Teaching Medical Cross-Cultural Competence and CLIL: A CLIL Approach in Medical English Education

Medical professionals need cross-cultural competence (Betancourt 2005; Cross 1989 ). They also should be able to communicate effectively in English in both oral and written form because most important medical journals are written in English and it is the main language used in international conferences (Wulff 2004). Europe is currently facing a growing population of immigrants which is impacting the healthcare sector. This is seen especially in Italy ( European Migration Network, 2006). In 2014 there has been an increase in immigration of 823% over the same period in 2013. An estimated 25,650 immigrants have arrived in Sicily, and 1,660 in Puglia and Calabria (Frontex, 2014). Many reasons have been stated for instituting cross-cultural competency training into medical schools: improvement of clinical encounters, relevant treatment recommendations, compliance, reducing racial/ethnic disparities in care and avoiding the exacerbation of illness ( Kleinman, 1978; Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, & Park, 2005; Institute of Medicine, 2002). Multiple competencies have been identified including stereotype avoidance, assessment of core cross-cultural issues, communication techniques, etc.( Betancourt, Weissman,et al. 2007). Six hundred (600) students received medical cross-cultural competency training in English based on the above research. Very little or no previous experience or training was reported in the pre-test research surveys and on the whole, students did not seem to understand the importance of cross-cultural competency. A pre-course self-assessment of English was also given within the survey. A CLIL-based course in “Medical Intercultural Competency” was delivered to the students which resulted in an average improvement of (.5) to one (1.0) complete ECFR level in the area of spoken communication in 40 hours. Students also demonstrated significant growth in the area of medical intercultural competence. The strategy of combining CLIL-type instruction, multimodal analysis and cross-cultural training seems to be effective: increasing English language ECF level and developing cross-cultural medical competence.