Influence of Native Language Vocabulary and Topic Knowledge on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning in Health Care Providers

Abstract

Adults attending short, language for specific purpose courses may have expertise not utilized in general foreign language courses. The present study investigates two factors that may influence the acquisition of medical Spanish vocabulary in such persons: native English vocabulary size and topic knowledge. Forty-four health care workers attended 12 hr of medical Spanish instruction. Prior to instruction, the Nelson–Denny Vocabulary Test, a Medical Spanish vocabulary test, and an English Medical Terminology Test (an indicator of topic knowledge) were administered. The Medical Spanish Vocabulary Test was readministered at posttest. Individually, both English medical terminology knowledge and English vocabulary size were significant predictors of medical Spanish vocabulary acquisition, but English medical terminology knowledge explained most of the variance in medical Spanish vocabulary acquisition. The results are discussed in terms of the impact of expert memory organization on the ability to learn new labels in a second language. A curricular shift toward content-centered vocabulary in language for specific purpose courses may be advantageous for some groups of foreign language learners.

Learner Acceptance of Using Virtual Patient Encounters to Train Foreign Healthcare Professionals in Swedish

“…It has been described that it is important to master the local language for healthcare professionals, but that is also has a number of challenges, including that the "medical language" is not always learned during normal language training procedures (Foresee Drumhiller & Schwanenflugel, 2013). In this pilot study, we used virtual patient cases as an add-on tool to train immigrating professionals in healthcare Swedish.…”