Using corpus-based discourse analysis for curriculum development: Creating and evaluating a pronunciation course for internationally educated nurses

This paper discusses the development of corpus-based curriculum for ESP, with a focus on two underresearched areas: health care communication and the use of corpus materials for pronunciation. Three aspects of corpus-based curriculum development are explored: corpus-based needs analysis; corpus-based materials development; and corpus-based assessment and evaluation (Flowerdew, 2012; Tono, 2011). First, this paper briefly reports on a quantitative corpus-based analysis of 104 nurse-patient interactions that was conducted to identify needs of nurses in clinical interactions, with a focus on the findings related to pronunciation (pitch range, tone choice, and prominence/sentence stress). Key differences were found between international and U.S. nurse discourse in the use of these features. Next, the paper describes the curriculum for a Pronunciation for Nurses course, with an emphasis on corpus-based materials development from the corpus described above. Finally, the paper discusses the corpus-based assessment of participants’ progress and an evaluation of the Pronunciation for Nurses curriculum, including pre and post-tests, interviews with nurse participants, interviews with ESL teachers, and course evaluations. The methods discussed in the paper have implications for other ESP contexts and other aspects of language use.