KNOWLEDGE RATHER THAN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AFFECTS ACHIEVEMENT SCORES IN INTERACTIVE OBJECTIVELY STRUCTURED PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Abstract
Background: A common belief is that language proficiency might have affected the outcome scoresof the Oral Structured Performance Evaluation (OSPE) especially at the interactive stations. Theobjective of this study was to explore this postulation. Methods: The subject of BehaviouralSciences was examined for the first time as a component of undergraduate medical curriculum in 2ndProfessional Medical Examinations in 2007. Equal weightage was given to written and OSPEcomponents in the examination. The OSPE scores in the interactive component of all (1457)candidates were compared with their written scores in the subject of Behavioural Sciences as well astheir Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) scores in the subject of English using MultipleLinear Regression Analysis in SPSS v.12. Results: Overall as well as in the Public MedicalColleges, relative to each other, knowledge of the subject as indicated by marks obtained in thewritten component of the examination exerted a positive and statistically significant (p<0.05), andcommand over language as indicated by marks obtained in the HSSC examination exerted a smallpositive but statistically insignificant (p=0.231 and 0.639 respectively) influence on the performanceof students in the interactive OSPE component. In the private medical colleges command overlanguage exerted a small negative but statistically insignificant (p=0.936) influence on theperformance of students in the interactive OSPE component of the examination. Conclusion:Command over the subject content is the best indicator of achievement in OSPE.Keywords: Objectively Structured Performance Evaluation, OSPE, Language Proficiency,Behavioural SciencesReferences
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