Activity Based Learning for Second Language Acquisition in Nursing Students

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research Proposal
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Topic
Activity based learning increases acquisition of the second language
Introduction
Background to the problem
Learning under a specific clinical environment for the nursing students has a
significant role in the higher education. The main challenge for the culturally and
linguistically diverse (CALD) students in the clinical placements is difference in language
and culture. For CALD students, English is the second language and lack of proper exposure
of to English creates clinical failures while decreasing the overall attrition (Mikkonen et al.,
2016). The gap in proper understanding and acquisition of the English as the second language
leads to significant barrier in the clinical education. Moreover effective learning strategies
must be implemented by the nursing educators in order to increase the acquisition of the
English which is the second language for the international students (Graham et al., 2016).
Statement of research question
To investigate whether activity based learning increases acquisition of second language
among nursing students in Australian college or not
Relevance of the proposal
Graham et al. (2016) stated that bringing modification in the learning strategies will
help to promote equal opportunity for education among the CALD nursing students studying
in Australia. This conduction of the research will help to analyse the importance of the
activity-based learning (ABL) in acquisition of the second language among the Australian
college students. Verifying the effectiveness of the ABL will help to bring change in the

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
nursing education curriculum and thereby helping to create equal opportunity for the CALD
nursing students.
Conceptual framework
The two theories over which the conceptual framework of the study is based is the
Leininger’s Cultural Care Theory and Humanistic Nursing Theory. The first theory promotes
the importance of the cultural accommodation and cultural preservation not only in practice
but also in nursing education. Proper culturally competent educational model helps to
promote effective learning (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2019). One the other hand, humanistic
theory give importance on blending of the emotional and personal perspective in the
educational framework for the nursing students and also while procuring the care plan
(Khademi, Mohammadi & Vanaki, 2017).
Literature Review
In order to conduct the review of the literature, to identify the research gap, previously
published research articles were searched online in the electronic databases. The main
databases that were used for the search of the articles include Cochrane, CINHAL, Pubmed
and Psych Info. These are the main databases which have highest number of the papers
availability based on the nursing studies (Fain, 2017). The databases were search with the use
of the keywords in order to find relevant articles that fall within the scope of this research and
published within the last five years. The main keywords used for the search of the articles
include “activity based learning”, nursing student” “second language”. Parahoo (2014) stated
that use of the keywords and setting out filters for the search of the articles help to narrow
down the search results. The literature research however, highlighted few papers and is
illustrated below

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Review of articles
Cant and Cooper (2017) conducted a systematic review in order to identify the impact
of the stimulation-based education for the under graduate nursing students. The analysis of
the results highlighted that simulation-based education helps the nursing students in a number
of ways when it is integrated into pre-licensure nursing curricula. However, the review also
highlight gap in the high quality study designs and use of constellation instruments in order to
address the needs of learning of the nursing students. The review is based on 25 articles and
this can be considered as one of the strength of the research. However, Nepomuceno and
Soares (2018) stated the systematic reviews are not primary research and hence can be
regarded as the principal drawback.
Hwang et al. (2016) conducted an observational learning in order to identify role of
the activity based learning (game-based learning) in facilitating listening and speaking skills
of the students. The analysis of the results highlighted that the game-based learning can
significantly help to improve the speaking skills of the students if the game is driven by
mobile. The results also help to identify that activity based learning helps to promote
acquisition of the English as a foreign language and at the same time helps the students to
create meaningful sentences and speak with greater accuracy and confidence. One of the
strength of the study is, the large sample size of the population over which the observational
study was conducted however, the study was not conducted on the nursing students and thus
not directly related to the scope of this research proposal.
Liu and Chen (2015) also make use to mobile assisted learning technology in order to
study its effects on the acquisition of English as a second language learners among the 116
college students in Central Taiwan. The analysis of the results highlighted that the
experimental group exhibited significantly high level of perception towards the phrase-
learning activities by the use of English as a main language in comparison to the control