Critical Discourse Analysis of Medical Education: A Case Study of Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Using the historical discourse analysis is an approach to discover general insights of thinkers of a field of study. The studies resulted from the perspectives of the critical social sciences allow scholars to explore unspoken and hidden ideas of the educational methods and tools. The aim of this study was to critically analyze the discourse of the Iranian Journal of Medical Education in the first 18 years of its publication.    

In this study, critical discourse analysis was performed using Foucault's approach. All “letters to the editor” were analyzed in respect of language usage as a cultural mediator in power relations, considerations in social interactions, institutions and the body of knowledge. 

The investigations showed that there are two main approaches in the part of “Letter to the editor”: A demand for “the standardization of research” and “the standardization of education”. In a deeper layer, it seems that there is a dispute between “medical education as a field” and “medical education as a discipline”.

The two main threats to the field of medical education are to restrict it to the discipline of medical education as a mono-discipline and to bureaucratize it in the form of directives and guidelines of the macro-policymaking institutions. In order to maintain the richness of the field of medical education, the diversity and range of involved disciplines must be maintained and reinforced. Establishing a balance between service and research, establishing institutions carrying out research in the form of policy packages, and attempting to establish a relationship between medical education policymakers, researchers in the field and those involved directly in training students will help to grow and develop the field of medical education.