JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medical students must master English for Medical Purposes (EMP) because it is a medical language. However, they do not see its importance or place in the medical curriculum. Therefore, there is a need to find educational methods for EMP that match medical students who attend numerous courses and have a heavy workload in medical studies. Structured online learning provides several benefits including flexibility and convenience. However, there are few studies on the exclusive use of structured online learning for EMP in undergraduate medical studies.

Objective:

To examine medical students’ perspectives on online EMP learning

Methods:

Structured online EMP courses were developed using evidence-based guidelines to develop an effective structured online program. Barriers to online learning were considered and managed prior to and during the development of EMP courses and instructions. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 535 medical students who had completed structured online EMP courses. Questionnaires and data from the online learning management system were used to report the students’ perspectives and the completion of the courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

Overall, 452 (84.5%) participants returned completed questionnaires. After completion of the courses, the participants reported feeling confident about medical English reading (mean 4.11, SD 0.87), vocabulary (mean 4.04, SD 0.84), and listening skills (mean 4.00, SD 0.89) but were not sure about writing skills (mean 3.46, SD 1.07). The top three highly rated beneficial aspects of online EMP courses were convenience (mean 4.77, SD 0.59), sufficient instruction (mean 4.50, SD 0.85), and clear content (mean 4.41, SD 0.80).

Conclusions:

Teaching EMP solely online through structured online courses is relevant, accepted, and to the satisfaction of medical students. The characteristics of structured online learning help to facilitate medical students’ learning of EMP. For medical students to see the importance of EMP, the courses should be developed and designed to serve their learning needs on the delivery methods and within the context- and content-based and related to the language of medicine.