Reconstruction and practice of medical English education and teaching system in medical colleges and universities in China / 中华医学教育探索杂志

ABSTRACT

To explore the reconstruction and practice of medical English education in medical colleges and universities in China, totally, 23 deans of foreign language schools of medical universities and teachers in charge of English for Medical Purpose from prestigious universities where students have access to multidisciplinary education were interviewed via WeChat respectively. Additionally, a valid questionnaire survey was collected of 2 270 medical undergraduates in Xi'an Medical University, thus to evaluate feedback related to medical English education. In terms of medical English education, medical colleges and universities have such commonly shared disadvantages as insufficient medical knowledge of medical English teachers, imbalance between medical teaching and medical education, insufficient humanistic education in medical English teaching, poor integration of language and medicine science, ineffective coordination and matching between curriculum teaching and education objectives. Advisably, mixed mode of medical English education and teaching system in medical colleges and universities should be restructured. As for the development of English teachers for Medical Purpose, the synergy between medical English teachers in medical colleges and clinicians in affiliated hospitals should be developed via cooperative lesson preparation and classroom teaching characterized by hospital-school collaboration. Also, concerning teaching approaches and education and teaching objectives, the mixing of online and offline teaching should be adopted to achieve the objectives of making students be intellectually, competently, and emotionally qualified for future post. Last, medical English discipline should be prioritized to provide support for medical English education and teaching. The teaching and research competence of medical English teachers is the key factor for medical English education and teaching in medical colleges and universities. Importantly, integration of academia and medical industry needs to be deepened to facilitate the integration of medical industry, education and research, thus to ensure the development of high-quality medical talents with good mastery of English and medical English talents with good mastery of medicine in the fields of medical diplomacy and medical aid in African countries.