Spoken Fluency, Clinical Documentation, and Interprofessional Communication: A Multi-Dimensional ESP Needs Analysis of Pakistani Nursing Students

Abstract

The study is a multi-dimensional English for Specific Purposes (ESP) needs analysis of 99 female undergraduate nursing students of School of Nursing, The University of Faisalabad (TUF), Pakistan. This needs assessment, breaks down into three theoretically and empirically distinguishable dimensions: Spoken Fluency (patient facing oral communication; items C1, C2, C4, C5), Clinical Documentation (professional writing; items D1–D4) and Interprofessional Communication (clinical English use with healthcare staff and ward participation; items B2, C3). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression, and the questionnaire used was on a CLT-oriented Likert scale with an α of .900. Dimension was highest with Clinical Documentation (M = 4.109, SD = 0.613), followed closely but significantly by Spoken Fluency (M = 3.747, SD = 0.690) and Interprofessional Communication (M = 3.712, SD = 0.824). The paired t-tests indicated that documentation was significantly greater than spoken fluency (t = −5.023, p < .001) and interprofessional communication (t = 4.793, p < .001) while there was no significant difference between spoken fluency and interprofessional communication (t = 0.516, p = .607). One-way ANOVA results indicated significant differences in Spoken Fluency (F = 3.979, p = .005) and Interprofessional Communication (F = 3.547, p = .010) by academic level but not Documentation (p = .671). When all three dimensions were analyzed together in a multiple regression, all three accounted for 23.5% of the variance in ESP learning needs (R² = .235), with Clinical Documentation being the best predictor factor (β = +0.237). In Section G, the priority checklist had an agreement in four out of six priorities with Spoken Fluency (ranks 1-2) and Interprofessional Communication (ranks 3, 5). This study has found that the oral communication ability of TUF students is underdeveloped, which is a multi-dimensional communication problem, and clinical English teaching should be urgently re-designed according to the dimension of CLT.

Keywords: ESP Needs Analysis, Spoken Fluency, Clinical Documentation, Interprofessional Communication, Nursing Education, CLT, Pakistan, Multi-Dimensional, Regression Analysis