2015 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
From Corpus to Course: Providing Learners of Medical English with the Language they Really Need
| Project/Area Number |
25370630
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Hiroshima University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
Fraser Simon 広島大学, 外国語教育研究センター, 准教授 (10403510)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
達川 奎三 広島大学, 外国語教育研究センター, 教授 (00290528)
Davies Walter 広島大学, 外国語教育研究センター, 准教授 (30448261)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
|
| Keywords | Corpus / Medical English / Word lists / Pedagogic materials |
|---|
| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The aim of this research has been to produce corpora, word lists and pedagogic materials for students and researchers in a university medical faculty. A course for third-year medical students, consisting of several units of material and and a course-specific word list, has evolved from an ongoing interaction between corpus analysis, word lists, and materials development.
In the final year of the project, a corpus analysis of a well-established medical reference, “Harrison'ｓ Principles of Internal Medicine”, has informed the further development and refinement of the medical materials. The corpus has allowed us to check for omissions and discrepancies, making it possible to improve accuracy and increase the number of key terms embedded in each unit of the materials.
The medical English teaching materials have also been analysed using an adapted communicative competence model, with findings suggesting that actional, strategic, and sociocultural competences need to be addressed more fully in subsequent courses and course materials.
We have given four presentations at two prestigious international conferences. These have been well-received, and the feedback from corpus experts, teachers, and members of the medical profession has been extremely useful.
|
