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Review English in the Medical Laboratory 179 It would be good to have a dictionary on similar lines for technical English usage. It would probably be shorter, and would have to be written for readers of a lower level of English, but the approach of Godman and Payne would lend itself very well to treating groups of words such as component~part~unit, housing/ case~cover, or device~instrument~tool~appliance. Mary Todd Trimble has taught English in France, Zimbabwe, and Yugoslavia, and on various short specialized courses, and has worked in research and course development in scientific and technical English. She is at present working in materials development, and is on the editorial advisory board of the The ESP Journal. ENGLISH IN THE MEDICAL LABORATORY. John Swales and Paul Fanning. Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex: Thomas Nelson & Sons Limited, 1980. Pp. vi + 106. Reviewed by Margaret van Naerssen It is most commendable that Swales and Fanning have not tried to be too general or too ambitious in their goals. Their experience in teaching and directing scientific English programs in Africa and England is evident. In their text they are addressing the needs of a very specific audience, have very carefully determined the objectives of their text, and have delivered. This is a course in the English of Medical Laboratoryprocedures. It is designed for medical students, trainee laboratorytechnicians and technologists for whom English is not a first language. The specificgoal of this course is to help such students to understand the instructions given in laboratorymanuals and similar materials, and to write answers in English to exanfinationquestions on medical technology procedures .... The book does not aim to deal directlywith either descriptive medical English or with the spoken English likelyto occur within a medical technologyenvironment. (Teacher's Introduction, p. v) Since the target student population and objectives are rather precisely defined, teachers should not assume the text to be appropriate as a more general text for medical English, although certainly some of the excellent exercises might be selected out for specific needs. The text appears to be easy to teach from. Exercises are simply but carefully explained and supported with the relevant technical readings, diagrams, and charts. The exercises are efficient and appropriate. One can see the purpose of an exercise even when it is not stated. Neither the student nor the teacher should feel that time is being wasted on busy-work activities. And the teacher need not have a technical medical background; a teacher's booklet is available with a key to exercises, additional notes, and a guide to the pronunciation of technical and subtechnical terms. (This booklet was not available to the reviewer.) Both native and nonnafive English-speaking teachers, even inexperienced ones, should feel secure teaching with this text.

English in the medical laboratory: John Swales and Paul Fanning. Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex: Thomas Nelson & Sons Limited, 1980. pp. vi + 106

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Review English in the Medical Laboratory 1 7 9

It would be good to have a dictionary on similar lines for technical English usage. It would probably be shorter, and would have to be written for readers of a lower level of English, but the approach of Godman and Payne would lend itself very well to treating groups of words such as component~part~unit, housing/ case~cover, or device~instrument~tool~appliance.

Mary Todd Tr imble has taught English in France, Zimbabwe, and Yugoslavia, and on various short specialized courses, and has worked in research and course development in scientific and technical English. She is at present working in materials development, and is on the editorial advisory board of the The ESP Journal.

ENGLISH IN THE MEDICAL LABORATORY. John Swales and Paul Fanning. Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex: Thomas Nelson & Sons Limited, 1980. Pp. vi + 106.

Reviewed by Margaret van Naerssen

It is most commendable that Swales and Fanning have not tried to be too general or too ambitious in their goals. Their experience in teaching and directing scientific English programs in Africa and England is evident. In their text they are addressing the needs of a very specific audience, have very carefully determined the objectives of their text, and have delivered.

This is a course in the English of Medical Laboratory procedures. It is designed for medical students, trainee laboratory technicians and technologists for whom English is not a first language. The specific goal of this course is to help such students to understand the instructions given in laboratory manuals and similar materials, and to write answers in English to exanfination questions on medical technology procedures . . . . The book does not aim to deal directly with either descriptive medical English or with the spoken English likely to occur within a medical technology environment. (Teacher's Introduction, p. v)

Since the target student population and objectives are rather precisely defined, teachers should not assume the text to be appropriate as a more general text for medical English, although certainly some of the excellent exercises might be selected out for specific needs.

The text appears to be easy to teach from. Exercises are simply but carefully explained and supported with the relevant technical readings, diagrams, and charts. The exercises are efficient and appropriate. One can see the purpose of an exercise even when it is not stated. Neither the student nor the teacher should feel that time is being wasted on busy-work activities. And the teacher need not have a technical medical background; a teacher's booklet is available with a key to exercises, additional notes, and a guide to the pronunciation of technical and subtechnical terms. (This booklet was not available to the reviewer.) Both native and nonnafive English-speaking teachers, even inexperienced ones, should feel secure teaching with this text.

180 The ESP Journal

Swales and Fanning's approach is basically functional, but as they n o t e , " . . . the statements of function are well supported by grammatical explanation and examples with appropriate technical vocabulary." (p. v) However, the grammatical explanations and references are not excessive in length nor in detail; they are supportive in terms of clarifying and providing focus.

