Construction Of English Teaching System In Medical Universities In China

In order to elevate the teaching quality of College Englsih, promote the college English teaching reform, in the year of2004, our national education Ministry adopted and published the new College English Curriculum Requirements. The Requirements suggests that each college or university should make up their own teaching syllabus in a scientific, systematic and individualized way to guide their own college English teaching. Since the adoption of the new Requirements, the college English teaching reform has undergone a vigorous and splendid process. However, to our disappointment, up to now, the medical universities still has not found their own way to go in for their own teaching reform. In consequence, there is not yet scientific and systematic teaching system available for them to rely on.It is found that there still are two distinct problems concerning English teaching in medical universities in our country on the basis of interview and questionnaire. First, the English teaching reform concerning medical English teaching lags behind. Most of the medical universities adopt such English teaching pattern that lays stress on basics learning of English and take light of English learning related to medical knowledge. Most of the medical universities follow the mainstream system in which English teaching for general purpose is carried out in the first and second year during the undergraduate period. In the third year the so-called medical English courses are offered but even here the teaching hours are deadly limited, with a result that both teachers and students can’t take seriously of it. The truth is that Medical English teaching is almost a furnishing without practical use. The second disappointment is demonstrated with the fact that textbook compiling is still in a backward state and though some common points have been achieved among the scholars in this field, there is still no standard theoretical system that can offer a guide for them to produce first rank textbooks in a scientific, rational and systematic way.In conclusion, because of the lack of standard teaching system to go by, the particular characteristics, such as the major knowledge and peculiarities existing in the medical universities find a hard way to be presented and accepted by those universities’teachers. Consequently, English teaching in medical universities either follows the mainstream teaching pattern or adopts the present teaching pattern mechanically without any thoughtful consideration, which both seriously impedes the teaching effectiveness in those medical universities.So it is an urgent issue to build a comprehensive English teaching system for medical universities by making use of the related theories concerning education, linguistics, English for Specific Purpose (ESP), as well as foreign language teaching which is just the topic of this thesis. The dissertation endeavours to build a stereotyped and integrated EGP—EGMP—EMP English teaching system for medical universities based on the theories of pedagogics, linguistics, English for special purpose, foreign language teaching, cross-cultural communication, and constructivism, the thesis, with the help of the methodology of historic research, expert interview, questionnaire and case study.The dissertation is composed of six chapters. Chapter one is to introduce the background, feasibility, necessity, contents, and values of the research, as well as the study conception and thought, and the basic outline of this study. Chapter two is literature review. The relevant research both at home and abroad is categorized and English teaching in medical universities at various stages in China and some other Asian nations is surveyed and the exisiting problems in the past teaching process are pointed out and analysized. Chapter three concerns hypothesis. Based on observation, practice and some related theories, this thesis puts forward the plan of building a new teaching system of college English teaching for medical universities through integrating EGP, EGSP, and ESP creatively, that is, in the first year, students are supposed to learn general English like students from other majors, which is described as EGP, which means English for general purpose. In this stage, the primary English competence is stressed, in the meantime, English teaching also caters for the students who want to pass CET4or CET6. In the Second year, English teaching is carried out by the system of EGSP, which means College General Medical English, with its aim at building a bridge to gap the distance between average English and Medical English. In the third year, English teaching is carried out on the basis of ESP theory, which means English is taught for special purpose or for medical purpose. Chapter four is the bulk of the thesis with Hebei Medical University and Harbin Medical University taken as pilots to apply this teaching system, and in order to ascertain its effectiveness, we have a tracking study in curriculum arrangement, class teaching model, teacher training, textbook compilation and teaching assessment etc. Chapter five is the result and analysis, which anatomizes the application of and the factors related to the syllabus such as curriculum arrangement, textbook compilation, teaching test and management, teacher training and assessment, and the relationship between network teaching and traditional class teaching. On the basis of that, the disseration puts forward College Medical English Curriculum Requirements. The last chapter is conclusion. It is summarized and stressed that the English teaching system formulated in this thesis proves to be feasible and practicable, which is likely to satisfy the needs for students with different English levels, and it also lays a new foundation for the English teachers to make a new adjustment to teaching medical English. In the end, the thesis makes a reasonable and confident prediction for the future English teaching in medical universities. In the meantime, this thesis stresses the urgent need to compile a standard teaching syllabus of College English for Medical Universities. With the time and research conditions limited, this study just formulates the English teaching system for medical universities in a broad perspective, which just serves as introductory tool for those who are keen on this subject for some further and more specific study.