Cui Dai
ABSTRACT
This study explored the oral English communication skills, interaction strategies, and attitudes of hospital nurses at the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University. The aim was to evaluate nurses’ proficiency in English, their use of interaction strategies such as topic control, topic shifting, repair, and termination during patient interactions, and their behavioral, cognitive, and affective attitudes towards oral English communication. A qualitative approach was employed, utilizing open-ended questions to identify challenges related to oral English communication skills, interaction strategies, and attitudes. The findings revealed that participants exhibited limited proficiency in oral English, particularly in fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Moreover, they faced difficulties in applying effective interaction strategies, and many expressed low confidences in their ability to communicate in English. The study concluded that limited oral English proficiency and confidence significantly impede effective nurse-patient communication. These findings emphasize the urgent need for a comprehensive training program to enhance nurses’ oral English communication skills, interaction strategies and attitudes towards communication in English, equipping them to meet the demands of an increasingly globalized medical environment.
Keywords: Attitudes towards communication, English language proficiency, hospital nurses, interaction strategies, oral English communication skills