Saturday Presentations

Session 1

1:10-3:05

The State of Nursing English at Private Universities in Japan -- Mathew Porter

What kinds of English courses are available to nursing students at private universities in Japan? This study investigated the online syllabi for English courses as part of the 2017-2018 curriculum at over 150 private universities in Japan. The analysis revealed that nursing students have few options for English study and those options often do not address English for nursing. The presenter will discuss how this data can be used to inform curriculum design and share how his university has restructured English courses to address English ability and specific English needs of nurses.

Mathew Porter is an associate professor at Fukuoka Jo Gakuin Nursing University, where he has worked for four years. He is interested in reflection, self-directed learning, and cooperative learning. He is the cofounder of JANET.

The English Curriculum for First-Year Nursing Students at the University of Fukui -- Richard Eccleston & Aya Watanabe

This presentation will discuss the current English curriculum for first year Nursing students at the University of Fukui. Students begin in the Spring with communication on personal and daily topics, using scrapbooks to talk about themselves, and performing poster presentations on topics of their choosing. In the Fall, communication continues with a focus on nursing, introducing medical vocabulary and topics. This culminates in poster presentations on topics related to medicine and nursing. This presentation will introduce the English curriculum development for Nursing students, course goals, textbooks, rationale behind their use, and adaptation for Nursing students at the University of Fukui, and student responses to the courses. This will include discussion of the textbooks’ benefits and shortcomings. Additional materials and activities used in class will also be introduced and discussed, including testing, show & tell, and end of semester poster presentations.

Richard Eccleston is an assistant professor for the Language Center at the University of Fukui. He teaches English to first year nursing students, as well as medical and engineering students, with a focus on communication.

Aya Watanabe is an assistant professor at the University of Fukui. She teaches English to first year nursing and medical students, as well as engineering students. Her research interests include conversation analysis and classroom interaction, medical interaction, and interview interaction.

Factors Influencing Student Participation in a Study Abroad Programme -- James Hobbs & Jonathan Levine-Ogura

Since 2001 Iwate Medical University has offered an annual 2-week study abroad programme, open to students in all schools and all grades. The study location, programme content, and cost have varied little over time, and the programme has consistently attracted more than the required minimum of 5 students, and often more than 10. However, the trip scheduled for March 2018 had to be cancelled as only 3 students applied. Part of our response to this was to conduct a survey of all first-year students in order to ascertain the main reasons for the apparent lack of interest, with a view to making appropriate changes for the current academic year. In this presentation we will share the findings of this survey, and offer audience members the opportunity to share ideas and experiences related to the planning and implementation of study abroad programmes.

James Hobbs has lived in Iwate since 1991 and has been at Iwate Medical University since 2002. He is a professor and head of the Department of Foreign Languages, and teaches English to students of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing.

Jonathan Y. Levine-Ogura has been living in Iwate for 22 years. He is has been an assistant professor at Iwate Medical University Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences since 2017 and has been teaching nursing English since 2006.

Learning Experiences and Identity Development of Nursing Students Through Study Abroad -- Jeffrey Huffman

Study abroad programs are becoming more common in nursing education, often focusing on the development of cultural competence. We conducted a qualitative analysis of reflection papers of 50 Japanese undergraduate nursing students who participated in 9 study abroad programs in Asia and North America. The findings reveal perceived benefits in the areas of English language proficiency and motivation; knowledge of nursing practices, healthcare systems, and global health; cultural awareness and sensitivity; and various aspects of identity development (second-language identity and motivation, national/ethnic identity, professional identity, identity as a global citizen, and personal growth). Such experiences are often critical turning points that enhance nursing students’ identity formation in the context of multiple and overlapping communities of practice. They also advance the educational mission of a nursing college, particularly relating to liberal arts and internationalization. These findings can be used to develop assessment instruments for study abroad programs at nursing colleges.

Jeffrey Huffman is an assistant professor at St. Luke's International University. His pedagogical and research career originated in second language acquisition (reading, listening, academic writing, vocabulary acquisition); his interests have expanded to include nursing/medical English, study abroad, and health humanities.

Session 2 (Posters)

3:25-4:10

Extensive Reading Materials for Nursing Students -- Minami Kanda

Extensive reading (ER) provides learners with an increased amount of L2 input, exposure, and experience, which are important factors in language development. However, implementing ER in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses can be a challenge because many graded readers for ER are geared toward fiction. In addition, ER is based on easy materials, especially at the start, therefore, ER does not seem to fit into ESP skills development, which involves many low-frequency professional and vocational terms. This poster presentation offers suggestions on selecting ER materials for Nursing students. First, the presenter describes an attempt to incorporate nonfiction into ER class for Nursing students, utilizing various nonfiction readers for English learners and English-speaking children. Then, she goes on to categorize and showcase ER materials with emphasis on science and health. Finally, the presentation concludes with pedagogical implications for combining ER and ESP.

