Bridging The Gap
May 13th, 2019
Using an online learning platform (Bridge2Practice) to understand differences in auditory-perception and clinical communication between Chinese and Australian speech pathology students.
The DLVP made an application to Sydney University-Chinese University of Hong Kong. These two Universities offered a partnership collaboration award to strengthen collaborations between the two facilities. This grant was successful and has been awarded $19,914 to undertake the project across the two sites. Full details are as follows:
CI USYD – A/Prof Cate Madill CI CUHK – Dr Valerie Peirera
Co-Investigators: Prof Tricia McCabe, Dr Duong Nguyen, Dr Donna Thomas, Ms Annie Chan, Mr Thomas Law.
Project description
Successful clinical interactions in speech pathology rely on communication and listening skills, which require accurate real-time perception and are potentially influenced by listener’s cultural and linguistic background. Understanding any impact of cultural and linguistic background on these perceptual skills is essential in developing speech pathologists who can work cross culturally. The Discipline of Speech Pathology at The University of Sydney has developed an online tool (Bridge2Practice) which allows users to practice and develop perceptual skills. The current project extends the utilization of this tool to the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and explores its utility in improving students’ ability to assess clinicians’ clinical communication skills. The purpose is to evaluate the effects of using this tool on students’ learning and to examine the impact of cultural and linguistic background on perceptual assessment skills of students in both universities.
Bridge2Practice (an online teaching tool) will be used by students at both the University of Sydney and CUHK to evaluate clinical interactions and voice recordings in Australian and Chinese clinical settings. The study will reveal if students with a tonal first language perceive vocal features differently to students with English as a first language. It will also provide insights into differences in clinical communication evaluation among students with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This may facilitate specific teaching and learning strategies to help Chinese students work effectively with English speaking clients, and Australian students to work with Chinese speaking clients.