication in English. The didactic implications of the study concern ways of training the students of English for specific academic purposes to make the most of their online informal learning opportunities.
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Keywords |
online informal learning of English; medical dramas; medical students; English for Specific Purposes |
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REFERENCES |
[1] Fievez, I., Montero Perez, M., Cornillie, F. & Desmet, P. (2023). Promoting incidental vocabulary learning through watching a French Netflix series with glossed captions. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 36(1–2), 26–51. [2] Lai, C., & Wang, Q. (2025). Online informal learning of English and receptive vocabulary knowledge: Purpose matters. ReCALL, 37(1), 62–78. [3] Muñoz-Luna, R., & Taillefer, L. (Eds.), (2018). Integrating information and communication technologies in English for Specific Purposes. Springer. [4] Reinders, H, Lai, C., & Sundqvist, P. (Eds.), (2022). The Routledge handbook of language learning and teaching beyond the classroom. Routledge. [5] Vanderplank, R. (2020). Video and informal language learning. In Dressman & Sadler (Eds.), The handbook of informal language learning (pp. 183-201), Wiley. |
