SYMMETRIC AND ASYMMETRIC COMMUNICATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

Nataša Šelmić

DOI Number
https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP2203451S
First page
451
Last page
455

Abstract


The aim of this paper is to present the most important features of symmetric and asymmetric communication in the field of medicine as they are implemented in the Medical English course at the Faculty of Medicine University of Niš. Symmetric communication represents the form of communication between experts or equals, while asymmetric communication takes place between professionals and laypeople. Professionally oriented discourse and scientific discourse are examples of symmetric communication, while the doctor-patient encounter is an example of asymmetric communication. Professionally oriented discourse may be considered to be practically oriented and includes a wide variety of tasks performed by health care professionals. Scientific discourse is characterized by specialized language to express scientific facts in a precise and formal way. The doctor-patient encounter is an example of asyymmetric form of communication and enables practising the most relevant grammatical and semantic aspects of English.

 


Keywords

communication, professionally-oriented discourse, scientific discourse, doctor-patient encounter

Full Text:

PDF

References


Antić Zorica. "English for medicine. " (textbook). Galaksijanis. Niš. (2015)

Antić, Zorica, and Nataša Milosavljević. "Medical studies in English: Shared learning." Acta Facultatis Medicae Naissensis 31, no. 2 (2014): 129-132.

Cargill, Margaret, and Patrick O'Connor. Writing scientific research articles: Strategy and steps. John Wiley & Sons, 2021.

Chabner, D.E. "The Language of Medicine." US: W.B. Saunders Company.(1996).

Cooke, Matthew W., Sue Wilson, Peter Cox, and Andrea Roalfe. "Public understanding of medical terminology: non-English speakers may not receive optimal care." Emergency Medicine Journal 17, no. 2 (2000): 119-121.

Fisher, Sue. "Institutional authority and the structure of discourse." Discourse Processes 7, no. 2 (1984): 201-224.

Gill, Virginia Teas. "Doing attributions in medical interaction: Patients' explanations for illness and doctors' responses." Social Psychology Quarterly (1998): 342-360.

Glendinning, Eric H., and Beverly Holmström. English in medicine: a course in communication skills. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Green, Simon, ed. New perspectives on teaching and learning modern languages. Vol. 13. Multilingual Matters, 2000.

Grunig, James E., and Larissa A. Grunig. "Implications of the IABC excellence study for PR education." Journal of communication Management (2002)

Kenneth, Kong. "Professional discourse." (2014).

Marshall, Delia, and Jennifer M. Case. "d/Discourse in the learning of physics: The design of an introductory physics curriculum." African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 14, no. 2 (2010): 15-27.

McNamara, Danielle S., Max M. Louwerse, Philip M. McCarthy, and Arthur C. Graesser. "Coh-Metrix: Capturing linguistic features of cohesion." Discourse Processes 47, no. 4 (2010): 292-330.

Méo, Patricia De. Omaggio, Alice. Teaching Language in Context: Proficiency-Oriented Instruction. Boston:

Svendsen, Carol, and Katharine Krebs. "Identifying English for the job: Examples from health care occupations." The ESP Journal 3, no. 2 (1984): 153-164.

Ten Have, P. (1991). Talk and institution: A reconsideration of the ‘asymmetry’of doctor-patient interaction. Talk and social structure: Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, 138-163.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP2203451S

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN 2334-9182 (Print)
ISSN 2334-9212 (Online)