Summary
The training of the future professional of medical sciences anywhere in the world implies adequate preparation in various disciplines and areas of the teaching and learning process. Achieve English language proficiency in students taking into account the four communication skills such as: oral expression, listening, reading comprehension and writing, all of which are recognized as part of the curricular program in said area of careers. and specialties, prepares them to face challenges in communication both in their professional and personal lives. The reading comprehension of scientific technical texts needs the necessary tools for the critical understanding of this type of texts,It is undoubtedly one of the activities with a certain degree of difficulty both in the area of undergraduate studies as well as once these are completed.
This article is used to analyze the aspects related to the ability to read and its general instructional objective. In addition to assess the importance of the current strategy in Cuba in terms of the development of teaching and learning English as a foreign language: reading comprehension as a skill in the process of communicative competence for students of the medical career in the Faculty of Medical Sciences "General Calixto García" in the city of Havana.
Keywords: Reading, teaching, English, critical comprehension.
Reading is not something new or simple at all, it is possibly the most daily, complex and most unnoticed activity by man. The word read comes from the Latin Legere which is the process of perceiving and understanding writing. In Spanish the verb read can describe different activities to the understanding of what is written, it is thus then that we use it to say:
- read thought read hand read hard drive music tracks on CD
The ancient Egyptians invented a writing system that they used from pre-dynastic times to the fourth century, we refer to hieroglyphs and many of them have not yet been deciphered, instead the first phonic alphabets were created between the second and fourth centuries. IV allowing the scrolls to appear later, which we could call the ancestors of our books. (one)
Around the 10th century BC, the words were written one after the other, without accentuation and all of the same size, as one might suppose, such writing did not favor the identification of the words because it required a letter-by-letter deciphering task and prevented the extension of the reading as a habit.
Formerly "readers" were all the professors who taught any science and the clergymen in charge of instructing the catechumens in the rudiments of the Christian religion. The ecclesiastical censorship during the Middle Ages led by Pope Alexander VI played an arbitrary role in the expansion of reading as a "popular" expression of knowledge. In this way, the congregation of the Roman inquisition created the Index Librorum Prohibitorum with which the reader was "forewarned" of works already established in a list. At the same time comes the term Ad Adsun Delphinithat it was nothing more than an authorization created by King Louis XVI for his son to read them, curiously this term is still applied in the literary world to those works that have been altered with didactic intent or works censored with political intent.
During contemporary times, this activity has become something for many people, mainly among the workers. In Cuba we have the example of reading aloud for the tobacco growers, in the factories themselves, a practice that continues to this day.
For Western countries, the literacy of their citizens during the nineteenth century was something to be carried out, this movement being more productive in those with Protestant religions since it is considered one of the important rights of the individual to be able to read the Bible.
The new era of computerization and its songs of sirens also allowed us other variants of reading through the internet that is why today we talk about:
- Reading onlineReading an e-bookReading an e-zineReading a Blog
Dr. María Dolores Ortíz in (2001) states: “… interest in the written word is declining due to the increase in audiovisual media, the possibility of enjoying attractive and instructive media such as computers, video, cinema that are preferred by children and young people by prioritizing the enjoyment of these media, which is incomparable with the pleasure that can be found in reading a good book, which becomes a growing threat to students. "
The pleasure of giving and receiving a book as a present is something that in these times is not conceived as a first option, a book is not always well received as a gift, since reading and this are associated with "routine obligations" for the smallest and youngest; Only those people related to the intellectual world or simply those in whom the reading habit has been formed from a very early age are grateful for this gesture. (one)
Cuban professor and researcher Olga Molina (1997) considers that the habit of reading is formed early; It also explains how girls and boys before starting school can be exposed informally to reading and writing, this does not mean that when they arrive at school they quickly learn to read but it will be useful when the teacher Whoever has a planning in their entire teaching and learning process through well-conceived teaching tasks take advantage of all the significant aspects of the contexts experienced by them.
The aforementioned has an indisputable relationship and of course a foundation in the studies of the Russian psychopedagogue Lev Vigotsky, studies about learning with respect to reading in girls and boys. The importance of this theory lies in the form that this scholar gave when considering that learning to read began in non-formal social contexts, in interaction with adults, through participation in the culture of writing, as recorded in the practice of reading stories.
