The Case for a True Task-Based Curriculum for Medical Spanish Courses

Area of Science:

• Applied Linguistics
• Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
• Medical Education

Background:

• Medical Spanish courses have been developed without input from applied linguistics and SLA experts.
• This has resulted in inconsistent course objectives, content, and assessments.
• There's a lack of collaboration between medical schools, linguists, and language teachers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the need for multilingual medical professionals to serve Low English Proficiency (LEP) Spanish speakers.
• To introduce Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as a collaborative model for improving medical Spanish curricula.
• To identify specific areas for collaboration between medical Spanish professionals and applied linguists.

Main Methods:

• Contextualizing medical Spanish course development within healthcare disparities.
• Introducing TBLT as a framework for collaboration.
• Identifying key areas for improvement in medical Spanish programs.

Main Results:

• TBLT provides a structured approach for collaboration between medical educators and linguists.
• This collaboration can lead to a pedagogical framework grounded in SLA research.
• Potential for measurable improvements in L2 Spanish learning outcomes and patient care.

Conclusions:

• TBLT is a viable, evidence-based alternative to current medical Spanish course structures.
• Adopting TBLT can align medical Spanish programs with best practices in second language pedagogy.
• This alignment will optimize learning outcomes for students and benefit Spanish-speaking patients.