A tentative course design in medical English : the case of students at Annaba University

Abstract EN

The need for English as a professional language in medicine nowadays is beyond doubt.

English for specific purposes (ESP), has gained ground to become the most prominent branch of EFL teaching in the Algerian universities.

ESP courses are programmed and offered in most, if not all, scientific departments.

however, ESP is still at an experimental level in the medical field.

the present paper aims to investigate the important academic components of EMP courses through a student's needs analysis.

to achieve the stated objective three questions were raised to carry out the study, and hence a quantitative data were collected by using questionnaire.

the informants were postgraduate students in medical studies at Badji Mokhtar university of ANNABA the findings showed that students have a high level of awareness about the significance role of the EMP courses to promote their lacks in writing and reading scientific articles.

furthermore results offered more insights about the students' needs for a variety of tasks and activities related to healthcare in order to improve the four major skills.

some recommendations were provided to demonstrate the usefulness procedures ; techniques and strategies that would be implemented in teaching medical reading and writing skills.