MEDERA (Medical Experimental Research Articles): A self-access computer-based course for advanced learners of english who need to write research articles in medicine

Abstract

MEDERA is aimed at guiding medical students (postgraduate researchers who are usually also advanced learners of English) towards an understanding of the organization and conventions of the medical experimental research article (ERA) to promote a “discourse consciousness”—the awareness and the acquisition of the rhetorical skills associated with the medical ERA in English—with the overall aim of aiding students in writing their own ERAs. Conceived as a self-access course, the project has attempted to adapt insights into the language and structure of the ERA gained from register and genre analysis to a computer-bused mode of instruction. The current version of MEDERA. limited to ERA Introductions, uses Swales' CARS (Create a Research Space) Model as a pedagogical tool in the design of task-based materials using authentic texts. The research setting, the practical constraints on the project, the linguistic and pedagogical assumptions behind the materials design and the testing of the course ure discussed. A preliminary evaluation of the materials is given and modifications to MEDERA in the light of testing are suggested. Finally, directions for further research are outlined and the possibility of extending the methodology to other disciplines is discussed.