Vigotsky himself, in his concept of the zone of proximal development (1931), explains that the child does not advance beyond what he already knows without social interaction with adults or peers who have developed other knowledge. The teaching of reading must be conceived as an intellectual, superior, conscious activity that stimulates thinking in its highest form. (1985)
Reading is an activity characterized by the introduction of symbols or letters into meaningful words and phrases. Once the symbol is deciphered, it is reproduced, this being the first phase of reading linked to writing. The ultimate goal of reading is to make it possible to understand the written and used materials according to your needs.
The formation and development of human capital in health is increasingly based on the teaching, care and research integration of the university of medical sciences with the public health institutions of the territory, where it assumes a leading role. These work settings are considered university environments, based on an adequate teaching accreditation process. Thus, while the professional is being trained, which contributes to developing a scientific and critical thinking in all their work actions, which is executed in a committed and properly organized attentional scenario for the execution of the corresponding training processes. (two)
According to Vidal Ledo and collaborators (2016), as a result of the incessant change experienced in sciences and in human societies, since the 90s of the last century, growing challenges have been generated to ensure adequate quality in the vocational training. This dynamic of change has taken root from the very moment in which an innovation is introduced that is introduced at the organizational level and where the human factor is key to this; The results depend more and more on our ability, as thinking human beings, to apply the knowledge, skills and values to identify and solve the main health problems and needs, all this gives a new meaning to the competencies that each person must show in the context of your acting professional. (3)
In Cuba, the university of medical sciences is a conception and not a building, since it exists and is developed in each of the scenarios where the undergraduate and postgraduate training processes originate. It is not a university that is integrated into the health services, but rather exists in them, prioritizing all the teaching processes, as an expression of the development achieved by the national health system. The Cuban model of Higher Medical Education promotes the construction and strengthening of values, principles and knowledge, as well as the required scientific and social practices, enhancing in students the ability to reflect, create, discuss and criticize scientifically and respond to needs and health problems.Hence, the universities of medical sciences have shifted the focus of their teaching towards education at work and primary health care. This modifying process of attitudes is accompanied by the exemplary model of the teacher in all academic and teaching-attention settings where they work. (4.8)
For our country, the comprehensive training of medical science personnel is a vitally important task. The teaching of the English language allows our doctors to develop in the current political and socio-economic context due to the high demand for collaboration with our Ministry of Health by countries in the region and other continents.
The possible communicative interaction between speakers who do not share the same mother tongue but who use English as a lingua franca in professional contexts is something that teachers of English as a foreign language must bear in mind.
Mastering a foreign language implies knowledge and development in its four communication skills, in this article we want to emphasize reading comprehension, which has been somewhat relegated.
We assume a position in favor of what was expressed by François Texier (2006)
“…. Reading is not a neutral activity; it brings into play the reader and a series of complex relationships with the text, more when the book is closed, what does the reader become? In a simple glutton able to digest letters? A lumberjack whose only job is to clear the literary landscape?… "
The act of reading mobilizes intellectual and affective processes, it is a complex phenomenon that implies the development of capacities and abilities, interests and motivations, in whose formation the characteristics of the different ages must be taken into account.
Have we ever asked our college students why they don't like to read? or is it really that they can't read ?; the answer is out there (out there) if we paraphrase that well-liked American serial "The X-Files" but it is not in outer space where it should be solved but in the wonderful space that a classroom or classroom provides us. knows him in other countries.
In our daily work as teachers we face this phenomenon. Perhaps you have wanted to start a conversation as part of the motivation of your reading class and have simply resorted to naming or citing something written in a book that your students are supposed to know either out of personal interest or previous studies and it turns out that the answer is almost always the same.
- I don't know him, teacher there is a game or a movie or a television series about that, I don't remember now, etc.
Then you ask them other information about it and they do not know who is the author of the book, the central theme or the historical context, on multiple occasions it may even be related to local history but they simply do not know.
