OCCUPATIONAL ENGLISH TEST TIPS FOR SPEAKING STRESS & INTONATION
Stress and Intonation are to be prioritized greatly by English communicators to make the meaning a lot clearer to the listeners at large. In case, stress and intonation are ignored by users of English, the verbal interactions, whatever it be, would never be expressive,which can drastically reduce the score on intelligibility criteria for OET speaking. It is very crucial to stress the syllables of words correctly and vary the pitch wherever necessary using both rising and falling intonation while uttering sentence structures, in order to make the communication a lot more lively and beautiful.
RM QUEST Institute of English the one and only OET Coaching center in Trivandrum and Kerala as well providing the updated materials & the Tips for each separate modules on OET for Doctors and Nurses. The USP of RM QUEST Institute is the trainers who have thorough understanding of how to mold the participants to be secured in good score based on their language acquisition skills that entice those candidates who really seek better test score and opt for RM QUEST Institute the best OET for Doctors as well Nurses in Trivandrum.
Here is few OET SPEAKING TIPS FOR DOCTORS AND NURSES WITH UNIQUE ROLE PLAYS for the overseas aspirants. It is important to know how to tackle stress and intonation in OET speaking particularly while dealing with difficult patients. The OET trainees give much practiced or well-memorized sentence structures while conversing for role plays. The common ways of showing concern are like this:- ‘mm I understand how you feel’, ‘mm I understand it is difficult’ without even trying out better ways of structuring sentences while in conversation with an interlocutor. Such expressions do not exhibit the much needed concern on the part of health-care professionals while dealing with the diseased lot.
The better way of saying these sentences would be ‘I understand that it is difficult’ or ‘I understand that you are scared’. Here the nurse or even the medical practioner is expressing concern for the ill ones. However, the earlier manner of articulation exhibited by medical professionals namely ‘mm I understand how you feel’ or ‘mm I understand it is difficult’ sounds conversing like a robot which as such would not create any positive impression in the minds of the OET examiners.
Let’s assume another role play wherein someone who has sleeping problems is all set to request the nurse or doctor to prescribe sleeping pills. Now it is the sole responsibility of the curious listener who is a health-care professional to both empathize with the condition of the diseased and convince against the usage of sleeping pills. In case a student says the sentence like this, ‘sleeping pills are an option, but they are not going to solve the problem’, there is indeed nothing wrong, but the much needed empathy which any patient expects from nurses or even doctors for that matter seems to be absent, and above all, there does not seem to be any control on pronunciation either. However, if the same sentence is said stressing the important words, it really exhibits not only empathy but also a rather firm grip on pronunciation.
The sentence is as follows: ‘sleeping pills are an option, but they are not going to solve the problem long turn’. Here the first word is said a bit louder and there is a pause after the second word which is the right manner to utter this sentence.
A customer demands a few significant drugs but the pharmacist cannot sell them without the doctor’s prescription. In case the pharmacist says, ‘you can go to another pharmacy but they are going to tell you the same thing’ he/she is not exhibiting a sort of understanding and helplessness while replying the customer and the tone as such seems to be rather rude. When the pharmacist says, ‘you can go to another pharmacy but they are going to tell you the same thing’ the shopkeeper expresses his inability to sell the drug without the doctor’s prescription in a very nice manner without using an offensive tone.
Yet another instance is a doctor prescribing medicine for a parent and the sentence is as follows:- ‘We will prescribe Panda mine for your father but he will have to come here himself for the prescription’. Stating a sentence without stressing the important words reflect indifference but saying the same using stress appropriately namely ‘we will prescribe panda mine for your father but he will have to come here for prescription’ shows the kind of nurturing and also desire to see the parent and not give medication to somebody else who explains the parent’s diseased condition.
The doctor who does not insist the food restrictions on the diseased might say ‘you don’t have to give up your favourite foods, but you should try to add more fruits and vegetables’. This style of saying a sentence is rather fast so it is better to slow down and use a benevolent tone while permitting the diseased to have foods of their choice, but at the same time, add on a balanced diet of fruit and vegetables also. The stressed sentence could be like this ‘you don’t have to give up your favourite foods, but you should try to add more fruits and vegetables’. Even few grammatical mistakes are not really a matter of concern to OET examiners but it is significant to use the appropriate tone and show abundant empathy also.
There are many patients undergo surgery and need to be encouraged to do exercise. The sentence goes on to be like this, ‘if your foot really hurts I don’t want you to walk on it, but remember, even a small amount of exercise can make a big difference’. Without emphasizing the important words, the communication would be rather ineffective to the patient. If the health-care professional says, ‘if your foot really hurts I don’t want you to walk on it, but remember even a small amount of exercise will make a big difference’.This really shows the caring nature of doctors.
In order to speak with the correct intonation levels, the verbs, negatives and intensifiers must be stressed in any sentence. Yet another factor is to slow down the rate of speech thereby using the correct tone also which can really make the patients feel comfortable. Practicing using the intonation patterns can only enable the health care professionals to score well in the intelligibility criteria.