Minami Kanda is Professor of English at the Department of Nursing at Chiba Prefectural University of Health Sciences. Her research interests include extensive reading, L2 reading/writing, and English for Specific Purposes.

Motivations and Attitudes of English Language Learners at a Japanese Healthcare University -- Donald Patterson

This quantitative study was conducted in order to gain insights into healthcare majors' attitudes toward English. The following three questions were explored: What is the correlation between students’ English achievement and various attitudinal and motivational areas? Which of these areas have the greatest and least correlation to the amount of effort students’ are willing to put into their English learning? How do healthcare students’ attitudes and motivations for learning English compare with other Japanese university students? Sixteen (n=16) female nursing and social work students completed pre- and post-tests to measure their English proficiency and a questionnaire adapted from Taguchi, Magid, & Papi (2009) on their attitudes toward English learning. Test and questionnaire data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and questionnaire data was compared with data from Taguchi et al (2009). This presentation will present the findings and discuss the implications for improving English programs for healthcare students in Japan.

Donald Patterson is an associate professor at Serei Christopher University, where he teaches general English courses for healthcare students and an ESP course for rehabilitation students. His research interests include the internationalization of education and English learner mindsets.

Teaching Nursing English that Focuses on Students’ Future Careers -- Shinobu Hattori

As increasing numbers of foreigners are coming to Japanese hospitals, nurses are gradually facing the need to acquire foreign language skills to communicate with them. First-year students at nursing schools study nursing English, which is quite different from the general English they had learnt previously. Therefore, English teachers at universities need to make a concerted effort to bridge the gap between general English and nursing English. This study will introduce what and how the presenter has been teaching in her class and what she has found to be best so far. The use of an audiovisual device and biology-related textbook appeared interesting and appealing, but these materials did not work out well. Since then, new materials have been developed and used, and students now seem to be actively involved in learning in class. They can understand what is going on and have better-formed ideas for their future careers since the contents of the materials are focused on dialogs covering various medical situations.

Shinobu Hattori teaches English at Fujita Health Univerisity, which is located next to a university hospital. As it has many foreign patients, she hopes nursing students will have good communication skills in English.

How Do We Motivate Nursing Students to Learn English? -- Sachiko Takahashi & Rie Ikeda

The area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been the focus in learning and teaching English. Higher educational institutions have found it challenging to bridge the gap between English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and ESP. This study focused on nursing students who successfully bridged the gap at university level. Students who participated in a study abroad program were observed. They were requested to complete a questionnaire before prior to and after the program. The findings of the post-program questionnaire revealed that these participants of a study abroad program possessed higher motivation in learning both the language and content that, also improved their attitude towards learning. Additionally, the results also clarified the curriculum’s weakness, as most students could not afford to study abroad.

Sachiko Takahashi works at Okayama Prefectural University. Her current concern is ESP and the relationship between sounds and languages.

Rie Ikeda is currently working at Okayama Prefectural University. She is a registered nurse and a midwife. Her research interests include nursing in the cross-cultural context and the relationship between depression and sleep.

The Importance of Cultural Understanding by Both Caregivers and Health Professionals in Administering Nursing Care -- Yoshiyuki Nagaya & Glenn Squires

Currently, Japanese society is facing a crisis concerning a decline in population due to fewer people marrying and also with families having fewer children. Due to fewer births, the overall population is aging. This places a special burden on the health care system, which at the same time is experiencing a critical shortage of nurses. To help compensate for this, the Japanese government has participated in certain programs that allow nurses from other countries to have the opportunity to work and live in Japan. This paper will present some of the particular difficulties faced by the foreign nursing care workers, with a special emphasis on the need for awareness and sensitivity of the cultural differences between the foreign nursing care workers and the mostly elder Japanese patients needing their care in everyday and other situations.

Yoshiyuki Nagaya currently works at Kansai University of Social Welfare as an assistant professor. His specialized areas include adult critical care nursing and cultural understanding in international nursing. In his research work, he has noticed it important that an awareness and understanding of cultural differences be promoted among health professionals, including both caregivers and service providers, in providing health services.

Glenn Squires, a native of the US, has been residing in a small city in the west of Japan for the past 24 years, while working as a private English teacher and raising a family. This has given him many experiences and insights in regards to understanding and respecting cultural differences, thereby feeling the importance of the promotion and education of cultural understanding.

