Masters Degrees (Linguistics and Language Practice)
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Browsing Masters Degrees (Linguistics and Language Practice) by Subject "Communication"
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Item Open Access The theoretical justification for the design of a communicative course for nurses: nurses on the move(University of the Free State, 2015-01) Pretorius, Marilize; Weideman, A. J.; Van Dyk, T.English: This study provides a theoretical justification for the design of a communicative course for nursing staff – Nurses on the Move (NoM) – in the South African context. Communication is deemed a key in achieving effective, safe nursing practice. One of the main problems associated with nursing communication in South Africa relates to the fact that South Africa has eleven official languages. Nursing staff are thus often required to communicate with other healthcare professionals, patients and the family and friends of patients in an additional language. As a result, miscommunications can occur, which could lead to serious adverse events. An intervention to address this problem in the form of an applied linguistic design, such as a NoM syllabus, displays two terminal functions – the technical modality, which guides the design, and the analytical function, which provides the rational basis for the design (Weideman, 2006a). A detour into theory and analysis is thus required in order to provide a theoretical justification for the technical design. Based on this justification, the design of the syllabus can proceed, which will ultimately prescribe what the course should consist of, including its assessment. This study thus consisted of a needs analysis to inform the design of a NoM course that could help to address the communication problems in the nursing profession. The approach to language teaching selected for this design is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which requires that, among other things, authentic texts and functional communication be used in the design of the syllabus for the course. The needs analysis, therefore, consisted of a review of the international literature to develop a typology of nursing communicative interactions, as well as to identify nursing communication problems. After a rigorous ethical clearance process, the literature review was followed by observations of nursing staff and the various individuals they interact with during their work, which included audio recording interactions and making field notes. This enabled us to extend and refine the initial typology. The data were also analysed for the most common communicative functions, and their common combinations, given the typology. In addition, the problems and short-circuits in communication are also identified and interviews conducted to further clarify issues raised in the data from the observations. Based on these analyses we outlined what the content and structure of the envisioned NoM course should comprise. Furthermore, the principles for design that derive from the analogical connections between the technical and all the other dimensions of reality were also discussed to specify the requirements for the design of a NoM course (Weideman, 2006a). The data generated and analysed in this study allows us also to justify, or in certain cases to anticipate the justification of, the proposed syllabus in terms of the following requirements: systematicity, scope, validity, consistency, differentiation, appealing, articulation, appropriateness, economy, alignment, accountability, fairness and trustworthiness. As a result, the subsequent phases of design can commence, in which the syllabus is articulated into a complete course and its assessment. Ultimately the aim is to alleviate some of the pain and suffering of South Africans by helping nurses to improve their communicative competence, and thus enabling them to practice their profession more effectively.