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

For decades, professional healthcare schools have invested considerable time and resources into the development and implementation of medical Spanish courses. However, most (if not all) of these courses and programs were developed without significant input from experts in the fields of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA). This resulted in programs and courses which differ in every conceivable way, most notably in course objectives, course content, and assessment measures. Despite multiple calls by applied linguists over the years, there has never been a systematic evaluation of medical Spanish programs through the lens of applied linguistics. The literature to date also demonstrates a near-complete absence of collaboration between medical school faculty, applied linguists, and language teachers, furthering the divide between what is now well-documented in the applied linguistics and SLA literature and the reported classroom practices in the medical Spanish context.

This article begins by contextualizing the development of medical Spanish courses under a backdrop of a critical need for multilingual medical professionals to better address documented healthcare disparities for Low English Proficiency (LEP) Spanish speakers, a steadily growing population in the United States. Then, the article introduces Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as an opportunity for unprecedented collaboration between healthcare practitioners, medical Spanish course instructors, and applied linguists to improve medical Spanish curricular offerings. It goes on to identify specific opportunities for collaboration between medical Spanish professionals (instructors, course designers, program administrators) and applied linguists by highlighting three major areas for further development in the medical Spanish context. This collaboration would result in a pedagogical framework strongly rooted in applied linguistics research findings with direct, measurable impacts on both L2 Spanish learners in medical Spanish courses and the patients they will serve.

Based on identified opportunities for curricular and programmatic improvement in published medical Spanish course reports, this article provides a rationale for TBLT as well as an overview of the process of TBLT course development. This detailed overview of TBLT course development with specific reference to the medical Spanish context presents an argument for the adoption of TBLT as an evidence-based and pedagogically viable alternative to current course offerings in medical Spanish programs. This article aims to identify a clear path forward to enable medical school program administrators and course and curriculum designers to take concrete steps to align courses with current best practices in second language pedagogy in order to optimize Spanish learning outcomes for their programs' specific students.