DENTISTRY AS ART – AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO AN ESP COURSE
DENTISTRY AS ART – AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO AN ESP COURSE

Summary/Abstract: The experience of teaching ESP has been dramatically changed by the evolution of the world we live in today. ESP teachers need to focus more on interdisciplinary approaches that would use the English language as a tool to transfer knowledge about other fields that have relevance in the various domains students will be activating as future professionals. Thus, our paper wants to show how a text written by Woody Allen, the movie director, more than 40 years ago, can be used and exploited in class in order to make dental students understand notions that overpass the boundaries of the traditional ESP classes. Woody Allen’s text written in 1978, If the Impressionists had been dentists, is a fine opportunity to introduce our students to so many interesting topics that will be looked at from an interdisciplinary approach. Besides the old traditional approach of re-visiting specialized vocabulary, Woody Allen’s text gives us the opportunity to bring into discussion topics related to art and fiction. Students may get a glimpse on the impressionist art, on the idea of intertextuality (as the text alludes to Van Gogh’s letters to his brother, Theo), along with other concepts in critical theory, like irony or pragmatics, elements that become important in understanding communication better. Last but not least, the whole discussion may lead to the understanding of their future profession as an unselfish one that smartly combines science and art altogether. The paper will make reference to the experience of an ESP class with 1st year students in Dental Medicine at the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi.

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