Research directions in medical English as a lingua franca (MELF)

Abstract

This article asserts that medical English as a lingua franca (MELF) represents an important direction for future research in ELF. The flow of health care workers across international borders and the role of English as the dominant language of international communication and medicine position MELF interactions as increasingly common in medical contexts worldwide. Research is called for with respect to the relationship of MELF to ELF, and specifically whether ELF linguistic features and pragmatic strategies are incorporated in medical contexts, where communicative immediacy and precision figure centrally. Since criticisms of ELF research include its relatively narrow contexts for study (to date mostly European and on a lesser scale East Asian) and its limited domains (higher education and business), MELF presents an opportunity to expand the research scope of ELF considerably. While suggesting that migrant destinations like the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council represent especially relevant sites for researching MELF, the article argues that a definition of ELF that includes native speaker interactions allows for the possibility of MELF research where English is considered a dominant native language. Concerns over the effect of miscommunication on patient safety are well researched in health care disciplines, and so a fuller understanding of MELF may assist in the delivery of safe and effective patient care within the linguistic complexity characterizing health care.

An Analysis of the English Language Needs of Medical Professionals Within the Saudi Context: An Exploratory Study in Light of Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The responses confirmed what is already perceived in the majority of research which emphasise the importance of English as a lingua France in general (Seidlhofer, 2005) and in the medical field in particular (Mitrofanova, Andreyeva, Teleshev, & Blyakhman, 2018;Tweedie, Johnson, & Compass, 2019). This opinion was not merely reflected by a particular professional group of the participants in this study, but rather by a sweeping majority of all those who took part in this study.…”

“…As English is becoming more and more established as the lingua franca of the world (Seidlhofer, 2005), it is inevitable to require vital medical information shared amongst medical professional worldwide, to be communicated in English (Tweedie & Johnson, 2019). Mitrofanova, Andreyeva, Teleshev, and Blyakhman (2018) states that: "As the English language has become a means of communication in the international medical community teaching English for medical purposes is one of the priorities in medical education of non-English speaking countries" (p.127).…”

<p>Linguistic Factors in Arabic for Miscommunication of Medication Names</p>

“…One of the directions of MELF research is to develop practical strategies to enhance the immediacy of communication and precision. 5 This opinion piece highlights communication errors occurring where the medium of communication is oral-aural. Another potentially significant source of miscommunication arises from the visual processing of look-alike and sound-alike (LASA) drug names.…”

Training transfer to the workplace: a study of corporate English language training in hospitals

“…Workplace English training is directed toward developing and improving employees' English proficiency. Typically, this training supplements previous academic English training rather than trying to teach English from scratch (Tweedie and Johnson, 2019).…”

“…Thailand is a popular destination for medical tourism. In the health-care industry, English serves as a lingua franca (trade language), and Thailand’s hospitals do attempt to ease communication barriers by providing native-language materials to patients and trained interpreters for patients who do not speak English (Tweedie and Johnson, 2019). Thus, English training and transfer of training (or training transfer) is important in hospitals in Thailand.…”