Writing skill through the handling of English for specific purposes in Dentistry pre-grade studies

Abstract

Background: the English language teaching is a valuable working tool in health professionals training and the development of writing skills is very important for the professional performance of the future graduated.
Aim: to develop the writing skills through the handling of English for specific purposes.
Materials and Methods: a research that finished with the application of a pedagogical pre-experiment was carried out in the Matanzas Medical University branch of Colón from September 2015 to June 2016. The sample was made up by 16 4th-year Dentistry students. Several methods of the theoretical and empirical levels were used such as the analytical-synthetic one, the inductive-deductive, documents reviewing and analysis, observation, other techniques of gathering direct information and statistical procedures.
Outcomes: the initial diagnosis of the writing skill revealed that 18,7 % of the students were in the high level, 50 % in the middle and 31,2 % in the low one. The assessment stage showed a 68,7 %, 18,7 % y 12,5 % of them in the high, middle and low levels respectively, evidencing a considerable increase of these indicators.
Conclusions: the sistema of activities, contributed to develop the writing skill because it was linked to Dentistry terminology and required the usage of communicative functions and test structures in situations of the students’ academic and occupational environment, favoring the achievement of the proposed objective.