Investigating Dentistry Students’ Perceived Applicability of Equivalents ofDentistry Terms Proposed by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature: AProgressing Field of Interdisciplinary Research

Abstract

Finding Persian equivalents for scientific terms is one of the aims of Academy of
Persian Language and Literature (APLL). This research aimed to probe the most frequently used
Persian equivalents of dentistry terms at APLL. It also aimed to investigate the perceived
adequacy, awareness and use of the registered Persian equivalents by the students of dentistry.
In this vein, a questionnaire including 60 item equivalents was delivered among 69 participants
including the fourth and eighth semester students of School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of
Medical Sciences. Then their acceptance level was evaluated by a revised model of Hesami
Tackallou and Ghanbari’s four-odd taxonomies model of Cooper for the Study of Language
Spread. The results indicated that the perceived adequacy, awareness and use of the registered
Persian equivalents by the eighth semester students of dentistry was higher than the fourth
semester students of dentistry. The findings of the study can widen the perspectives toward
meeting the needs to strengthen Persian language as a scientific language.