Language background, English language proficiency and medical communication skills of medical students

Associations between language background, English language proficiency and medical communication skills were investigated in a group of 149 third year undergraduate medical students studying at an Australian university. Written and aural English proficiency were assessed with the Screening Test for Adolescent Language (STAL). Medical communication skills and the fluency of spoken language were scored during an Observed Structured Clinical Interview (OSCI), rated by a standardized patient and a clinician. An association was found between language background, performance on the STAL and spoken language proficiency. Satisfactory performance in medical communication skills was not associated with language background or overall performance on the STAL. In this study it was the global rating of unsatisfactory spoken language fluency that was associated with poorer performance in medical communication skills under examination conditions.