Check Your English Vocabulary for Medicine: All you need to improve your vocabulary
Check Your English Vocabulary for Medicine by Rawdon Wyatt is a workbook designed to help learners of English improve their knowledge and understanding of core medical terminology.
The workbook includes crosswords, puzzles and word games to test and build specialist English vocabulary. The combination of self-study exercises and practical speaking activities mean that this book is ideal for both home and class-based study.
The worksheets in this workbook contain a variety of exercises appropriate for students requiring a working knowledge of English medical terminology. The worksheets can be used either for self-study or in the classroom and can be completed in any order. Several have ‘extensions’: short classroom exercises based on the language in the main exercise. All the questions within this workbook are based on the A & C Black Dictionary of Medical Terms, fourth edition (ISBN 0 7136 7603 5).
This workbook is aimed at students with at least an intermediate level of English. However, many people who work in medicine have to read in English on a regular basis; students with a more basic level of English may therefore already have the passive vocabulary to handle many of the exercises.
Specialist vocabulary
It is important to appreciate that ‘knowing’ specialist vocabulary involves more than simply recognising it.
- You can understand the meaning of a word when reading or listening and yet be unable to remember that same word when speaking or writing.
- You may remember the word, but use it incorrectly. This can be a grammatical problem, like knowing that ‘fracture’ can be used both as a noun and as a verb. Or it may be a question of collocation: a surgeon makes an incision during an operation, but when he wants a piece of bread he simply cuts it.
- Then there is the question of the sound of the word. Can you pronounce it? And do you recognise it when you hear it pronounced?
For these reasons – memory, use and sound – it is important that students practise specialist vocabulary so that they can learn to use it more confidently and effectively. The exercises in this workbook will help students to expand their knowledge and use of medical vocabulary.
Using the Dictionary of Medical Terms
All of the vocabulary taught or practised in this workbook is in the A & C Black Dictionary of Medical Terms. The Dictionary of Medical Terms gives definitions in simple English which students can read and understand. Many of the examples and definitions in the workbook are taken directly from the dictionary. Students should have a copy of the Dictionary of Medical Terms for referring to when completing the exercises; using the dictionary is an essential part of successful language learning.
Structure of a Dictionary of Medical Terms entry
Each entry within the dictionary includes key elements that help a student understand the definition of the term and how to use it in context. Each term has a clear example, and part of speech. This is followed by example sentences and quotations from newspapers and magazines that show how the term is used in real life. These elements of the dictionary are used to create the questions within this workbook.
Vocabulary Record Sheet
At the back of the book is a Vocabulary Record Sheet. Recording useful vocabulary in a methodical way plays a key role in language learning and could be done, for example, at the end of each lesson. The Dictionary of Medical Terms is a useful tool for ensuring that the personal vocabulary record is accurate and is a good source for example sentences to show how words are used, as well as for notes about meaning and pronunciation, etc.