The book contains eight units: Introduction to Instructions, Linked Instructions, Instructions and the Passive, Making Instructions more Precise, Operations and Results, Time and Purpose in the Laboratory, Actions and States, and Alternatives in Clinical Test Procedures. As the authors note, "The principal teaching points of each unit are accompanied by work either on apparatus (e. g., the Bunsen burner) or techniques (e. g., the preparation of paraffin wax sections) which illustrate and practise these points." (p. v) Activities for testing com- prehension are imaginative: they include but go beyond multiple choice "answer the following questions" category. Additional activities include reordering of instructions, matching pairs of clauses/sentences, drawing diagrams of what has been read, completing diagrams to test for meaning, and filling in the blanks from a list of key words or phrases related to the teaching point. Many of these reading comprehension activities can also serve as controlled writing exercises. Other writing activities include completing statements or instructions based on a key word and accompanying illustration, doing transformation and paraphrasing exercises, simple editing, rewriting a set of instructions without reference to one's own notes permitted, and writing paragraphs from lists of instructions, to name a few. In a few cases students are asked to go beyond the text to their own knowledge or experience, or to the medical setting in their own country.

In each unit, beyond the main exercises is a section "for further work," which tends to emphasize vocabulary development: laboratory glassware, units of measurement and their symbols, abbreviations, noun formation from verbs, frequency words, and colors. Some also provide practice in working calculations, completing a request form, and drawing representations based on short written descriptions. All "further work" activities are related to the language needs in the medical laboratory and can be done outside the classroom.

The text does not pretend to teach medical laboratory procedures; however, the content is authentic and cannot help but reinforce procedures taught in a laboratory course.

While the text is very well written, a few minor flaws may be noted, none significicant enough to detract from the overall quality. First, the reading com- prehension objective appears to be the most obvious and the best structured. The writing objective(s?) is somewhat less clear. The authors state that it is to help students "write answers in English to examination questions on medical technology procedures," (p. v) but elsewhere they are more general, stating that it is "to write clear and concise English." (p. v) The publisher says it is to write "reports and instructions more clearly and precisely." (back cover) It is not evident in the text what typical examination questions/tasks are like for testing knowledge of medical technology procedures; therefore, one is not sure if the text immediately and directly meets that need. This reviewer could find only one reference in the text to an exercise being relevant to examinations: " . . . examiners often like to see reasons given." (p. 65) It is assumed that

Review English in the Medical Laboratory 1 8 1

in an examination one must be able to describe procedures, understand/label diagrams, understand/complete charts, work calculations, and answer multiple choice questions. Practice in all of these is provided.

If report writing is one objective, then it would have also been useful to see sample formats for reports to illustrate how the writing skills at the level of detail taught in the text would be applied in a work situation. Only one example was given: completion of a request for urine examination. More would have been useful.

In spite of this slight ambiguity in objectives, there is no doubt in this reviewer's mind that the activities in this text should assist in the general objective of writing clear and concise English, at the word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph levels for use in a medical laboratory.

Second, a few minor problems were encountered in a few exercises. The relevance of one part of one exercise is questioned. This reviewer was not able to complete one part of another exercise following the instructions. In one explanatory note the object of a reference was not at all evident. And finally, one part of one exercise could have been clearer if examples had been given. It should be repeated however, that overall this reviewer found the exercises very clear and relevant to the general objectives stated by the authors. Furthermore, this reviewer would enjoy teaching from this text.

In speculating how such a course would fit into a larger curriculum design, the following idea came to mind for supplementing the text. The suggestion is not intended as a criticism of the text; the authors very wisely limited their objectives. The idea could prove useful in leading into this text and in following up.

While reading for detail is most appropriate for certain purposes such as understanding medical laboratory procedures, too often reading in technical and scientific English, as well as listening, emphasizes the detail and slights the comprehension of main ideas and the development of skills for the practical and efficient use of materials. This tendency may come from a focus on discourse analysis of texts. English in the Medical Laboratory does, in many exercises, relate to main ideas and overall organization. However, this reviewer feels that one other activity that might balance out the curriculum better when using this text, would be some exercises in the use of laboratory instructional manuals.

Medical technologists, physicians, computer scientists, electrical engineers, etc. cannot be expected to memorize all the facts and formulas in their professions or even in a single manual. (Although in some cultures which stress memorization as a learning technique this does occur.) Manuals are used for reference as well as for learning. It is suggested that prior to introducing English in the Medical Laboratory (with its strong focus on reading for detail), samples of tables of contents and indices from actual manuals be provided. Exercises would include identifying where specific information, procedures, etc. would probably be found according to information provided in the tables of contents and indices. While the content in Swales and Fanning's text appears most authentic, it consists of excerpts.

It is assumed that students would have access to some training manuals on medical laboratory procedures as part of concurrent or future courses. If the laboratory courses were not concurrent with this English course, it would also

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be useful to look at sample pages or units to see what the sample material looks like in an actual manual and practice reading a few passages just to get a feel for transferring the skills taught in the text to real life. Some skimming exercises to locate specific pieces of information might also be provided. Such activities would further prepare students to use laboratory manuals efficiently and would supplement and reinforce an already well written text.

Margaret van Naerssen was US Chief of Party of an English for science and technology program sponsored by the University of California, Los Angeles and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Her specializations include ESP in medicine, second language teaching and language acquisition research, and bilingual and ESL program development. She is now involved in ESP program development and language research at Hong Kong Polytechnic.