English for medical students Developing academic literacies: conference presentations - review

Today’s session Review the course Identify general issues How to continue improving

From mirroring to presenting Adopt a voice Pace, intonation, & pronunciation ‘Thought groups’ Transfer to your own performance

Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over 20 years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over twenty years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

Thought groups Up to 4 ‘beats’ One unit of information One main shift in intonation

Difficult words for brazilian portuguese speakers (And do they matter Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over twenty years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

‘th’ words – voiced and voiceless other that together thereby thus arrythmic Voiceless hypothesis health thirty-three pathway methyltransferase therapy

‘th’ words – voiced and voiceless other that together thereby thus arrythmic Use d/v Voiceless hypothesis health thirty-three pathway methyltransferase therapy Use t/f

Past tense regular verbs -d (after voiced consonant, excepts /d/, and all vowels) characterised, remained, opened, cared, allowed, aimed, required, pursued, proposed -t (after voiceless consonants, except /t/) based, silenced, suppressed, established, promised, kicked, stopped ‘id’: (only after t/d) indicated, facilitated, supported, demonstrated, needed, impacted, suspended, studied

Past tense regular verbs -d (after voiced consonant, excepts /d/, and all vowels) characterised, remained, opened, cared, allowed, aimed, required, pursued, proposed -t (after voiceless consonants, except /t/) based, silenced, suppressed, established, promised, kicked, stopped ‘id’: (only after t/d) indicated, facilitated, supported, demonstrated, needed, impacted, suspended, studied Studies suggest that mixing these up does not affect intelligibility. But…

English as a lingua franca Many participants in international conferences will be L2 English speakers They will also have L2 accents You are trying to impress them, not me. What causes intelligibility problems for everyone?

Extra unstressed syllables eight/eighty fat/fatty health/healthy special/especial?

Brazilian Portuguese /r/ Column A rare Rome right rabbit rat Column B hair home height habit hat

Easily confused words a little injection a lethal injection a lack of patients a lack of patience I just wandered I just wondered I want to do it I won’t do it

Course survey on moodle – please complete! http://edisciplinas.usp.br/mod/questionnaire/complete.php?id=2429279

Feedback from previous course survey Positive about the flexibility and course content More face-to-face consultations? TOEFL preparation? Speed of course/amount of content in 4 weeks Range of methodologies ‘Tutorials’ on language topics, eg article usage. Preview – grant funding applications

Issues arising from the present course Main focus on performance/pronunciation Some guidance on presentation tips (expert advice/common sense) Perhaps more focus on the language of presentation? Technical terms?

Final pieces of advice… Everyone has an accent – learn to love yours Be aware of issues that might cause problems Practise, practise, practise Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (with a critical friend) Carry on mirroring Check out sites like http://englishpronunciationcourse.com/

Acknowledgments Picture credits: Laboratório de Letramento Acadêmico, USP The Ayurvedic Man. A figure showing Ayurvedic understanding of human anatomy (detail), Pen and watercolour, Probably 18th Century CE, probably of Nepalese origin, © Wellcome Library, London Barber DNA, by Robin Blackledge, © ©Robin Blackledge/Wellcome Images Sources of advice: Blome, C, Sondermann H, Augustin, M. Accepted standards on how to give a Medical Research Presentation: a systematic review of expert opinion papers. GMC J Med Educ 2017; 34: 1-7 Wellstead G, Whitehurst K, Gundogan, B, Agha R. How to deliver an oral presentation. International Journal of Surgery Oncology 2017; 2:e25