How to Deal with Technical Terminology in the Course of English for Laboratory Technicians

Ladislav Václavík, Czech Republic

Ladislav Václavík is a teacher at Masaryk University Language Centre, Brno, Czech Republic. He is based at the Faculty of Medicine and specialises in English for laboratory technicians and English for radiology assistants. He is interested in creativity, motivation and blended-learning areas. E-mail: vaclavik@med.muni.cz

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Background
Introduction
Activity 1
Activity 2
Conclusion
References

Background

Teaching the course of English for laboratory technicians can be a rather challenging enterprise – it is no easy task to take at least some basic footing in biochemistry, laboratory analysing methods, haematology or immunology, let alone if the course is in a restructuring process of innovation. The course in question is an obligatory subject for second-year students of the Laboratory technician programme offered by the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University. Its main goal is both to familiarize students with specific vocabulary and to foster their grammar and language skills, so that they are able to use English in various situations during their future professional career. The students entering the course range from A2 to B1 level of English.

The course used to be centered on a textbook, but the course having been innovated, the textbook has been partly replaced by additional worksheets and other authentic materials. Still, the textbook remained pivotal as a guide through different topics students are supposed to have mastered by the end of their studies.

Introduction

In this article, I would like to share my experience in tackling one challenging part of the book in particular, a section which concerns technical terms and their definitions. Related to the topic around which the units are organised, they are presented in the following way, as a translation exercise:

Exercise 1.2

Translate
1. 2-dimensional barcode _____________________________
(2D) type of barcode on the reagent pack, calibrator, and control barcode cards. This barcode contains more information than traditional linear barcodes. __________________________________________________________________________

2. arbitrary units __________________
Result classification using 1+, 2+, 3+ classes instead of numerical concentration results.
__________________________________________________________________________

3. assay parameter _________________
A term that defines specific characteristics or verifies the performance of an assay.
__________________________________________________________________________
(Dastych, 2007: 9)

In each of the 15 units comprising the textbook, there are on average 20 terms and their definitions to be translated into Czech.

Given the new goals and objectives I set for this course, I wanted to devise a way of treating these definitions so that students become active learners who not only discover knowledge by and through English, but also – and importantly – take pleasure in learning a foreign language, mainly thanks to collaborative approach to learning. My idea was – rather than translate sentences from one language into another, which was the predominant teaching method in the textbook, – to maximize the use of skills, both productive and receptive, so that students gain confidence in speaking, practise writing, improve reading and enhance their listening abilities.

I would like to mention two activities that I employed during my classes. One of the activities is inspired by the excellent book Teaching other subjects through English, by Sheelagh Deller and Christine Price.

Activity 1

The first activity, which takes around 20 minutes, is a variation on what is widely known as ‘running dictation’. One of the advantages of this activity is its complexity: students practise all basic language skills, reading, listening, writing and speaking. In addition, they need to memorise language by dividing intuitively each definition into “chunks”. This linguistic term may be further worked upon, if the teacher deems useful (e.g. in dealing with collocations).

Step 1
The definitions, written on separate slips of papers, are posted on the walls around the classroom.

Step 2
In pairs, students are given a list of 10 terms.

Step 3
In their pairs, students are to transcribe the definitions into their worksheets. One student from each pair has to move around the classroom, reading the definitions one by one, trying to remember them, and finally dictate them to her/his partner who writes the definition (usually by chunks) down. After five definitions, students swap their roles. After all definitions have been transcribed, students return to their seats and, in pairs, try to match them to the terms.

Step 4
Finally, the class checks the solutions together. Ideally, the teacher has prepared slides showing all terms and their matching definitions. At the end of the class or at the start of the next one, students are each given a slip of paper with one technical term to define. The class then guess the term in question.

Variation
It is possible either to set a time limit or stage a class contest with the first pair completing their run as winners.

Activity 2

The second activity, inspired by the book mentioned above (Deller 2007: 47-48), also encompasses all language skills. It takes 20-30 minutes, depending on the number of terms to be revised/ learned. This activity profits from the classic classroom layout with several rows of desks aligned in a theatre fashion.

Step 1
There being four rows, students are divided into four groups – students in respective rows receive a slip of paper with both terms and definitions. Student A has got the definitions for student B’s terms and vice-versa. In the same way, students C and students D deal with another set of terms and definitions. In all, there should not be more than ten terms to define: otherwise the activity gets too long and the risk of losing students’ attention increases considerably. In our case, I chose eight terms, four terms for A/B students (two terms per student), another four terms for C/D students. Ideally, the definitions are adapted for didactic purposes: either simplified, shortened or transformed so that they can be studied as specimens of a linguistic problem. Thus, the example below could serve as a stepping stone for a class on relative clauses. Here is a sample worksheet to illustrate (the solution being 1d, 2c, 3a and 4 b):

Step 2
After initial explanations, the teacher distributes the cut-up slips of papers. Students are given time to study their worksheets – in their rows and in pairs, they read their definitions, guessing the terms, and try to define – albeit tentatively – the terms.

Step 3
Students in their rows are given the solutions: 1d, 2c, 3a and 4 b.

Step 4
Students in the odd rows turn back and make pairs with their classmates. In the space of about ten minutes, students in AB/CD pairs take it in turns to read and write down each other’s definitions. When they have finished, students try to label the newly written definitions with appropriate terms. At this stage, the teacher provides another feedback to ensure students get correct definitions for their terms.

Step 5
In the next step, new pairs – A/C, B/D – are formed and the process is repeated: this time, however, students just read all of their four definitions to their new partners who try to guess the new terms without having to write the definitions down. In the meantime, the teacher writes all the terms on the whiteboard.

Step 6
The class check the solutions, the teacher eliciting the definitions. Subsequently, grammar issues present in the definitions are dealt with.

Variations
As was the case for the running dictation activity, the same terms can be retaken in the next class – this time, students take it in turns to produce themselves a definition of a term for the others to guess. Alternatively, the teacher can prepare Prezi or PowerPoint presentation slides with terms she or he wishes students to revise. Students in odd rows, with their backs to the screen, guess the terms based on what their partners from even rows tell them.

Conclusion

These two activities should help students not only in learning the content, but also in boosting their language skills. Thus, language gets integrated into content learning (and vice versa) in what the CLIL theories (Coyle 2010: 32pp) classify as language of learning (vocabulary, grammar; language of defining), language for learning (asking questions, demanding to repeat, clarifying) and language through learning (new, often unpredictable, language emerging as a result of students’ interacting with specific content: e.g. passive voice in academic context).

References

Coyle, Do., Hood, Philip, Marsh, David, (2010) CLIL. Content and Language Integrated Learning, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Dastych, Milan, Červený, Ladislav, Najman, Ivo, (2007) English for laboratory technicians. Brno, Masaryk University Press.

Deller, Sheelagh, Price, Christine, (2007) Teaching other subjects through English, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

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