Developing Local Evidence About Faculty Written Exam Questions: Asian ESL Nursing Student Perceptions About Linguistic Modification

Nurs Educ Perspect. 2020 Mar/Apr;41(2):109-111. doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000465.

Abstract

Limited studies address perspectives about exam-writing practices of nursing students for whom English is an additional language. The authors conducted a program-level study of perceptions of 26 nursing students of Asian background who identified as nonnative speakers of English regarding faculty-made, multiple-choice exam questions that had been linguistically modified. Linguistic modification promoted readability and comprehensibility; students preferred the linguistically modified versions 60 percent of the time. This inquiry attends to the need for greater responsiveness to student concerns about test-taking practices and for engendering their ongoing participation in creating local evidence for improving program outcomes.

MeSH terms

  • Asian People / psychology*
  • Educational Measurement / methods*
  • Faculty, Nursing
  • Humans
  • Linguistics
  • Multilingualism*
  • Nursing Education Research
  • Nursing Evaluation Research
  • Students, Nursing / psychology*
  • Students, Nursing / statistics & numerical data