Table 3 Self-Reported Oral Language Proficiency and Expectation to Work with Individuals Speaking the Target Language Among Alumni of Harvard Medical School’s Medical Language Program (N = 206, n (%))
From: Professional language use by alumni of the Harvard Medical School Medical Language Program
Self-reported oral language proficiency | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before Taking the Language Course | Current Language Proficiency | P-valuea | ||||
No practical proficiency | 51 (25) | 3 (1) | p < 0.0001 | |||
Elementary proficiency | 54 (26) | 31 (15) | ||||
Limited working proficiency | 62 (30) | 80 (39) | ||||
Minimum proficiency | 27 (13) | 53 (26) | ||||
Full proficiency | 6 (3) | 32 (16) | ||||
Native or bilingual proficiency | 6 (3) | 7 (3) | ||||
Change in self-reported oral language proficiencyb | ||||||
Number of respondents who changed from not proficient to proficient | 28 (14) | |||||
Number of respondents who changed from proficient to not proficient | 1 (0.5) | |||||
Self-reported oral language proficiency stratified by course | ||||||
Longitudinal (semester-long) language course (N = 66, n (%)) | Intensive (month-long) language course (N = 107, n (%)) | Clinical elective abroad (N = 94, n (%)) | ||||
Before | Current | Before | Current | Before | Current | |
No practical proficiency | 8 (12) | 1 (2) | 39 (36) | 2 (2) | 20 (21) | 0 (0) |
Elementary proficiency | 14 (21) | 11 (17) | 33 (31) | 18 (17) | 22 (23) | 3 (3) |
Limited working proficiency | 26 (39) | 20 (30) | 29 (27) | 51 (48) | 34 (36) | 39 (41) |
Minimum proficiency | 15 (23) | 22 (33) | 5 (5) | 22 (21) | 9 (10) | 27 (29) |
Full proficiency | 2 (3) | 12 (18) | 1 (1) | 13 (12) | 4 (4) | 18 (19) |
Native or bilingual proficiency | 1 (2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 5 (5) | 7 (7) |
Expectation to work with patients or other colleagues who speak the target language | ||||||
Before the course(s) began | After course completion | P-valuea | ||||
Never | 11 (5) | 1 (0.5) | p < 0.0001 | |||
Occasionally | 106 (51) | 83 (40) | ||||
Frequently | 77 (37) | 105 (51) | ||||
All the time | 12 (6) | 17 (8) | ||||
Change in expectation to work with patients or other colleagues who speak the target languagec | ||||||
Number of respondents who changed from low or no expectation to high expectation | 45 (22) | |||||
Number of respondents who changed from high expectation to low or no expectation | 12 (6) | |||||