Challenges and Suggestions in the Education of Medical Terminology

Abstract

The more proficient in English medical terminology, the more professional healthcare staff can become in more and more global working environment. They need medical terminology during their academic studies as well as in their professional settings to connect and collaborate with practitioners and researchers throughout the world. The study investigated the problems faced by doctors-to-be in learning and using medical terms at academic level in survey based research. The data was collected, analyzed and interpreted quantitatively by administering questionnaire among 97 mainstream medical students, in-service medical students and post grad students in ESP classes at University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. The findings revealed that the majority of the subjects had difficulties with Greek and Latin borrowing word parts, difficult term-structure and lack of opportunities to practice in medical context. Based on the findings, some strategies can be suggested to solve the problems by pursuing self-learning via online learning tools and peer learning.

Keywords: English medical terminology, word parts, online learning tools, peer learning

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/96-03

Publication date: February 28^th 2023