Does English Language Proficiency Affect Evidence Based Dentistry Course Gains?

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess if English language proficiency affects the students’ knowledge and skills gains after taking the Evidence- Based Dentistry (EBD) course.
Methods: The validated instrument Knowledge, Attitudes, Access, and Confidence Evaluation (KACE) assessing Evidence-Based Practice was offered to Senior dental students before and after being taught the EBD course. Also the students were asked to rate the their English language proficiency using the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale.
Results: A total of 204 senior dental students responded. Sixty seven percent of the participating senior dental students’ were female. While there were statistically significant differences among the different English language proficiency categories in the pre- course KACE results (p=0.002), these differences disappeared after the EBD course (p=0.9).
Conclusions: English language proficiency did not affect the senior dental students’ knowledge and skills gains from the EBD course.