Summer 2014

Editor’s Notes: It is a source of singular pleasure to welcome to these pages another independent initiative – the Special Supplement on English for Medical Purposes. This collection is both timely and urgent as it attempts to address some of the challenges facing teachers teaching English for healthcare. Recognising that a globally mobile workforce, ease of travel, and the increasing dominance of English as a lingua franca make it more important than ever for anyone involved in healthcare, the Editors of this Supplement ask: ‘Where else could communication be more important than in healthcare?’ As this collection of articles shows, while there are great opportunities, there are equally great challenges for English teachers.
Contents Overview
Main Articles
Literature review: Explicit instruction vs. incidental acquisition in vocabulary learning / Karlyn Butler
Principles underlying an exploratory approach to teacher development / Jerry G. Gebhard
Patterns of English usage in Central Switzerland / Susanne Oswald
Voices of Experience
Teacher development belongs to teachers / Willy Cardoso
The power of persuasion / Gabrielle Jones
10 steps to becoming an EMP trainer / Ros Wright
Content or methodology: Which should be the main focus of the ESP teacher in teaching health professionals? / Sam McCarter
The essential role of vocabulary in healthcare communication / Catherine Richards
What is it like to be colourblind? A web-based, guided discovery for ESP learners / Jeane Summermatter
Challenges in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) / Kay Bentley
The search for authenticity in ESP assessment / Ivana Vidaković
Being surreptitious in the classroom: Impression management in English for Medical Purposes / Evan Frendo
And more…