This case study has been built on a theoretical basis that recognises the current status of English as an international language, especially its influence on specific domains. The theories underpinning the study generally recognise that the presumed 'superiority' of native speakers can be depreciated, taking into account the huge numbers of non-native speakers worldwide. Specifically, the study has targeted the medical field in Saudi Arabia from a needs analysis perspective, as this domain represents a typical representative milieu where the adopted theories of the language universality and its role as lingua franca can be validated. Interviews and questionnaires were used in a mixed-method approach, to investigate needs, attitudes, and motivations of both medical students and practitioners in their current or prospective situations. Before conducting the research, it was assumed that the researched constructs in presumably two different sites, i.e. academic and professional, would engender different sets of data. Yet, the participants addressed viewpoints appeared to be mostly unanimous. The findings also showed that the increased influx of Saudis in the medical workplaces has minimised the role of English as a communicative means, and English was relegated to specific occupational purposes in such settings. This specific English refers mainly to medical terms, which are mostly code-mixed with Arabic. The study concluded that in this multilingual setting, Arabic has somehow restricted the 'nativisation' of English in the Saudi medical spheres. One of the initial motives of the research was to allow a space for non-native Englishes in the context of the study. However, the study found that the issue of certain variety, whether native or non-native, is at a secondary position to the participants, compared to other prioritised needs. Furthermore, the findings exhibited some issues related to learners’ motivation and language courses failure, which unfolded the expediency of a content-based approach, namely English as a medium of instruction (EMI). More clearly, the participants’ learning experiences revealed the usefulness of EMI in enhancing their proficiency levels, more than language courses can do.

By analysing the codicology and other features of a group of fifteenth-century medical manuscripts, my thesis aims to shed some light into the unexplored role of the compilers of medical material. These individuals assembled a number of booklets mostly produced in Middle English, and put them together with the intention to create volumes entirely dedicated to medicine. The thesis proposes a typology that will show the existence of a type of medical codices, whose substantial codicological alteration evince the involvement of the medical practitioners and earliest owners of the volumes in their making. I will argue that the manuscripts were gathered, arranged, and sometimes copied by these practitioners, who, in an attempt to create their own medical handbooks, customised their books in a manner they considered to be pertinent and useful for their practice. A comprehensive analysis of York Minster Library, MS XVI E, one of these practitioner-compiled composites (as I have labelled them) will offer new insights into a codex which has never been examined in detail. The study will eventually demonstrate that medical practitioners played a significant role in the production of fifteenth-century English medical books, especially in the compilation and arrangement of the codices’ booklets.