An investigation of the English proficiency of potential nurses from University College Shahputra and Kolej Kejururawatan by Occupational English Writing Test: a case study

Jeba, Jebunnesa and Abdullah, Ibrahim (2013) An investigation of the English proficiency of potential nurses from University College Shahputra and Kolej Kejururawatan by Occupational English Writing Test: a case study. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 18 (1). pp. 62-63. ISSN 2279-0845 (print), 2279-0837 (online). (Published)

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Abstract

Health practitioners have to demonstrate that their English language proficiency meets certain standards. Being an important part of the healthcare team, nurses who work in multi-lingual context need to have necessary command in English to perform their duties effectively. Though Malaysia is a country full of diverse people, there is no specific English language test for Malaysian nurses now. This research aims to experiment a special test, the Occupational English Writing Test (OET) which is specifically designed for health practitioners, on the nurses of two nursing colleges in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Specifically the objectives of this research are to assess Malaysian nurses' performance in the OET and to evaluate its suitability and acceptability in Malaysian context. This study is a case study. The nurses chosen as samples for this research cover 53 nursing students from Kolej Kejururawatan, Kuantan and University College Shahputra, Kuantan. The researcher administers a questionnaire which comprises of three sample OET writing tests. She also interviews some samples individually. The result of this study shows that nurses' English proficiency is not satisfactory. The interviews obviously signify that nurses' lack of communication is a barrier to patient safety. Therefore the nurses need to demonstrate a good communication skill in working context. Thus their language proficiency needs to be tested and OET is suitable for this purpose because OET exemplifies the real difficulty of language performance of health practitioners in work-related context. From the research, it is also crystal clear that OET is very much acceptable for Malaysian nurses.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Please click to official URL
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nurses today; OET and Malaysia; Case study and results
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty/Division: Faculty of Engineering Technology
Institute of Postgraduate Studies
Depositing User: Noorul Farina Arifin
Date Deposited: 14 Feb 2014 02:53
Last Modified: 10 Sep 2019 02:43
URI: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/5039
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