BALEAP 2023 conference

Research overview: A competency framework was designed with the use of adapted Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR, 2020) mediation skills to improve communication skills for a cohort of international university Foundation Stage healthcare students. The creation of the framework was original research using can do mediation competencies in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) context which involved the students as participants in the study. In mediation, language is conceptualised as more than a linguistic construct as it also focuses on the use of soft skills which are integral to successful communication, particularly in a profession such as healthcare. The framework was created to reflect the real-life communication of information and represents a de/constructive perspective on how speaking skills might be practised and assessed in EAP.

Session design: The session will outline the identified communication needs of the healthcare students. It will then explain how the descriptors for the framework were chosen and adapted to meet these needs, and the task, not only using CEFR mediation skills but also a consideration of speaking skills from the Occupational English Test for healthcare (OET, 2018). Reference was also made to NHS values as these tend to overlap with some of the mediation skills. The framework used descriptors from a fairly wide breadth of CEFR competencies as the CEFR descriptors can be used vertically as well as horizontally. Moreover, supporting CEFR scales for effective communication, such as turntaking and phonological control, were also deemed necessary for inclusion in the uniquely constructed framework of speaking descriptors. OET uses a roleplay for its speaking test, and action research methodology was used in the study to put the framework into practice with a formative, experiential-learning, patient-clinician roleplay task. Mediation is a social and cultural process of creating conditions for effective communication and co-operation (CEFR, 2020), and the roleplay task involved the exchange of learner-generated content using integrated skills, shared learning and collaborative interaction. In the roleplay task the students used the skills in the framework, such as clarity of explanations and logical reasoning, but also soft skills such as being sensitive to another’s ideas, needs or culture. The CEFR mediation descriptors tend to suit learning rather than assessment (North, 2018), and this study used self and peer assessment to develop the communicative competencies in the framework. Use of the mediation competency framework to assess the roleplay task enabled the learners to develop the use of both sociolinguistic skills and critical thinking skills (Goodier, 2019).

Implications for practice: Goodier (2019) claims that mediation has innovation potential in language education, as mediation skills are integral to successful communication, and can be used for a range of communicative activities. The competency framework could be adapted for different contexts and

tasks, be this roleplay, or any communicative act. The grouping of skills in the framework does not have a prescriptive structure but contains core skills which can be intertwined in communication, for example intelligibility or respect. The framework was used and can be used as an ongoing reference and feedback tool as it can actively address both academic and professional communication needs, also for first language speakers. Mediation skills can help learners and teachers to be more aware of the complex nature of language, which includes collective, cognitive and social functions (Piccardo, North and Goodier, 2019).

Common European Framework Companion Volume (2020) Council of Europe. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learning-teaching/16809ea0d4

Goodier, T. (2019) Focus paper: Mediation in English Language Teaching. Oxford:OUP. Available at: https://www.oup.es/en/EF-mediation-programme

North, B. (2018) Introducing the CEFR Companion Volume. Macmillan. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOSCty2fM2Q Occupational English Test OET (2018) Available at: https://www.occupationalenglishtest.org/oet-uk/

Piccardo, E., North, B. and Goodier, T. (2019) Broadening the scope of language education: plurilingualism, mediation and collaborative learning: the CEFR Companion Volume, Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 15(1), pp.17-36. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/41323540/Piccardo_E_and_North_B_2019_Broadening_the_scope_of_language_education_plurilingualism_mediation_and_collaborative_learning