The Proposition of an English for Specific Purposes course for Nursing Students to improve their Speaking and Vocabulary Skills in a Clinical Context on the Border Region with the U.S.

Authors

Keywords:

English of Specific Purposes, Nursing, Communication nurse-patient

Abstract

Nowadays, the nursing profession is faced with the growing demand of caring for patients in the Mexico- U.S. border region, causing the phenomenon of medical tourism in the state of Baja California. Frequently,  the nursing staff of hospitals and clinics present communication problems due to the linguistic barrier. This barrier has challenged nurses to learn English in order to overcome this.  Qualitative in nature, this exploratory-descriptive study aims to propose an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for nursing students at the Autonomous University of Baja California in Ensenada. The purpose is to develop and improve their listening and vocabulary skills for effective communication in English. Data collection was carried out in two phases, the first consisted in sharing a questionnaire to the students in order to learn about their needs and expectations regarding their linguistic competence in English. The second phase consisted of carrying-out a semi-structured interview to the academic staff of the Nursing school for the purpose of triangulating data. Through this triangulation, certain aspects were detected such as a need to design an ESP course for nursing aimed specifically at listening and vocabulary terminology within the clinical context in this border region with the U.S.

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Author Biographies

Cristina Caballero Martinez, Universidad Autónoma de Baja Califronia

Licenciado en Enseñanza de lenguas y Licenciado en Traducción por la Facultad de Idiomas de la UABC. Actualmente imparte clases de inglés en una escuela local y sus intereses de investigación se centran en los ámbitos del diseño de cursos de inglés con fines específicos, el desarrollo de la expresión oral y vocabulario para el área de la salud.

Tatiana Estefania Galvan De La Fuente, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Doctorado en Lingüística Aplicada- TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Maestría en ELT (English Language Teaching) de la Universidad de Southampton, Reino Unido y la Licenciatura en la Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Profesor-Investigador en la Facultad de Idiomas-Ensenada. Es miembro del Cuerpo Académico de Lingüística Aplicada en Estudios Fronterizos. Pertenece al Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.

Jesus Eduardo Fong Flores, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Doctor en Filología y Estudios Lingüísticos por la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, España. Es Profesor-investigador de Tiempo Completo en la Facultad de Idiomas de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Es miembro del Cuerpo Académico Lingüística Aplicada en Estudios Fronterizos, Perfil PRODEP, y pertenece al Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNII).

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Published

2024-12-28

How to Cite

Caballero Martinez, C., Galvan De La Fuente, T. E., & Fong Flores, J. E. (2024). The Proposition of an English for Specific Purposes course for Nursing Students to improve their Speaking and Vocabulary Skills in a Clinical Context on the Border Region with the U.S. Sincronía, 29(87), 956–982. Retrieved from https://revistasincronia.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/sincronia/article/view/159

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 87 (2025): January-June

Section

MISCELLANY

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Cristina Caballero Martinez, Tatiana Estefania Galvan De La Fuente, Jesus Eduardo Fong Flores

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