A Contrastive Analysis of English Textbooks for EFL Non-Departmental Learners of Medicine
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive and critically oriented contrastive evaluation of two major English language teaching textbooks; Oxford English for Careers: Medicine 1 (OEC), and New Headway: Advanced (NHA). These textbooks were implemented throughout English courses taught at college of medicine at University of Mosul, where former is used for practical hours, and later covers theoretical section. Being with two different pedagogical orientations, yet simultaneously used creates a form of dilemma. Study tries to answer a core question concerning which textbook is in fact suits more final educational goals of college. Grounded in framework of evaluation set by McDonough, Shaw and Masuhara’s (2013) , study combines external and internal evaluation with an explicitly critical perspective. Through detailed analysis supported by contrastive tables, study demonstrates that the two textbooks embrace drastically different pedagogical, and methodological orientations and assumptions. While NHA prioritizes explicit grammatical progression and structural control attributes of general English courses, OEC foregrounds professional functional competence and communication which aligns with English for specific purposes (ESP). Nearly seventy five percent of its content is listening/speaking oriented, which evidently supports its value within curriculum. Findings argue that neither textbook is universally optimal, but as medical curriculum design necessitates contextual authenticity, OEC excels here. NHA on the other hand, could still be marginally useful, for relatively small fraction of students.
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