LANGUAGE AS A BARRIER TO THE ACQUISITION OF ANATOMICAL KNOWLEDGE

The language of instruction for medical students at the University of Hong Kong is English, which is their second language. This presents a potential barrier to their academic learning. We have studied the exte nt of this problem by looking at the amount of terminology students ha ve to assimilate during their anatomy course and the way in which the terminology is structured and explained (this provides, more generally , an indication of the factual loading to which medical students are e xposed). We have also investigated the effect of the quality of studen ts' language skills on their examination results in anatomy class test s and MBBS exams. It was found that students' entrance levels in Engli sh correlated well with their final examination results and that the q uality and quantity of their English also correlated highly with score s in class tests. On this basis, we conclude that language is one of t he most important barriers to students' academic success in the depart ment and that current teaching materials may not be appropriate.