Designing, developing and delivering an online medical english course with a focus on esp and online learning: EMPonline 2016

Abstract

This study with a title of "Designing, developing and delivering an online medical English course with a focus on ESP and Online Learning: EMPonline 2016" is an attempt to converge recent educational technologies with ESP-based approach to language teaching. After a comprehensive needs analysis process due to its special focus on ESP, it was aimed at designing an online medical English course, developing 11-week syllabus, course content and the regarding course materials, delivering the suggested online medical English course, EMPonline and lastly, revealing the perceived effectiveness of implementing such an EMP-based English class in an online environment according to the views of various stakeholders based on their reflections, evaluations and experiences throughout the delivery process of the suggested EMPonline class. Lasting two years, this longitudinal study was conducted with the collaboration between three departments at a state university including the School of Foreign Languages, the Faculty of Medicine and Center of Distance Education. The sample comprised of administrators, English lecturers, medical doctors and students studying at the Faculty of Medicine. The data was collected through a variety of sources in each phase of the study. This study with quasi-experimental research design introduced two types of innovation concerning ESP-based course design and online educational environment. It conjoined qualitative and quantitative research traditions in order to get a more inclusive picture of the reality and to approach the issue on both macro and micro-levels based on the data analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings indicated that while the innovation concerning the suggested EMP-based course design was relatively more rewarded by the stakeholders; more time, mutual conscious effort and more importantly innovative minds are apparently needed on the part of the online educational environment.