A study on the model of academic spoken English teaching for medical postgraduates based on project-based learning

Abstract

Objective To explore the feasibility and teaching effect of academic spoken English teaching model for medical postgraduates based on project-based learning. Methods 22 graduates from Army Military Medical University were taken as the research subjects and a one-semester project-based learning practice was carried out. And then the feedback was collected and the satisfaction survey was conducted through questionnaire. The data was analyzed with SPSS 22.0. Results In terms of teaching design, 95.5% students though it was reasonable that the course was composed of two blocks: daily communication English and academic spoken English (4.18±0.66). 77.2% students agreed that the division of project groups and awarded marks for active performance in class stimulated their enthusiasm of evolving in class (3.64±0.90). 86.4% students thought that it is necessary for both the professional teachers and foreign language teachers to participate in the simulated international academic conference (4.09±1.02). In terms of the satisfaction of course experience, the students gave a positive overall evaluation on the design of academic spoken English for medical postgraduate based on PBL. Among 21 questions, except the first one (3.45±0.91), lower than 4.00, the rest of them were all above 4.00. Conclusion With the implement of project-based learning into academic spoken English teaching model, the teaching design highlighted the learners' needs, motivation and learning process, which gradually transformed static academic English knowledge into academic communicative competence during the completion of the project. Also, it is necessary to balance the proportion of language and content in the teaching practice and strengthen the training of teaching staff, so as to improve its teaching effect. Key words: Academic spoken English; Project-based learning; Medical college graduates