Challenging the Orthodoxies of ESP Teaching in Medical Schools: Can an Alternative Approach Be Effective

English for Specific Purposes is of great importance among the English educators who try to pave the way for students of different majors to satisfy their needs with the English language. General English courses in Iranian universities also aim at helping the students with language problems they may face in their journey of studying. But most of the trends in many Iran ian universities are not that effective as they are terminology oriented and grammar based. The present study aims at proposing an alternative approach for teaching English to medical students. For so doing, during the Spring semester of 2015, 53 first year medical students in Birjand University of Medical Sciences went through a judicious approach in General English course in which they used authentic medical materials (written and visual) in the class, and discovered issues regarding their major through the language. The course was not preoccupied with just grammar or reading, moreover language was seen as a living body having different limbs (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Learners were presented with materials in and about the English language which were collected and adjusted by the researchers in a collection. The result of this study showed that this innovative approach changed student s views toward learning English and medical English texts and also empowered them to express their voices in the language, something they rarely experienced in other English courses that they had passed before. The classroom dynamics and the students progress during the term are described and discussed in details.

کلیدواژه ها:

ESP ، Medical students ، Medical School ، Iranian Universities