E-TESTING IN ENGLISH FOR PHARMACY

The aim of this paper is to describe and share the experience of the first e-tests in English for Pharmacy at the MU in Varna. The process of designing separate interactive activities for training students to deal with the e-test components will be clarified. Some advantages and disadvantages will be analyzed concerning the implementation of e-testing as an integral part of contemporary English for specific purposes teaching and learning

Natural recycling of grammar while teaching medical English

In the last few years Varna Medical University has introduced several new specialties, thus challenging lecturers to design new courses of English for health care management, dental medicine, pharmacy, obstetrics, etc. Each discipline has its own range of essential topics, terms and grammar to acquire. The structure of the language taught in these subjects, although very similar, still needs appropriate contexts to naturally recycle grammar items. students’ groups are traditionally mixed level in terms of language proficiency, and multicultural with diverse educational backgrounds. The materials designers and textbook authors have to focus on natural contexts from each narrow specialty in medicine. The aim of this article is to explore and demonstrate how one and the same grammar item is practised and revised in different contexts typical for the specific discourse of the medical specialty

Wine as a medicine in ancient times

The history of wine use as a medicine dates back to antiquity. However, it has been rediscovered and reliably confirmed by current medical research. It is believed that wine is among the first documented remedies known and used by humans dating back to a period before 5000 BC. Preserved to date evidence of the medical use of wine in ancient times is very limited and is related to the development of different cultures and ancient civilizations. The article chronicles the more important periods of the history of the use of wine for medical (healing and prophylactic) purposes.The first evidence dates back to the time of the Mesopotamian culture, when the world's oldest Sumerian Pharmacopoeia - clay tiles, some of which contain wine prescriptions for therapy, was created. The next important documentary evidence is found in the Sino-Tibetan Pharmacopoeia, the Egyptian Medical Papyri, the Bible, the Sacred Book of the Jews Talmud, and the ancient Indian medical texts of Ayurveda. In ancient Greece, the first evidence of the healing effects of wine is found in the two poems of Homer Iliad and Odyssey. With the development of medical knowledge at the time of Hippocrates, the therapeutic use of wine expanded. Hippocrates included wine in the diet of almost all diseases, especially during the recovery period. Afterwards, the principles of wine therapy continued to be topical, although they were the subject of a heated debate during the Greco-Roman period, Galen's era, and even the Byzantine era, when the influence of Arab medicine began to manifest itself more and more

The adapted text on internal diseases in teaching students of medicine

The effective teaching of language for specific purposes to students of medical subjects depends on the accurate analysis of their communication needs, especially when obtaining medical education in a foreign language. The basic source of material for developing linguistic skills are the texts on internal diseases. This paper aims at analysing basic content, structural, language and compositional specifics of a type of text in academic literature for students who study medicine in bulgarian. Its practical application is to provide some criteria for adapting authentic texts for the goals of teaching languages for specific purposes. The analysis is based on more than 30 original texts from the chapter on endocrine diseases in the textbook Clinics of internal diseases. sample tasks of the practical implementation of summarised text specifics in the process of teaching both bulgarian and English as foreign languages to students of medicine have also been included

COMPUTER- AND PAPER-BASED TESTING WHILE TEACHING MEDICAL ENGLISH

Information technologies have already permeated the educational system in Bulgaria and have become a natural, inalienable part of the teaching and learning process at all levels. The teaching and learning of foreign languages at tertiary level are no exception. In addition they are gradually becoming a substantial part of teaching Medical English to students of Medicine, Dental Medicine, etc. Since Universities in Bulgaria are autonomous to choose the platforms they use as tools and a medium for teaching and learning, the medical university in Varna has adopted the Blackboard Learn virtual learning environment and course management system to assist the educational process at the university. Traditional, paper-based testing and assessment as an integral part of learning foreign languages is also gradually being supplemented by online testing. The aim of this paper is to describe, analyze and share our experience in designing and administering some computer-based tests in Medical English. It also discusses the results of a questionnaire that students filled in after the interactive test was administered. The correlation between paper-based test results and web-based test results has been evaluated. Students have demonstrated critical thinking skills while comparing and contrasting the different types of testing and some recommendations for future tests have been made