From Vision to face2face: a journey in the sense of progress in teaching general English

Abstract

Introduction: the internationalist medical collaboration and the profuse literature published in English motivate the updating of bibliographies for teaching in medical science universities.
Objective: to analyze the texts of the Vision and face2face series in a tour where the progress of the second over the first is appreciated.
Methods: a literature review was carried out to develop a critical reflexive analysis of the content; study programs, master's thesis, original and review articles published between 2010-2018, in Spanish and English, using Google Scholar, in the period November 2017-January 2019 were considered. The keywords used were: general English, medical sciences , teaching-learning process and undergraduate students. After identifying the shortlisted studies, the titles and abstracts were read to verify their relevance to the study.
Development: several textbooks for teaching general English began to be used in Cuban medical science universities in 1965, until in 2007-2008 the Cuban Vision series was introduced, very controversial and criticized by various authors; the application of Plan D brought with it the implementation of the face2face series, conceived at the University of Cambridge of which the first two books are being used, in a photocopied reproduction by the university publisher “Félix Varela”.
Conclusions: the use of the face2face series has represented a significant advance in the teaching of general English because of its interesting topics, support materials and communicative approach aimed at developing listening and speaking skills in social situations.