Development of Communication Competence in Foreign Medical Students at English for Careers Classes

Abstract

The article reviews the results of the investigation of the development of communication competence of foreign medical students of Donetsk National Medical University, located in Ukraine. The research objective is to show the importance of the designed system of practical classes of English for careers on evidence-based medicine in Ukrainian medical universities. The article submits the data, received in the process of the experimental work, aimed at developing foreign students’ communication competence at English for careers classes. The survey is aimed at determination of the primary level of speaking skills of the 3rd year students in their communication with peers, lecturers, colleagues, patients, relatives and friends to define the students’ readiness for development of communication competence at English for careers classes at the university. The questionnaire, as the first diagnostic part of the experiment, was carried out to check out the students’ level of communication skills at the initial stage in control and experimental groups. Formative stage of the research included gradual elaboration and implementation of the system of English classes that included various speaking activities such as interviewing, discussions, giving feedback, making descriptions, presentations, research papers and essays, written online debates and monographs for developing communication competence. The diagnostic results of the experiment presented at its final part proved the importance of the work, done for the development of communication competence of future doctors at English for careers classes. According to the Mann-Whitney U test, the entire work confirmed the hypothesis.