English Improvement for Japanese Nursing Students Through a Global Health Course: A Flipped-Classroom Approach -- Cindy H. Chiu, Kumiko Nakano, & Maho Aoyama

English education is becoming more relevant for Japanese nurses, as they are expected to care for an increasingly diverse community. However, often shyness and fear make English communication a continuous challenge. In 2017, we trialed delivering the compulsory global health course for fourth-year nursing students in Tohoku University, in English. To engage students, we adopted an active participatory approach that included videos, storytelling of actual experiences, in-class research on smartphones, small group discussions, mini-presentations, and quizzes. Self-perceived English ability was measured before and after the course. Among the 68 students, self-reported speaking ability, listening ability, and confidence in English communication increased by 31.4% (95% CI=20.6% – 44.9%; p-value<0.001), 29.3% (95% CI=19.8% – 38.3%; p-value<0.001), and 41.9% (95% CI=26.8% – 57.7%; p-value<0.001), respectively. The global health course provided an opportunity for students to reflect on the relevance of a globalized world in nursing practice, as well as build their confidence in English communication.

Cindy H. Chiu is a lecturer at Tohoku University and specializes in global health. Before Tohoku University, she has worked in over ten countries with various international public health organizations on topics ranging from healthcare exclusion to global health security.

Everyone Matters: A Pilot Workshop to Promote Patient-Centered Cross-Cultural Care Among Japanese Nursing Students -- Cindy H. Chiu, Kumiko Nakano, & Junko Omori

Cultural competency in nursing care is fundamental to an ethical healthcare system and a pre-requisite of practicing nurses. In Japan, where the topic of cultural competency in healthcare is becoming more relevant, there is minimal guidance for nursing educators. In 2017, we designed and launched a 2-day pilot workshop to cultivate cultural competency through the cross-cultural patient-centered approach targeting Japanese nursing students in Tohoku University. We utilized novel teaching methods, including 1) the use of self-reflection and discussion to develop self-awareness and insight; 2) providing a safe space for foreign patients and future nurses for sharing their experiences, connect, and to promote empathy; and 3) the application and consolidation of their learning through creating and sharing concrete tools with potential end-users. We hope that our workshop model can provide new ideas for other nursing educators, and trigger the important conversation to include cultural competency into the National Nursing Curriculum.

Session 3

4:10-5:35

Nursing Simulation Training on a Study Trip: Preparation, Implementation, and Issues in ESP -- Yoko Atsumi

This presentation reports a nursing simulation training in a study abroad program from the perspective of ESP and discusses how to maximize its educational effect for Japanese learners. Eight second-year nursing students participated in the 11-day study trip to the US (Year 2017-2018). This exchange program was conducted based on a partnership agreement with a healthcare university in the US, where simulation trainings are often used in nursing education at many different levels, such as from role-plays with a scenario to ones with high-fidelity simulators in an equipped lab. This one-day simulation training, including skill lab workshops, was arranged by the partner university staff and conducted in Japanese and English. Well-coordinated and -collaborated preparation as well as implementation among English and nursing educators led to successful outcomes. Considerations and issues for nursing ESP simulation trainings at a study trip will be discussed.

Yoko Atsumi is an assistant professor at Seirei Christopher University in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. She belongs to the School of Nursing and her current research interest is in ESP in nursing and rehabilitation, simulation, interprofessional education and learning environment.

Opening Eyes in Manila: Reflections on a Short Overseas Study Programme -- Simon Capper

This presentation reports on the ways in which a group of 3rd year Japanese nursing students developed their cultural and educational awareness through a short study programme carried out in cooperation with a leading university in the Philippines. The visit, carried out in February 2018, provided an eye-opening experience for all visiting participants, students and faculty alike.

The talk will introduce the many differences that were observed as a result of joining classes in the Philippine university, and through shadowing Philippine nursing students on their clinical practice. Recommendations will also be offered regarding pre-departure orientation procedures and post-visit promotion of the programme.

Simon Capper has authored several textbooks, including two nursing English courses – Bedside Manner & Bedside Manner Beginner: An Introductory Course in Nursing English. He’s interested in materials development, intercultural communication, and nursing English, and is currently serving as JANET Coordinator.

Enhancing the English Proficiency of Nursing Faculty: One Institution’s Experience -- Yutaka Kato

Faculty development, which is already common in Japan, is intended to improve education. The research competency of faculty has been somehow taken for granted. Currently, more than 200 schools provide four-year university-level nursing education for more than 20,000 students, whereas four-year nursing education was available only at a dozen schools around 1990. Thus, nursing education at colleges has been desperately in need of qualified faculty. As a field of health science, nursing is a domain where information is exchanged globally, and improving English proficiency can be critical in enhancing research competency. Against this backdrop, the presenter’s institution has struggled to enhance the research capabilities of faculty members over the years by encouraging them to study more English. In this presentation, the presenter will introduce his institution’s efforts, including English conversation classes for faculty; the problems encountered, including scheduling, talent pool, financial resources, and wrong assumptions; and the institution’s agenda, along with insights from a search of the literature.

Yutaka Kato is an Associate Professor in the Department of Liberal Arts at Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University. His main research interests include comparative study of the ethical/legal dimensions of healthcare in the United States and Japan, healthcare provision to foreign patients, and English education for nursing students. Before completing his Ph.D., he taught English at private institutions for a decade.

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