Jarimjit Sroysamut. The relationship between compensation strategies and english proficiency of medical students at Mahidol University . Master's Degree(Applied Linguistics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2005.
The relationship between compensation strategies and english proficiency of medical students at Mahidol University
Abstract:
This study was conducted in order to investigate the compensation strategies
employed by medical students at Mahidol University and the relationship between the
use of compensation strategies and their English proficiency. The subjects of this
study were 600 first-year, second-year, and third-year medical students studying at
Mahidol University in the 2004 academic year. The instruments used for data
collection were questionnaires and individual interviews.
The results of the study reveal the subjects generally use mime or gesture, use
linguistic clues, adjust or approximate the message, use other strategies relating to
compensation strategies, select the topic, use a circumlocution or synonym, use other
clues, avoid communication partially or totally, get help, coin words, and switch to the
mother tongue, in order of importance. Using linguistic clues was most frequently
used by high-ability students and using other strategies was most frequently used by
low-ability students. The difference in the use of compensation strategies between the
high-ability and low-ability groups was significant at the .05 level (p = .015). In
addition, the results show that the relationship between the use of compensation
strategies and English proficiency was linear (P = .000).