It is worth clarifying that we do not disagree that literary works are taken to celluloid because it is also an effective means of providing culture to the population.
The same happens with specialized literature according to the career in which they are; They are guided by a text to be analyzed and very few can make a critical and updated assessment of the proposed topic. Our students come to the university with a misconception of what reading really means and for foreign language teachers (specifically English) it constitutes a hard work, since the evaluation system itself works against us as promoters and evaluators at the same time. since the oral controls of any of the subjects, from English I to English X, that they receive throughout the medical career represent higher values compared to the written ones. (5)
In our country, study programs designed for higher education acclaim for the development of skills in reading comprehension in any of the careers.
The college student must:
- Predict and anticipate global understanding Read for comprehensive understanding Read for specific information Recognize organizational patterns in text Summarize text using main ideas Paraphrase the text with the author's words and your own. Reach conclusions from the text Recognize the topic of the text Recognize the function of the text Classify ideas into main topics and details Identify the relationships between elements of the sentence and the text Determine the meaning of unknown words by the context or through its parts, the syntax or relationships of the different patterns.
As part of the general instructional objective of the program of the English subject for higher education, specifically in the career of medicine, it is proposed that students must:
- Appropriate the information printed in English of a scientific nature, by reading original materials, typical of medical practice, such as magazines, specialized articles, and other sources of information of little complexity through the use of reading skills.
Teaching practice shows us that it is not so easy to teach reading class; It is not so simple to apply an evaluative instrument where students have to understand a text, whether it is general culture, technical science, or guide the search for a specific topic and then discuss it in class.
Then what do we do?. Continue to witness the demotivation and substitution, the scarce and sometimes null strategies of our students in higher education to read and the results expressed in low test scores and a mediocre cultural background which is not up to the standard. professional you want to train.
The above could be given as an answer and in this way we will be choosing the same path as the little red riding hood and without measuring consequences we deviate from our true objective; that is none other than the student critically understand a scientific technical text.
The bibliography consulted for this article brought the authors closer to current topics such as: methodological learning strategies, linguistic skills and the teaching of English for specific purposes, all of which allowed them to know that the aforementioned elements are widely used worldwide and that In addition, very good results are obtained with its use, taking into account that students need technical vocabulary to achieve excellence as professionals in a truly globalized world. (5,6,7)
Reading a text in a superficial way is different from understanding it and assimilating its content, for this we must provide the student with the necessary strategies to fulfill our objective and also develop the skills that allow them to use them so that they can face any text, they can form a mental image of what they are going to read, how they are going to do it, if they have any prior knowledge about the subject and what they will do it for. (8)
Through the following strategies we consider that students can learn to read as university students and future professionals that the country and the world need.
Among them we have:
- pre reading or explorative reading
It consists of making a first reading of the text in order to become familiar with its general structure and with some of the fundamental concepts or ideas that appear, whether implicit or explicit. This reading is also often called global or polling.
- Fast reading
It is considered a collection of methods focused on considerably increasing the average reading speed of the practitioner without sacrificing much of reading comprehension or receptivity, since this is the information that remains after reading. It is about taking a look at the text for a specific purpose and is used to search for a specific piece of information, such as: a name, an appointment, a date, etc., that we are interested in knowing before or after starting a reading.
- structural analysis of a text
It is the method of dividing a text into its components in order to transform it and reveal its structure. In order to structure the text, it is necessary to understand and master the content and the introduction, development and conclusion of the writing will have to be identified, if it exists. Then the development (body of the text) is divided into sections, which are complete units of thought, giving each section a title and detailing the main idea and supporting ideas. You can also include the relationships or differences that exist between the sections.
- Critical reading
It is the technique or process that allows you to discover the ideas and information that lie within a written text. This requires an analytical, reflective and active reading, therefore, it is the previous step to the development of critical thinking.
- Post reading
It is the stage in which activities are proposed that allow to know how much the reader understood. The type of questions that are asked determines the level of understanding that is to be ensured. It consists of organizing the information in a logical order, in order to structure the sequence of a story, the text in a coherent way ("retelling": retelling). This technique refers to certain typical elements that are present in a story or information and poses some type questions: What is the main idea? Place, facts, etc.
