Teaching Medical English. An Introduction

The article describes three research paths in Medical English. The first explores Medical English as a variety of English for Special Purposes: lexical, linguistic and textual investigations into medical text-types and genres, medical translation, historical and diachronic studies of medical discourse and so on. The second relates to empirical research on teaching, testing and learning, the weight and value of Medical English across the academic curriculum, transnational recognition of qualifications and the question of evaluating and validating teaching and testing systems. The third is socially oriented and embraces ties with semiotics, psychology and neurosciences, and the global scenario in which Medical English operates