Language Plus for International Graduate Students in Nursing

To provide information about an English-language support program that focuses on the needs of international graduate nursing students. The growing presence of these students coincides with the increasing numbers of universities committed to world health. Crucial social and language competence affect the success and progress of international students in graduate nursing programs.

Design:

Reviewed literature was 1980 to 1998, in nursing and applied linguistic research including second-language acquisition, phonology, discourse analysis, and language pragmatics to identify social and language phenomena.

Findings:

Investigators suggest essential elements such as conventions of academic writing, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and pronunciation skills be included in the supportive Language Plus program.

Conclusions:

Ongoing development of the Language Plus program can promote collaboration between nurses and linguists and increase the success of international graduate nursing students.