Paper: A Study of the English Language Competency and Related to Factors for Nurses in Taiwan (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Tuesday, 8 July 2008: 3:35 PM

Shui-Tao Hu, MS, RN , Nursing Department, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Shu-Chuan Ting, BSN, RN , Psychiatric Unit, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Pei-Jane Wu, BSN, RN , Emergency Department Intensive Care Unit (EDICU), Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Ying-Lan Lin, BSN, RN , Surgical Unit, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Pei-Shuang Lee, BSN, RN , Medical Unit, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Kuei-Rong Lui, BSN, RN , Surgical Unit, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Keelung, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: 1.The learners will able to understand the English language competency for nurses.

Learning Objective 2: 2.The learners will able to understand influence factors of English language competency for nurses.

Nowadays, the international medical care is getting important and necessary.Therefore, the English language competency for nurses will be more importance in

the clinical practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine English language competency for nurses at a teaching hospital in the north of Taiwan.

The descriptive design was used in the study. The study took place from May. 10,May 15, 2007. Totally, 138 nurses were recruited. The instruments used included nurses' demographic data and English language competency scale. The English language competency scale, which included the vocabulary (Grade 1 to 6), grammar, structure, blank, reading with 9catogries scored from 0 to 1, which used true and false choice. The score of each category was 5 and total cores were 45.

The results showed that: 1) the subjects most were college degree (34.8%), N3 and N4 nursing ladder (26.8%), and more are interesting in English (50.7%). In addition, most of the subjects need to help, which followed by the vocabulary (72.5%), listening (61.6%), speaking (56.5%), reading (43.5%), grammar (36.2%), and writing (26.1%). 2) the total cores of English language competency were 35.1. The higher

rank of Mean was followed by vocabulary Grade 1(4.83), vocabulary grade 2 (4.49), and grammar (4.04). 3) there was significant difference between interesting in English and the mean English language competency. The results of this study should be provided to nurses as a reference to enhance the English language competency.

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