Minton, Timothy

写真a

Affiliation

School of Medicine (Mita)

Position

Professor Emeritus

Profile 【 Display / hide

  • Board Member, Japan Society for Medical English Education (JASMEE) Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Medical English Education President, The 19th JASMEE Academic Meeting (2016) Representative Honorary Secretary, The Cambridge & Oxford Society, Tokyo Executive Director, The Japan-British Society Secretary, The Tokyo Club Board Member, The English-Speaking Union of Japan (ESUJ)

Profile Summary 【 Display / hide

  • My work focuses mainly on the practical aspects of English teaching and learning, particularly in the field of English grammar and usage, and most of my publications are part of an ongoing exploration of the nature and causes of grammatical and semantic misconceptions commonly held by Japanese learners at all levels of proficiency. The materials I use for this research range from students’ writing to school and university textbooks and other writings in or on the English language published in Japan. Another closely related field of study I am engaged in is problems specific to English usage in the presentation, both written and oral, of medical research. This work is being pursued in collaboration with other members of the Japan Society for Medical English Education.

Career 【 Display / hide

  • 1984.04
    -
    1991.03

    Nippon Medical School, English Department, Full-time lecturer

  • 1991.04
    -
    2012.03

    Nippon Medical School, English Department, Associate Professor

  • 2012.04
    -
    Present

    Keio University School of Medicine, English Department, Professor

Academic Background 【 Display / hide

  • 1977.10
    -
    1984.01

    St John's College, University of Cambridge

    University, Graduated

Academic Degrees 【 Display / hide

  • Master of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1984.01

 

Research Areas 【 Display / hide

  • Humanities & Social Sciences / English linguistics

  • Humanities & Social Sciences / Foreign language education

  • Humanities & Social Sciences / Education

Research Keywords 【 Display / hide

  • Misconceptions, grammar, semantics, teaching/learning methods, English for Specific Purposes (medical English)

 

Books 【 Display / hide

  • CNN English Express 特集 知らないと大ケガ 誰も教えてくれなかった英語の“リアル”丁寧表現

    MINTON Timothy David, 株式会社  朝日出版社, 2018.01

    Scope: 平成30年1月号 pp 41 – 49

  • English for Medical Purposes, Step 2

    Medical View, 2017.10

    Scope: 1 – 181

  • Basic English Textbook for Learners of Rehabilitation Sciences (3rd edition)

    Masako Shimizu, Medical View, 2017.04

    Scope: 1 - 159

  • English for Medical Purposes, Step 1

    Medical View, 2016.07

    Scope: 1 – 159

  • 医師のための 即効!英会話フレーズ 国際学会編

    Isao DATE, Medical View, 2015.03

    Scope: 1 - 163

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Papers 【 Display / hide

  • A novel textbook based on JASMEE's medical English educational guidelines

    Masahito Hitosugi, Timothy MINTON, et al.

    Journal of Medical English Education (Medical View)  15 ( 3 ) 88 - 89 2016.10

    Joint Work, Accepted

  • In defense of the passive voice in medical writing

    Minton Timothy D.

    Keio Journal of Medicine 64 ( 1 ) 1 - 10 2015.03

    Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution), Single Work, Accepted,  ISSN  0022-9717

     View Summary

    <p>Few medical journals specifically instruct authors to use the active voice and avoid the passive voice, but advice to that effect is common in the large number of stylebooks and blogs aimed at medical and scientific writers. Such advice typically revolves around arguments that the passive voice is less clear, less direct, and less concise than the active voice, that it conceals the identity of the person(s) performing the action(s) described, that it obscures meaning, that it is pompous, and that the high rate of passivevoice usage in scientific writing is a result of conformity to an established and old-fashioned style of writing. Some of these arguments are valid with respect to specific examples of passive-voice misuse by some medical (and other) writers, but as arguments for avoiding passive-voice use in general, they are seriously flawed. In addition, many of the examples that stylebook writers give of inappropriate use are actually much more appropriate in certain contexts than the active-voice alternatives they provide. In this review, I examine the advice offered by anti-passive writers, along with some of their examples of “inappropriate” use, and argue that the key factor in voice selection is sentence word order as determined by the natural tendency in English for the topic of discourse (“old” information) to take subject position and for “new” information to come later. Authors who submit to this natural tendency will not have to worry much about voice selection, because it will usually be automatic.</p>

  • Matching Bring and Take with Come and Go in Terms of Direction of Movement: Should Inconsistencies in Native-speaker Usage Be of Concern to Learners of English as a Foreign Language?

