Under the knife: compensatory tools in the english for nursing (EFL) classroom

Although Portuguese students are recognized for their foreign language skills and fluency within the European Union (Lourenço, 2017), particularly in English as a Foreign Language, many still reach higher education level as less-proficient users. While this factor does not hinder students’ possibilities of successfully completing graduate degrees in Portugal, it may represent an obstacle for programs which include compulsory EFL courses.This study is an explanatory account of a pilot pedagogical model applied to a group of first year Nursing students enrolled at a Higher Education Institution in Portugal. The objective of the approach is to firstly identify the students at A1-A2 level (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and separate them from remaining peers by means of a diagnostic test. Although independent from the control group, these students will have to comply with the same learning goals and assessment criteria set out in the syllabus. The differential factor is that they will have to complete a set of compensatory exercises during the semester in order to overcome the identified linguistic difficulties. These exercises included the use of interactive grammar and vocabulary exercises provided on the institutional Moodle page, extensive reading lesson plans and guided group discussions mediated by the teacher. It is argued that greater exposure to the target language, the greater the improvement in language proficiency.The results presented are based on the collected data from diagnostic and final written test results, Moodle platform grades, as well as a final questionnaire used to assess students’ perception of their learning outcomes.