Discovering the Identity and Suitability of Electronic Learning Tools Students Use in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Programs

Abstract

To complete translation tasks in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) programs at Iranian medical universities, students use different online and offline e-learning tools whose identity and suitability remain unexplored. This study aimed to identify the offline and online tools paramedical students use in the programs and investigate the purposes for and the conditions in which the tools are employed. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that the students used Google Translate (GT) as the main online tool and utilized bilingual, bilingualised and monolingual dictionaries in the form of mobile applications as the main offline tools in order of priority. The results also indicated that the students used no technical field-specific online or offline tool. Moreover, it was discovered that the offline mobile applications were the students’ first choice to find the meaning of general and technical terms, while the online tools were used only as a last resort for translating texts, finding the meaning of technical terms and learning language skills where free quality Internet was available. The investigation into the suitability of the most frequently used tools revealed that the offline bilingual (ised) tools lacked comprehensiveness and specificity in defining technical terms and GT could not make accurate English to Persian translations. The study recommends that students’ awareness about the drawbacks of GT be raised, appropriate alternatives to the translation system be introduced and field-specific translation software supporting English and Persian be developed. The study suggests that field-specific offline bilingual (ised) dictionary applications be developed and used in the ESP programs at universities facing Internet problems.