    MINTON Timothy David

    Bull. Lib. Arts & Sci. Nippon Med. Sch.  ( 41 ) 1 - 25 2012.09

    Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution), Single Work

  • Deficiencies in Japanese University Students’ Knowledge of Polite English Request Patterns

    MINTON Timothy David

    Bull. Lib. Arts & Sci. Nippon Med. Sch.  ( 40 ) 1 - 14 2011.05

    Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution), Single Work

Reviews, Commentaries, etc. 【 Display / hide

  • Writing Tips: Basic Formatting

    MINTON Timothy David

    Journal of Medical English Education 13 ( 3 ) 90 - 91 2014.10

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal), Single Work

  • Quantifiers and subject-verb agreement

    MINTON Timothy David

    Journal of Medical English Education 12 ( 3 ) 98 - 99 2013.10

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal), Single Work

  • Review of "How to Write, Publish, & Present in the Health Sciences", by Thomas A. Lang (American College of Physicians)

    MINTON Timothy David

    Journal of Medical English Education 9 ( 1 ) 53 - 53 2010.01

    Book review, literature introduction, etc., Single Work

  • TOEFL ITP導入とその効果

    Sumie NISHIKAWA, MINTON Timothy David

    Bull. Lib. Arts & Sci. Nippon Med. Sch.  ( 40 ) 67 - 79 2009.12

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (bulletin of university, research institution), Joint Work

Presentations 【 Display / hide

  • Hints for avoiding common problems when presenting in English

    MINTON Timothy David

    National Center for Neurology and Psychology: Medical writing seminar (National Center for Neurology and Psychology, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8551) , 

    2018.10

    Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech, National Center for Neurology and Psychology

  • Medical Paper Writing, Hands-on Seminar

    MINTON Timothy David

    National Center for Neurology and Psychology: Medical writing seminar (National Center for Neurology and Psychology, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8551) , 

    2018.01

    Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech, National Center for Neurology and Psychology

  • The passive voice and other common problems

    MINTON Timothy David

    National Center for Neurology and Psychology: Medical writing seminar (National Center for Neurology and Psychology, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8551) , 

    2017.11

    Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech, National Center for Neurology and Psychology

  • Aspects of English grammar and usage that puzzle high school English teachers

    MINTON Timothy David

    中学高等学校向けセミナー Developing Essential Skills (Tsukuba International Congress Center) , 

    2017.10

    Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech, Oxford University Press, Suken Shuppan

  • Aspects of English grammar and usage that puzzle high school English teachers

    MINTON Timothy David

    中学高等学校向けセミナー Developing Essential Skills (東京都 新宿喜楓ビル) , 

    2017.10

    Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech, Oxford University Press, Suken Shuppan

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Courses Taught 【 Display / hide

  • ENGLISH 3

    2024

  • ENGLISH 4

    2023

  • ENGLISH 3

    2023

  • ENGLISH 2

    2023

  • ENGLISH 1

    2023

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Courses Previously Taught 【 Display / hide

  • English II

    Keio University

    2017.04
    -
    2018.03

    Full academic year, Laboratory work/practical work/exercise, Within own faculty, 114people

    Medical English

  • English I and II retake

    Keio University

    2017.04
    -
    2018.03

    Full academic year, Laboratory work/practical work/exercise, Within own faculty

  • English IV

    Keio University

    2017.04
    -
    2018.03

    Full academic year, Laboratory work/practical work/exercise, Within own faculty, 114people

    Medical English

  • English II

    Keio University

    2015.04
    -
    2016.03

    Full academic year, Laboratory work/practical work/exercise, Within own faculty, 60h

    Medical English

  • English IV

    Keio University

    2015.04
    -
    2016.03

    Full academic year, Laboratory work/practical work/exercise, Within own faculty, 60h

    Medical English

 

Memberships in Academic Societies 【 Display / hide

  • The Japan Society for Medical Education (JSME), 

    2012.07
    -
    Present
  • The English-Speaking Union of Japan (ESUJ), 

    2011.06
    -
    Present
  • Japan Society for Medical English Education (JASMEE), 

    1998.07
    -
    Present
  • The Japan Association of College English Teachers (JACET), 

    1984.04
    -
    Present
  • The Asiatic Society of Japan (ASJ)

     

Committee Experiences 【 Display / hide

  • 2017.02
    -
    Present

    Secretary, The Tokyo Club

  • 2016.07

    President of The 19th JASMEE Academic Meeting, Japan Society for Medical English Education (JASMEE)

  • 2016.06
    -
    Present

    Executive Director, The Japan-British Society

  • 2015.02
    -
    Present

    Member of the Board of Directors, The Tokyo Club

  • 2014.06
    -
    Present

    Member of the Board, The Japan-British Society

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