The post-reading phase lends itself to group work, so that students confront their own interpretations with those of their peers and construct the meaning of the texts read from multiple perspectives.
- Mnemonics
It is a mental association procedure to facilitate the memory of something. Mnemonic techniques usually consist of associating the contents and structures that want to be retained with certain physical locations arranged for convenience. This technique takes advantage of the brain's natural ability to remember images and to pay more attention to unusual or extraordinary events.
- Reflection or understanding (the most effective)
This last strategy turns out to be the slowest since it requires searching dictionaries for words whose meaning is not fully understood. Clarify doubts using books, ask other people. Recognize units of information, recognize key words, determine which are the main ideas from the secondary ones, pursue conclusions and do not remain calm until clarifying what they are and how they have been reached.
conclusion
The authors of this article defend the idea of the importance of reading in the teaching-learning process of English as a foreign language, especially English for Specific Purposes for the fourth and fifth years of the clinical cycle of the medical career in the General Calixto García Faculty of Medical Sciences, in Havana, Cuba. We consider that the success of a good learning of this communication skill depends to a great extent on the correct selection, orientation and application of the teaching tasks that students should develop in a guided and independent way inside and outside the classroom.
Reading in a foreign language promotes in students both the linguistic knowledge as well as the stimulation of all mental processes that manage to relate and connect new information with the knowledge that we already have as part of our social and previous experience as readers. Reading requires effort, concentration and a certain isolation: reading is working. The student must understand that reading is an intellectual activity that strengthens and develops their cognitive ability.
Bibliographic references
- Curbeira Cancela, A. (2015). Cycle of Discourse Analysis conferences. Master of Applied Linguistics. FLEX, University of Havana. (Unpublished) Vigotsky, L. (1985). History of the development of higher psychic functions. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Crítica. The pleasure of reading. Graduated reading in the E / LE course. Ivonne Lerner. Open University of Israel and the Cervantes Institute of Tel Aviv. Salas Perea RS and Salas Mainegra A. Contemporary Medical Education. Challenges, Processes and Methodologies. Bucaramanga: University of Santander, Colombia; ISBN 978-958-8118-96-3 Vidal Ledo MJ, Salas Perea RS, Fernández Oliva B, García Merino AL. Competency-based education. Digital Thematic Search. Educ Méd Super; 2016; 30Salas Perea RS and Salas Mainegra A. Training model of the Cuban doctor. Theoretical and methodological bases.. Havana: ECIMED;2017. Available at: http://www.bvs.sld.cu/libros-texto/modelo-formativo-medico-cubano/indice-p.htmCámara Estrella A, Díaz Pareja EM, Ortega Tudela JM. Development of learning competencies in university students. REDU-Magazine of University Teaching. 2015; 13 (2): 233-48. Available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/14/165Pernas Gómez M, Garrido Riquenes C. The learning of the English language in the careers of Medical Sciences. Educ Med Super. 2005; 19 (2). Available at: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?pid=S0864-1412005000200004&script=sci-arttextBarbán Carrillo, Emilio, Madelaine Cabrera Pernia and Graciela Rosales Reyes (2013). From intensive to extensive reading in the Oral Reading and Communication Technique classes… In: Proceedings of the I National Scientific Seminar “Reading and writing at the University”. Havana.Cuban Education Editor Seal, p. 79-88.
Reviewed digital sites
- http://www.mnemotecnia.es. Revised May 2018http: //es.wikipedia.org. Revised May 2018 http://ecured.cu/Mnemotecnia. Revised June 2018 http://www.ub.edu/filhis/culturele/lerner.html. Revised June 2018 https://www.ecured.cu/index.php? Title = Extensive-reading & oldid = 2396614. Revised June 2018
It is estimated that the hieroglyphic writing began to be used around 3300 BC. C., It was used for more than 3600 years, as the last known inscription is recorded on August 24, 394 and is in the temple of File.
person who wishes to receive baptism and who is instructed with this design.
lingua franca historically refers to a hybrid language, without native speakers, the result of contact between speakers of different languages, and who find common points to understand each other Concept of lingua franca
