A Proposed ESP Course Specification for Students of Medicine at Taiz University

Sahar Suleiman Abdul’azeez Ahmed; Abdul-Malik Othman Esmail Ghaleb

doi:10.53286/swnzke04

Authors

Sahar Suleiman Abdul’azeez Ahmed PhD student, Department of English and Translation, Faculty of Languages and Translation, Taiz University, Yemen.
Abdul-Malik Othman Esmail Ghaleb Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Science and Arts, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, and Faculty of Arts, Taiz University, Yemen.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53286/swnzke04

Keywords:

ESP, Learner-centered course specification, Academic needs, Professional needs, Students of medicine

Abstract

This study aimed to propose an ESP course specification to meet the academic and professional needs of students of medicine at Taiz University. To this end, a total of 160 undergraduates enrolled in the Department of General Medicine and Surgery, 3 instructors of English Language Courses, and 15 graduates were recruited for this study. Data were collected via questionnaires on academic and professional needs, and analyzed quantitatively using SPSS 0.24. An analysis of the current English courses (English 101 & 102) taught at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences was also conducted to assess how well they met students' needs. Based on the results, a list of academic and professional needs was elicited, and a learner-centered ESP course specification was proposed. Grounded in a learner-centered approach, the course specification focused on integrating the main language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), with a core focus on medical terminology. The study concluded with recommendations for introducing effective ESP courses into medical programs at Taiz University and other Yemeni universities.

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