Medical and Pedagogical Aspects of Learning Latin in Modern Medical University

Abstract

The article has an interdisciplinary character related to the influence of the integration of medicine and pedagogy on the possibilities of studying Latin by medical students.
 The aim of the work is to analyze the transformation of the traditional principles of learning Latin in a medical university in the context of modernizing modern education. Concerning the methods of the study, the researchers relied on the principles of dialectics, general scientific methods of generalization, analysis and systematization, as well as questionnaires. SWOT-analysis was used for the first time in the work to achieve this goal.
 Results. The study showed that the traditional principles and methods of teaching Latin at a medical university are not able to fully ensure the formation of the necessary competencies, primarily general cultural ones. The advantages of traditional principles were highlighted: providing a rich terminological stock and knowledge of grammatical norms. The identified disadvantages include insufficient development of students’ horizons, a narrow professional perspective and a large amount of memorized material and low educational motivation. It is described that many innovative technologies are quite applicable here, but little in demand. The threat to slowing down their use is an increase in the load on the teacher, uncontrolled independent work of students and a decrease in the school’s general cultural base of future students.