title: Accuracy of self-assessed Spanish fluency in medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Non-English language fluency is increasingly important in patient care. Fluency self-assessment is easily obtained, but its accuracy is unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose is to determine accuracy of medical students' self-assessed Spanish fluency.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four matriculating classes assessed their own oral fluency as ("none":"novice";"intermediate";"advanced";"native-speaker"). Participants who rated themselves greater than "novice" and who expressed interest in medical Spanish coursework took a standardized fluency test (Spoken Language Evaluation, scaled 1-12). Using predetermined test categories (1-5 = novice, 6-8 = intermediate, 9-12 = advanced/native), we determined the predictive value of self-assessment for predicting the same or greater fluency on the test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 102 participants, 12 (12%) tested below their self-assessed level, 77 (75%) tested at their self-assessed level, and 13 (13%) tested above. The predictive value of self-assessment for having at least that fluency level was 88% (95% CI = 80, 94).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In medical students reporting greater than "novice" capability and interest in medical Spanish coursework, fluency self-assessment was a good indicator of scores on a standardized fluency test.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and the Center for Latino Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7110, USA. dreuland@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Reuland
authors.forename: Pamela Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Frasier
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Slatt
authors.forename: Marco A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Aleman
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandez
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013337:Students, Medical; D014481:United States