Assessment of Abilities of Bangladeshi Medical Undergraduates in Understanding the English Used in Anatomy Textbooks

Abstract

Background: Bangladeshi medical undergraduates, mostly coming from the Bangla medium of their earlier study, face reasonably visible difficulties in understanding the English used in Anatomy textbooks.

Objective: The study aimed at assessing the ability of Bangladeshi medical undergraduates to understand English-in-Anatomy addressing their academic reading skills.

Methods: A cross sectional study was done where ‘Academic reading skills’ were assessed by conducting an English language test among 278 first year medical undergraduates using 13 questions on textbook passages of General Anatomy, General Histology, and General Embryology following the TOEFL reading section.

Results: The language test yielded 65% correct answers from the medical undergraduates. The English in- Anatomy proficiencies for the skills seemed to be of ‘high’, ‘intermediate’, and ‘low’ levels in about 27%, 60%, and 13%, of the undergraduates respectively.

Conclusion: The study provides insight into the reading comprehension skills of medical undergraduates concerning medical text.

Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy January 2022, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 14-19