English or Arabic in Healthcare Education: Perspectives of Healthcare Alumni, Students, and Instructors

Abstract

Background Using English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in non-English speaking countries to teach healthcare subjects has been questioned in various international healthcare educational contexts, despite the numerous benefits it offers to students and institutions. Purpose The present study collected data to examine the impact of the EMI policy and analyze the experiences of students and instructors in a healthcare course in Saudi Arabia. Methods The study used three instruments: alumni records (n = 3,044), instructors’ questionnaires (n = 134), and students’ questionnaires (n = 358). The participants were from different majors in five colleges at a Saudi University: College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, and Applied Medical Sciences. Results The results of alumni data from healthcare colleges of the last five years revealed that the cumulative grade point average (GPA) can be predicted by the first semester grades of the students in the intensive English proficiency program. The results of the questionnaires indicate that the healthcare students’ perspectives and healthcare instructors’ views demonstrate that using EMI to teach healthcare subjects presents certain obstacles that have a negative impact on students’ academic achievement, especially if the students lack fluency in English. Conclusion Policymakers should focus on improving the English proficiency of students and provide ongoing English language learning opportunities for the complete duration of the healthcare programs.

Instructional Communication and Medium of Instruction: Content Instructors’ Perspectives

“…Based on the views of participants, there are insufficient Arabic educational materials, and most of the published content learning materials used for teaching and research are in English. This finding aligns with that of Alhamami and Almelhi (2021a) that access to learning materials and research opportunities is the main advantage of the EMI policy because most published learning and research materials are in English; this finding shows that English published materials such as textbooks, websites, audio-visual materials, etc. dominate the market.…”

“…In the context of universities in Saudi Arabia, Alhamami (2021) reported that (i) Saudi computer-science students preferred to learn computer subjects in Arabic, their native language, and (ii) their societal attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs significantly predicted their preferred MI. In the context of undergraduate healthcare programs, Alhamami and Almelhi (2021a) found that most healthcare students held negative attitudes toward the EMI policy, whereas instructors held more-positive beliefs toward EMI in healthcare programs; the researchers recommended that to design better EMI programs, policymakers should focus on improving students’ English proficiency and understanding stakeholders’ beliefs and attitudes.…”

Scale For Measuring Arabic Speaking Skills In Early Children's Education

“…Meaningful learning in learning theory is called meaningful learning, including the meaningful learning theory of Carl R. Rogers and David Ausubel. Meaningful learning or meaningful learning is actually the central idea of David Ausubel's theory which is incorporated in cognitive theory, which is a process in which new information is associated with an aspect of the structure of knowledge (cognitive) that relevant things that students have learned and remembered (Alhamami, 2021). Learning is also meaningful was used as a term by Carl P. Rogers, who joined.…”

Arabicization or Englishization of higher education in the Arab world? Controversies, policies and realities

“…In Egypt, for instance, Sabbour et al (2010) found that the larger number of medicine students have difficulties in studying their courses in English. Likewise, Alhamami and Almelhi (2021) study revealed that healthcare students in Saudi Arabia prefer to study their majors in Arabic as it enhances their understanding and improves their academic achievement. In the Omani context, Al-Masheikhi et al (2014) found that though university students are aware of the status of English as the global language of science and technology, more than half of them opt to use Arabic as a medium for studying their majors.…”