An In-depth Analysis of Nurses’ Perceptions about English language needs of Nursing students for the Design of New Nursing Curricula

Abstract

Designing a new curriculum requires much attention and effort since it is not an easy task and there are some specific procedures to follow during the design. One of the procedures, needs analysis, was conducted in the present study in order to contribute to the design of new nursing curricula. With this in mind, the study aims at exploring the perceptions of nurses and hospital administrator related to English language needs of nursing students in the field after their graduation. The study was based on the fundamental component of exploring language needs: Target Situation Analysis. Employing a qualitative and quantitative design, a questionnaire was administered to 52 nurses and a semi-structured interview was conducted to a hospital administrators in order to get a clear understanding related to the perceptions. While the quantitative data collected through a questionnaire was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, the qualitative data was examined through content-analysis. The findings of the study showed that speaking is the most important and needed skill for nurses in the field, followed by listening, reading and writing skills, respectively. English is used most in the situations of ‘Administering medications’, ‘Checking understanding’, ‘Patient admission’, ‘Explaining drug interactions’ and ‘Educating patients’. The most important medical topics were pointed out by the nurses are that ‘Medical treatments’, ‘Medicines’, ‘Diseases’, ‘Body parts’ and ‘Patient care’. It is hoped that the findings of the current study will contribute to the design of new curricula.

 

Keywords

• Needs Analysis,Target Situation Analysis,curricula

References

1. Alebachew, S. (2016). Analysis of the English Language Needs of BSc Nursing Students: The Case of Higher Education Institutions in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia. English for Specific Purposes World, 50(17).
2. Alfehaid, A. F. T. (2011). Developing an ESP curriculum for students of health sciences through needs analysis and course evaluation in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation,University of Leicester).
3. Alinezhad, A., & Gholami, J. (2012). English language needs analysis of nursing students and nursing practitioners in Urmia. International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, 2(7), 404-423.
4. Basturkmen, H. (2014). Ideas and options in English for specific purposes. Routledge.
5. Bracaj, M. (2014). Teaching English for Specific Purposes and teacher training. European Scientific Journal, 10(2).
6. Breen, R. L. (2006). A practical guide to focus-group research. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(3), 463-475.
7. Buchanan, E. A. (Ed.). (2004). Readings in virtual research ethics: Issues and controversies. IGI Global.
8. Clingwall, D. (2015). A Reflective Analysis on Developing Nursing English Courses in Japan and Korea, Hiroshima Studies in Language and Language Education. 18, 195-212.

9. Dehnad, A., Bagherzadeh, R., Bigdeli, S., Hatami, K., & Hosseini, F. (2010). Syllabus revision: a needs analysis Study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1307-1312.
10. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press.
11. Freihat, S., & Al-Makhzoomi, K. (2012). An English for specific purposes (ESP) course for nursing students in Jordan and the role of a needs analysis played. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(7), 129-145.
12. Gass, J. (2012). Needs analysis and situational analysis: Designing an ESP curriculum for Thai nurses. English for Specific Purposes World, 12, 37-54.
13. Halai, A. (2006). Ethics in qualitative research: Issues and challenges. EdQual A Research Programme Consortium on Implementing Education Quality in Low Income Countries. EdQual Working Paper Number, 4, 1-12.
14. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge University Press.
15. Hyland , K. ( 2006). English for Academic Purposes . London : Routledge .
16. Hyland, K.(2007). International Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer.
17. Kayaoğlu, M. N., & Akbaş, R. D. (2016). An Investigation into Medical Students' English Language Needs. Participatory Educational Research. Special Issue 2016- I, 63-71. Lee, C. Y. (1998). English for nursing purposes: A needs assessment for professional-oriented curriculum design. Academic Journal of Kang-Ning .1(1). 55-72.
18. Marianna, M. (2011). What are the major ethical issues in conducting research? Is there a conflict between the research ethics and the nature of nursing?. Health Science Journal.
19. McNabb, D.E. (2010). Case Research in Public Management. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
20. Mitra, Z., & Mujtaba, M. (2016). THE ROLE OF NEED ANALYSIS IN TEACHING ESP FOR NURSING. In: Seminar nasional Peranan Analisis Kebutuhan.
21. Miyake, M., & Tremarco, J. (2005). Needs analysis for nursing students utilizing questionnaires and interviews. Kawasaki journal of medical welfare, 11(1), 23-34.
22. Nehru, P.P., Wello, B., Jabu, B. (2016). Developing Instructional Materials for Nursing Students at Troja South Sulawesi, Indonesia.Journal of Literature, 23.
23. Nunan, D., & Bailey, K. M. (2009). Exploring second language classroom research: A comprehensive guide.
24. Önder, N. (2014). Diagnosing the EAP needs of Turkish medical students: A longitudinal critical needs analysis. Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (AELFE), (28), 35-58.
25. Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (Eds.). (2013). The handbook of English for specific purposes (Vol. 120). John Wiley & Sons. LYNNE FLOWERDEW (Chapter17)
26. Richards, JC., Schmidt, R. (2010). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (4th Edition). London: Longman.
27. Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Ernst Klett Sprachen.
28. Romo, A. J. (2006). An English for specific purposes curriculum to prepare English learners to become nursing assistants.
29. Saragih, E. (2014). Designing ESP Materials for Nursing Students Based On Needs Analysis. International Journal of Linguistics, 6(4), 59-70.
30. Shomoossi, N., Rad, M., & Rakhshani, M. H. (2013). Efficacy of English Language Programs as Judged by Nurses and Students of Nursing: Do Nurses in Iran Need to Know English?. Acta Facultatis Medicae Naissensis, 30(3), 137-144.
31. Tan Jia Xing, J. (2009). The use of therapeutic communication skills in nursing practice. Singapore Nursing Journal, 36(1), 35-40.