ERIC Number: EJ1112246
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0125-2488
EISSN: N/A
In the Right Place at the Right Time: Asian English Accents in a Listening Test for Healthcare Professions
Suebsook, Khwanchanok; Adunyarittigun, Dumrong
PASAA: Journal of Language Teaching and Learning in Thailand, v51 p215-234 Jan-Jun 2016
The rise of medical tourism and the increasing number of international patients from Asian countries have led Thai healthcare professionals to serve a lot of Asian patients and to encounter a complexity of language use in their workplace. There is a necessity for these professionals to strive for an understanding of Asian accents spoken by the patients in order to ensure successful communication and subsequently to best provide them with high-quality medical services. Therefore, the ability to understand Asian accents has become necessary for healthcare professionals. To enhance test validity and authenticity and promote beneficial washback, English proficiency tests used in healthcare professions should include a variety of Asian English accents. Unfortunately, these tests limit accents to the inner-circle varieties. With a high tendency of encountering Asian speakers, it seems unreasonable to ignore Asian English accents and expose healthcare personnel to the inner-circle varieties only in listening tests. Thus, the inclusion of Asian English accents in a listening test for healthcare professions is significantly needed. This paper mainly discusses the rationale for incorporating Asian English accents as test input and addresses methodological concerns in the development of a listening test with various accents.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Health Occupations, Foreign Nationals, Patients, Asians, English (Second Language), Dialects, Pronunciation, Listening Comprehension Tests, Medical Services, Travel, Tourism, Language Proficiency, Language Tests, Test Construction, Test Validity, Second Language Learning, Communication Strategies, Needs Assessment, Mutual Intelligibility, Inclusion, Health Personnel
Chulalongkorn University Language Institute. Prem Purachatra Building, Chulalongkom University, Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Tel: +66-2-218-6092; Fax: +66-2-218-6104; e-mail: pasaa.editor@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.culi.chula.ac.th/Publicationsonline/home_p1.php
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Thailand
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: International English Language Testing System; Test of English as a Foreign Language; Test of English for International Communication
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A