Communicative needs of English-speaking health care professionals who work with Spanish-speaking clients: A case study.

摘要

Over the course of three years, a qualitative case study was conducted in a series of three perinatal clinics in one metropolitan area in Ohio. Through an in-depth examination of five health care professionals in a clinic setting, the study focused on the common linguistic and cultural needs of this group and how to address their varying Spanish-language needs. Specifically, the researcher examined the nature of communication in a health care setting, the Spanish language acquired by the health care professionals, how they acquired needed Spanish language, their linguistic needs, their cultural needs, issues of reciprocity related to Spanish and English languages of communication, and issues of power related to Spanish as the language of communication. Data in the form of participant observer fieldnotes, participant interviews, document analysis, and member checks were collected and triangulated. Data were then coded and managed using NUD*IST software.; Results indicated that participants were able to produce routinely used words and common expression in Spanish, but they were only able to understand isolated lexical items when they were spoken in Spanish by native speakers. Their needs included written resources formatted for optimal use in the health care perinatal clinic workplace, strategies for developing listening skills, and awareness of cultural differences.; It was concluded that an imbalance was revealed in productive and receptive abilities on the part of study participants (e.g., health care participants) indicating that the commonly accepted theories of comprehensible input and comprehensible output models may not apply to the participants in this clinic setting.; Implications for instruction include a focus on strategies that facilitate on-the-job learning beyond the typical academic context, an approach to productive language skill development that involves referring students to appropriate resources and assisting them in formatting information so that it will be useful in the perinatal clinic workplace, a focus on receptive skills, beginning with receptive strategies in interactive listening that allow for continuation of communicative interactions while also demonstrating the limits of receptive abilities, and possibly integrating autonomous language learning with clinic workplace interactions.