Author/Authors :
Sabbour, S.M. Ain Shams University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Egypt , Dewedar, S.A. Ain Shams University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Egypt , Kandil, S.K. Ain Shams University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Egypt
Abstract :
Students and staff perspectives on language barriers in medical education in Egypt and their attitude towards Arabization of the medical curriculum were explored in a questionnaire survey of 400 medical students and 150 staff members. Many students (56.3%) did not consider learning medicine in English an obstacle, and 44.5% of staff considered it an obstacle only in the 1st year of medical school. Many other barriers to learning other than language were mentioned. However, 44.8% of students translated English terms to Arabic to facilitate studying and 70.6% of students in their clinical study years would prefer to learn patient history-taking in Arabic. While Arabization in general was strongly declined, teaching in Arabic language was suggested as appropriate in some specialties.
