STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC SKILLS AND PROBLEMS IN LEARNING MEDICAL VOCABULARY AT A HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY IN THE UAE

Oct 1, 2026

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) supports medical students to become more effective and confident in their professional communication. This research explores the difficulties medical and health sciences university students face when learning medical vocabulary, a key component of teaching English for Medical Purposes (EMP). A questionnaire to undergraduate and post-graduate students in Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, and Nursing colleges found that medical vocabulary knowledge is important, Arabic-medium learners struggle more, and many rely on an English-Arabic dictionary. Listening is reported as the weakest skill, while hospital practice is viewed as helpful for learning medical terms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

ESP and EMP in the UAE context

Linguistic interference and teaching methods

Vocabulary development in ESP

Role of medical vocabulary for skills and performance

Medical vocabulary learning approach

Key components of medical terms

| DOI: 10.46827/ejes.v9i6.4330 | Volume 9 │ Issue 6 │ 2022 | | --- | --- | STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC SKILLS AND PROBLEMS IN LEARNING MEDICAL VOCABULARY AT A HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY IN THE UAE Huma Zaidi1i, Omar Al Jadaan2 1Dr. Assistant Professor in English, Dept. of General Education, RAK Medical & Health Sciences University, Ras al Khaimah, UAE 2Dr., Associate Professor & Chairperson, Dept. of General Education, RAK Medical & Health Sciences University, Ras al Khaimah, UAE Abstract: English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses help the students to be more effective and confident in their profession. The main aim of this research was to explore the difficulties faced by students of a Medical and Health Sciences University in learning medical vocabulary which is a vital part of teaching English for Medical Purposes (EMP) . It was hypothesized that students coming from non-English medium backgrounds find it difficult to understand and learn medical vocabulary due to weak linguistic skills. A questionnaire was sent to the undergraduate and post-graduate students of Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and Nursing Colleges and it was observed that the majority of students agreed that knowing medical vocabulary in English is important for their profession and students coming from Arabic medium schools find it difficult to understand and learn medical vocabulary and more than 50% use an English-Arabic dictionary. Interestingly, listening emerged as the weakest skill but 97% of participants feel that practice in hospitals can make learning the medical terms easy. Based on these findings, the authors have suggested some interactive activities that can be used in the class for better retention and made some recommendations. Keywords: medical vocabulary, English for specific purposes, English for medical purposes, linguistic skills, retention i Correspondence: Dr., Huma Zaidi, [email](email huma@rakmhsu.ac.ae)[ ](email huma@rakmhsu.ac.ae)[huma@rakmhsu.ac.ae](email huma@rakmhsu.ac.ae) 1. Introduction English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a target-oriented presumption based on learners’required needs and goals (Esmail Zare-Behtash, 2017), therefore the course materials are specially designed to fulfill the needs of the specific discipline. Teaching English to medical students requires a different methodology than teaching General English, as it emphasizes a specific vocabulary, hence named English for Medical Purposes (EMP) . It works within the broader category of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The importance of teaching medical vocabulary in English cannot be undermined, as it is needed to work in the multicultural, multilingual environment of the UAE where English coexists with Arabic, which is the first language of the majority of students. Not all the students come from English medium backgrounds, and as the medium of instruction in medical universities is English, these students have to struggle with medical vocabulary, which hinders not only their comprehension and communication but also their scores. Figure 1: English for Specific Purposes Sabbah has differentiated between learners’ L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English) and says that orthographically, there is no distinction between upper and lower-case letters in Arabic but there is a clear distinction in English. One of the most noticeable differences between the two languages is that Arabic is written from right to left while English is written from left to right (Sabbah, 2015) . Moreover, the influence of the mother tongue confuses the learner, and he commits mistakes. Nunan states,“Where the first and second language rules are not the same, errors are likely to occur as a result of interference between the two languages.”(Nunan, 2001) . Another cause of making mistakes is inadequate teaching methods. Methods that encourage translation cause students to make mistakes (AlBuainain, 2010) . Vocabulary development is a major area of concern in ESP courses, which is c

FAQs

What is the purpose of the ESP/EMP approach discussed in the study?

ESP courses are designed around learners’ required needs and goals. Teaching English for Medical Purposes emphasizes medical vocabulary that supports students’ comprehension, communication, and professional performance in a multilingual environment.

What difficulties do students report in learning medical vocabulary?

Students from non-English medium backgrounds, especially Arabic-medium school backgrounds, face challenges understanding and learning medical vocabulary. The study also notes that listening is the weakest skill for participants.

What strategies does the study suggest to improve learning of medical terms?

The authors recommend interactive classroom activities to improve retention and propose practice in hospitals as a helpful way to make learning medical terms easier.

Oct 1, 2026

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