Understanding Comprehension Levels of Emergency Notifications by Limited English Proficient US Residents: Case Study of Korean-Americans in New York City

The overall goal of this study was to examine any validity of emerging concerns about the effectiveness and usefulness of a single language public messaging system in a linguistically diverse environment by evaluating the level of understanding of Notify NYC messages among Korean LEP residents of New York City. Three task oriented objectives were completed to address the goal of this study: (1) using past Notify NYC messages, a survey to test comprehension levels among Korean LEP residents was created; (2) the survey was administered among two population samples, Korean LEP and native English speaking (NES); and (3) statistical analysis was employed to correlate the data, conduct testing of three hypotheses, and develop appropriate conclusions. The results demonstrate that primary challenges with effective use of a single-language system in providing emergency communication to LEP residents stem from the language barriers that exist for this population category in the US. The positive pattern correlation and high coefficient of determination imply that improving the clarity of the emergency messages could enhance the overall message comprehension among the LEP US residents.