Who Should Teach English for Medical Purposes (EMP) ?

Background and purpose: The fact that who is more qualified to teach the EMP (English for Medical purposes) courses has long been the cause of argument between the heads of language departments (LDs) on one side and those of discipline-specific departments(DSDs) on the other side. This research was conducted to study the views of both sides as well as those of students in some EMP English classes.Methods:.Three questionnaires were used as the tool of data collecting. They were filled by some vice- deans, some heads of LDs and DSDs as well as the students of some EMP English classes in six medical universities during the academic year 2006-2007.Results: According to the data gathered, though most vice-deans and almost all heads of language departments (LDs) tended to assign EMP classes to the teachers of LDs ,the majority of the heads of discipline-specialist departments(DSDs) believed that these courses should be taught by subject-specialist teachers. The students of EMP classes, in all, believed that in teaching EMP courses ,L D teachers are more qualified than discipline-specialist teachers. From the six questions posed to 176 students about the different capabilities of EMP teachers ,LD teachers gained 1515 positive points(out of 1920 points) while the points gained by discipline –specialist teachers was just 1331.Conclusions: Students and heads of language department preferred LD teachers while heads of DSDs preferred DS teachers for teaching EMP. LD teachers should enhance their knowledge of the discipline while DSD teacher should study language and language teaching.