Beyond the Dictionary: EFL Students’ Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Generative AI for Medical Terminology Acquisition

Conventional medical dictionaries often fall short of the learning needs of EFL students seeking to acquire specialised vocabulary. However, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) offers a faster way to learn new words in this digital era. This preliminary feasibility pilot study investigates the perceptions and attitudes of first-year allied medical sciences students (N=10) towards Generative AI applications for medical vocabulary acquisition. A survey-based approach was used with 10 students, and the data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to assess student sentiment, trends in AI tools, and specific vocabulary acquisition practices. GenAI is effective for language acquisition in general, but it is worth exploring how confident students in healthcare disciplines are in using GenAI for medical terms.