Language Test as Boundary Object: Perspectives from Test Users in the Healthcare Domain

Autor/inn/en	Macqueen, Susy; Pill, John; Knoch, Ute
Titel	Language Test as Boundary Object: Perspectives from Test Users in the Healthcare Domain
Quelle	In: Language Testing, 33 (2016) 2, S.271-288 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0265-5322
DOI	10.1177/0265532215607401
Schlagwörter	Language Tests; Health Personnel; Languages for Special Purposes; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Standards; Classification; Qualitative Research; Case Studies; Language Proficiency; English for Special Purposes; Interviews; Physicians; Nurses; Stakeholders; Work Environment; Patients; Figurative Language; Testing Problems; Health Services; Foreign Countries; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Language test; Sprachtest; Medizinisches Personal; Sprachhandlungsfähigkeit; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Standard; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Qualitative Forschung; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Physician; Doctor; Arzt; Arbeitsmilieu; Patient; Health service; Gesundheitsdienst; Gesundheitswesen; Ausland; Australien
Abstract	Objects that sit between intersecting social worlds, such as Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) tests, are "boundary objects"--dynamic, historically derived mechanisms which maintain coherence between worlds (Star & Griesemer, 1989). They emerge initially from sociopolitical mandates, such as the need to ensure a safe and efficient workforce or to control immigration, and they develop into standards (i.e. stabilized classifying mechanisms). In this article, we explore the concept of LSP test as boundary object through a qualitative case study of the Occupational English Test (OET), a test which assesses the English proficiency of healthcare professionals who wish to practise in English-speaking healthcare contexts. Stakeholders with different types of vested interest in the test were interviewed (practising doctors and nurses who have taken the test, management staff, professional board representatives) to capture multiple perspectives of both the test-taking experience and the relevance of the test to the workplace. The themes arising from the accumulated stakeholder perceptions depict a "boundary object" that encompasses a work-readiness level of language proficiency on the one hand and aspects of communication skills for patient-centred care on the other. We argue that the boundary object metaphor is useful in that it represents a negotiation over the adequacy and effects of a test standard for all vested social worlds. Moreover, the test should benefit the worlds it interconnects, not just in terms of the impact on the learning opportunities it offers candidates, but also the impact such learning carries into key social sites, such as healthcare workplaces. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01