English for Medical Purposes (EMP) course is designed for EFL medical students (freshmen and sophomores). EMP serves many purposes: to enhance the medical entrants' reading comprehension skills as well as to provide them with the basic vocabulary they need in the very beginning of their medical study; to develop the medical students' basic academic and scientific writing skills; and to give the medical students an introduction to the English medical terminology of medicine. The course consists of fourteen modules organized around the reading and writing sub-skills and their associated secondary skills such as vocabulary. The readings of this course are all about medical topics to go with the medical students' major and to be appealing to them. The topics will provide the students' with general knowledge about some of the important health conditions, diseases and their treatment making it a survey of the opportunities and problems inherent in the medical arena. The writing tasks presented in each module will be linked to the reading topics in a complementary way. The writing sub-skills will help the medical students' improve their academic and scientific writing skills. At the very end of the course, the students will be given a glossary of specific medical terms appropriate for students requiring a working knowledge of specialized medical terminology.

Course Title   : English for Medical Purposes

Course CodE:   EMP

Course Type:   Scheduled

Number of Instructional Units/Hours:   2.0

Course Description:

The English for Medical Purposes (EMP) course is designed for junior (Year 1-2) medical students. This dedicated course focuses on the reading comprehension skills, and the academic/scientific writing skills. You will be able to participate in reading and writing assignments limited to familiar medical topics academically and professionally. This includes describing special events and situations, handling factual material on medical topics, and meeting primary writing needs. The course also covers medical terminology; practice in practical vocabulary related to your field of study. This highly interactive, specialist course, aims to provide you with a sufficient level of Medical English terminology to help develop the English language skills required for medical students at the very beginning of their medical study.

*A General English program will be introduced and taught prior to the start of the course (Prerequisite as decided) in addition to an introduction to some basic computer skills

that will be needed in the course. A full orientation program is also provided at the start of the course.

Course Goals:

The main goal of the EMP Course is to develop fluency and confidence in using English in medical contexts. EMP aims at increasing EFL medical students' familiarity with medical written language and discourse in different medical contexts. The focus is on carrying out specialized activities in English, but attention is given to reading comprehension skills (expanding theEnglish general and medical vocabulary repertoire through extensive readings), academic and scientific writing skills, and technical medical terms as required.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:-

1. Comprehend written language on a variety of academic medical topics.2. Grasp the style of the academic and scientific writing and be able to practice it.3. Expand your English lexis repertoire in addition to specialized medical

terminology

Instructional Materials:

The EMP course includes material drawn from a range of specialist resources, as well as up-to-date authentic materials. This course is carefully compiled from professional medical resources, current topical reports and journals, and pertinent proficient websites. The course incorporates web-based instruction through the EMP online website and the use of on-line sessions.

This course covers a broad range of topics which include:

1. Comprehending medical reading comprehension topics2. Writing assignments3. Medical terminology4. Medical abbreviations

Topics to be covered include:

Part One (for medical freshmen)

Module One:  Ancient Egyptian MedicineModule Two:  Human AnatomyModule Three: Common Diseases and SymptomsModule Four: Could it be Diabetes?Module Five: Bird Flu/Influenza A Virus Subtype H5N1Module Six:  ObesityModule Seven: Anorexia Nervosa

Part Two:- (for medical sophomores) 

Module Eight: First Aid in Medical EmergenciesModule Nine: AcupunctureModule Ten: Anemia  Module Eleven: High Blood PressureModule Twelve: MigraineModule Thirteen: CancerModule Fourteen: Anxiety Disorder  

Appendices:- 

-Appendix A: Glossary(Prefixes, roots & suffixes) -Appendix B: Medical Abbreviations  Supplementary Materials for the introductory general English program

from:- Richards, J. , Hull , J., & Proctor, S. (1997). New Interchange. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press

EMP  Course Skills and Associate Sub-skillsThe main skills the EMP course is addressing are reading and writing skills. In addition, extra emphasis will be given another associated secondary skill, i.e., medical terminology.EMP: Sub-Skills ListBelow is a list of the sub-skills of the reading and writing skills.

Reading. Reading Sub-skillsR1  Locating (Reading for) the main ideasR2  Identifying definitions/ explanations/exemplificationsR3      Recognizing (Reading for) supporting detailsR4      Recognizing events in sequential and/or chronological orderR5      Drawing logical conclusions/inferencesR6      Identifying causes and their effects  R7      Guessing the meaning of unknown wordsR8     Identifying the reason/ purpose/intent of a particular reading                 passage R9       Reading a text quickly to get a general idea of the content              (skimming)R10     Looking through a text quickly to locate specific information              (scanning)R11     Distinguishing between fact and opinionR12      Evaluating ideas presented in a passage (Responding critically                to passage)R13      Identifying problems and their solutionsR14 Identifying classifications

WritingWriting Sub-skillsW1       Summarizing & paraphrasing written text using succinct language  W2       Writing academic definitionsW3       Writing the introduction of an academic essay (Addressing               the topic)W4       Writing the Body of an academic essay (Organizing ideas              logically in an essay using sequencing words/               coordinators& subordinators) W5 Writing the conclusion and bibliography of an academic                 essay  (Using citation/referencing & quotation skills) W6  Writing a cause/effect essayW7       Writing a comparison/contrast essay (Expressing similarities              and differences)W8       Writing a giving instructions essayW9  Writing a scientific essayW10  Using the appropriate academic register, style and words              (AWL) in scientific essay writingW11     Writing an evaluation essayW12     Writing an argumentative essayW13     Writing a problem/solution essayW14     Writing a classification essay

Secondary -Associate –Related skills: Medical TerminologyMedical TerminologyMedical Terminology Sub-skillsMT1  Dividing/deconstructing medical terms to their main componentsMT2             Describing body parts using anatomical termsMT3             Recognizing the word parts (prefixes, roots & suffixes)                         most commonly used in indicating diseases and  health                           conditions             MT4             Identifying the most common medical prefixes related to                         numbersMT5             Identifying the most common terms related to the                           respiratory system and its diseasesMT6             Identifying the most common combining forms related to                         the digestive systemMT7             Identifying the most common terms related to the diseases                         of the gastrointestinal systemMT8            Identifying the most common suffixes related to medical                          instrumentsMT9  Identifying the most common terms related to the skinMT10           Identifying the most common terms related to hematologyMT11           Identifying the most common terms related to the                        cardiovascular systemMT12           Identifying the most common terms related to the                         nervous systemMT13           Identifying the most common terms related to cancer                         medicine/oncologyMT14           Identifying the most common terms related to psychiatry