On Naming Strategies in the Field of Skeletal Structure and Body Parts in Medical and General English

Abstract

The major objective set to this paper is to investigate how students’ academic interests determine and delimit the scope of lexical items to be mastered in ESP instructions. Naturally, teaching specialist language requires, on one hand, full-scale awareness of a specific field of knowledge, and on the other, a constant willingness to search for pragmatic techniques that enhance teaching and learning processes. Here, we provide insight into several lexical fields in medical English, namely BODY PARTS, SKELETAL STRUCTURE and DISEASES to examine their usefulness in actual pedagogical practice. Certainly, synonymous pairs of words, be it technical or standard English terms, constitute one of the most viable categories in a medicine-couched English classroom. Much in the same vein, issues of etymology play an eminent role in identifying the affinities existing between lexical items. Note that etymological issues necessitate both comprehensive knowledge of medicine-related subjects and broadly understood willingness to face the fact that medical students are likely to know more on the subject instructed than their ESP practitioners. In a similar manner, various groupings and relationships between lexical items show that the medical technolect, in particular, is linked to various dimensions, some of which determine the limited use of medical science words. For instance, the tabooed lexical items in the field BODY PARTS are crucial here from the point of view of language instruction, and the existence and use of those words involve checks of political correctness, both in and out of the classroom environment. Rather unsurprisingly, tabooed lexical items are by all means the most intriguing and desirable ones for many learners, though not for teachers.