Difficulties and Strategies in Learning English and French Medical Terminology: A Survey Study of First-Year Students at a Medical University in Vietnam

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the difficulties of medical first-year students as well as their strategies in learning English and French medical terminology. A survey study was conducted on 250 first-year medical students who enrolled at a medical university in Vietnam. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were carried out to categorize the difficulties encountered by the students (lack of medical resources, low level of proficiency, limitations in studying time, ineffectively learning strategies, unawareness of starting point, motivation, and nature of medical terminology) and their strategies in learning medical terminology (discovery strategies, consolidation strategies, surface, and deep learning strategies). The findings indicated that difficulties and strategies were not the same for every student. Teachers’ awareness of the various difficulties and learning strategies that medical students have coped with may help in creating an effective learning environment for all the students in English/French medical classes.