L2 reading in healthcare contexts: Informed research methods with language diverse patients

This study is a renewed effort for applying theory and research in Applied Linguistics (ApL) to today’s healthcare needs. Previously, to analyze language use with linguistically diverse patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers bridged self-assessment (SA) research in ApL to Public Health through the development of an instrument used with 338 healthcare workers (Brantmeier et al., 2021). SA was previously researched in second language (L2) studies with a contextualized, criterion-referenced instrument where learners self-diagnose strengths and weaknesses across language abilities. Studies validated the relationship between the SA instrument and language achievement (Brantmeier, 2005; 2006; Brantmeier & Vanderplank, 2008; Brantmeier et al., 2012; Liu & Brantmeier, 2019). The present study uses a subset of data (Brantmeier et al., 2021) to highlight findings related to reading and substantiates the need for research-based understandings of second and foreign language reading in healthcare contexts.