From corpus to course: Providing learners of medical English with the language they really need

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370630
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• 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): DAVIES Walter 広島大学, 外国語教育研究センター, 准教授 (30448261) ; TATSUKAWA Keiso 広島大学, 外国語教育研究センター, 教授 (00290528)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: Medical English / Corpus / Word lists / Pedagogic materials

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research has produced corpora, word lists, and pedagogic materials for students and researchers in a university medical faculty. A course for medical students has evolved from an ongoing interaction between corpus analysis, word lists, and materials development. From a corpus using Gray’s Anatomy for Students, lists of anatomy terms were compiled, and materials organized around basic anatomy and common diseases created. A course-specific word list has been produced, and new materials written and trialed which integrate anatomy with areas of medical specialization, common medical problems, and symptoms. A second corpus based on Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine has informed the further development of the medical materials and word list. We have been able to check for omissions and discrepancies, making it possible to improve accuracy and increase the number of key medical terms embedded in each unit of the materials.

Free Research Field

Applied linguistics