Introduction of Occupational English Test

OET is an overseas English language test for the healthcare arena. It evaluates the language communication skills of the healthcare experts who want to register and practice in an English speaking environment. OET is available for the 12 professions dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, speech pathology and veterinary science.

The test has been developed to make sure that it has kept up with the present practice in language evaluation. OET is recognized by regulatory healthcare bodies and councils in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore etc. Several organizations include hospitals, colleges, and universities and make use of OET as evidence of the ability of the candidate to communicate in an effective manner in a demanding healthcare environment. OET is recognized by Australian department of immigration and border protection for many visa categories which include work and student visas. The recognizing organization ascertains that grade results mean that the candidates meet the language competency standards to function in their profession.

OET gives a valid evaluation of the four language skills like listening, reading, writing and speaking with stress on communication in medical and health professional settings. OET has sub tests like listening, reading, writing and speaking. The listening test comprises of two modules.  In Part A, candidates need to listen to a consultation between a patient and a professional. In part B, candidates have to listen to a health expert giving a short talk on a health related topic. We need to complete a  wide range of open ended and  fixed choice questions. The reading test has two parts – Part A which lasts for 15 minutes. Candidates have to skim three or four short texts and finish a summary paragraph by filling the missing words.

It has been designed to evaluate the ability of the reader to scan texts in a time limit and get information from several texts. Part B is for 45 minutes and candidates have to go through two passages on a general healthcare topic and also answer 8 to 10 multiple choice questions for each text. It has been designed to evaluate the ability of the reader to read  and understand longer texts. The writing paper asks the candidates to write a letter and it can be a referral letter. In some of the professions a varied type of letter is needed for example a letter of transfer or discharge or a letter of advice to a patient or group.

Speaking. The speaking test is in the form of one tot one conversations. It begins with a short warm up interview regarding the professional backup of the candidate by two role plays. The candidates have two or three minutes to prepare for each role play. .Role plays are there for five minutes and are on the basis of interactions between a health professional and a patient. The candidates need to have two to three minutes to prepare for each role play.

At Seabird, we provide an approach to learning. The students work with genuine texts and OET exam practice material to develop language competency in particular topic areas and learning is designed to make sure students develop a huge vocabulary bank and utilize grammatical structures with a great degree of precision. The materials utilized on the course have been designed to exhibit the task types which are there in the OET exams.

The students concentrate on each skill area and a lot of attention is provided to learning effective examination strategies. There are timed examination practices of different examination aspects and complete mock examination held on a regular basis with right personal feedback after each one.  OET is applicable to the health professionals who include medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine, occupational therapy, dietetics, radiography etc.

There are some of the professions which need graduates of non-English speaking background from universities in Australia to pass the OET examination. OET is profession centric and uses the language of the health professions. It is a natural test of proficiency of English for overseas health experts to utilize. Students may do a full eight week programme or enroll week by week as their time and budget and finish their studies.

We have highly trained OET trainers and they give personal support to each student all through the course. Seabird has got its own course designed to exhibit the task types that are there in OET exams. We add new materials for each profession. We adopt an integrated approach to learning. Every week our students practice four skills. The students work with texts and official OET exam practice materials to develop a huge bank of vocabulary and utilize grammatical structures with a greater degree of precision.

Our students can learn and practice effective examination strategies in each lesson daily. The mock exams are held each day and there are timed examination practices of different examination aspects and complete mock exam held on a regular basis. We have personal feedback after each one. OET evaluates the language communication skills of the healthcare experts who want to register and practice in an English speaking environment.  It gives a valid evaluation of all the four language skills like listening, reading, writing and speaking with stress on communication in healthcare professional settings.