Scientific Realism in the English for Nursing Course Plan: A Content Analysis

Suci Sartika Putri, Ira Maisarah

Abstract


In the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), aligning language teaching materials, curriculum, and process with real-world professional is essential for gaining effective learning. This study aimed to find out how scientific realism appeared in English for Nursing course plan. This study used qualitative content analysis to analyze English for Nursing course plan that used by a health college in Bengkulu City with three main stages such as collecting document, pre-analysis, coding adn organized the research coded and organized each section into three principles of scientific realism: caual mechanism, approximatel truth, and explanatory success. The result showed that in the learning outcomes show the principle of scientific realism like causal mechanism. Then, the instructional materials follow the idea of approximate truth. while, the assessments part of the course plan focusses on explanatory success. The finding conludes that the course plan serves as a structured example of scientific realism in language learning. In summary, the findings of this study suggest that basing the English for Nursing course plan on scientific realism makes it more relevant to the real needs of nursing practice.


Keywords


Content Analysis; Course Plan; ESP Curriculum; English for Nursing; Scientific Realism

References


Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. Palgrave Macmillan.

Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2017). Talking about education: exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 49(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2016.1205143

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Sage publications.

Faidah, N., Saiful, & Jumiaty, A. A. (2024). English for Specific Purposes: A Need Analysis of Nursing Students at Universitas Magarezki Makassar. Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 1(1), 18.

Hacking, I. (1983). Representing and Intervening. In Representing and Intervening. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511814563

Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Spesific Purposes A Learning-Centres Approach. Cambridge University Press.

Ladyman, J. (2002). Understanding Philosophy of Science. Routledge.

Koopmans, E., & Schiller, D. C. (2022). Understanding Causation in Healthcare: An Introduction to Critical Realism. Qualitative Health Research, 32(8–9), 1207–1214. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323221105737

Krippendorff, K. (2013). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (Third Edition). Sage Publications.

Megawati, I., & Zuchdy, D. (2020). The Compatibility between Philosophy Basis of ‘English in Mind’ Textbook and Curriculum 2013. VELES Voices of English Language Education Society, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v4i2.2555

Mukumbang, F. C., De Souza, D. E., & Eastwood, J. G. (2023). The contributions of scientific realism and critical realism to realist evaluation. In Journal of Critical Realism (Vol. 22, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2023.2217052

Nata, I. D. (2025). Need Analysis Of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) for Nursing Students at Stikes Eka Harap Palangka Raya. TOFEDU: The Future of Education Journal, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.61445/tofedu.v4i1.406

Psillos, S. (2005). Scientific realism: How science tracks truth. In Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203979648

Psillos, S. (2009). Causation-and-explanation. Acumen.

Richards, J. C. . (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Risager, K. (2020). Language textbooks: windows to the world. Language, Culture and Curriculum. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1797767

Şık, T., Günüşen, N., & Serçe Yüksel, Ö. (2025). Values of nursing students: a descriptive qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-025-03376-3

Skedsmo, K., Bingen, H. M., Hofsø, K., Steindal, S. A., Hagelin, C. L., Hilderson, D., Nes, A. A. G., Smis, D., Stenseth, H. V., & Olaussen, C. (2023). Postgraduate nursing students’ experiences with simulation-based learning in palliative care education: A qualitative study. Nurse Education in Practice, 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103832

Sugianti, L., Purwati, O., Setiawan, S., & Anam, S. (2022). Harmony Of The Philosophical Foundation Of English Textbooks And The 2013 English Curriculum. Premise: Journal of English Education, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.24127/pj.v11i3.5018

Yuriatson Jubhari, Rosmiaty, & Nurliah. (2022). Needs Analysis in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for Nursing Students. EDULEC : Education, Language, and Culture Journal, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.56314/edulec.v2i1.31




DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v11i4.1908

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Suci Sartika Putri, Ira Maisarah

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.