Assessment of textbooks for medical English listening and speaking by systematic material evaluation theory

Abstract

Guided by systematic material evaluation theory, the present study assessed textbooks of medical English listening and speaking published over the last 20 years, and conducted a relevant survey to investigate different opinions of the textbooks among teachers and students. It found that cognitive schema theory, information processing theory, the register theory and communicative principle were adopted as guidelines in the compilation. Multi-tasks were utilized to train language skills; medical terminology learning was put great emphasis on; original audio-visual materials were employed. Besides, the majority of the textbooks were compiled based on topics or situations. However, most textbooks of medical English listening and speaking miss the section for cultivating students' autonomous learning, independent thinking as well as phonetic exercise, and they lack the teacher's book and students' book, which should be improved soon. Key words: Medical English; English listening and speaking textbook; Systematic evaluation