Progress 04/01/24 to 03/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience: In total, we have had the complete number ofstudents participate in the program that we initially proposed. Our final goal for student participation is 40 students including undergraduates in animal science, veterinary students, and graduate students that had a primary intereste in livestock agriculture. Our goal was also to publishe the first phase of the work in a peer reviewed journal with international reach. We have published the first manuscript in 2024 and the second manuscript in 2025. In addition, our goal was to present our work at national and international conferences. This work has been presented at the World Pork Expo in Iowa, at the Iverson Bell Midwest Regional Diversity Conference in Minnesota, at the American Society of Animal Science Conference in Canada and the U.S. The work was also presented internationally in spring of 2024 at the Congreso Internacional de Ganaderia Internacional de Ganaderia doble proposito tropical in Venezuela adn the Symposio Internacional de Bienestar Animal in Colombia in the fall of 2024. This work is being used as a model natiinally and internationally. Our goal is to disseminate the work nationally and internatinally to stakeholders, academics, and univeristies who seek to bridge the gap in communicaiton with agricultual workers and the Hispanic Workforce. We have accomplished this goal through are various activies. Changes/Problems:We had no other changes besides the one we reported in the last cycle. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We went above and beyond what we proposed because we had a delay assocated to COVID. Initially we proposed to assess the impact sturdnets had on farms via a pre and post audit of farms. What we did to strengthen this work and to be able to have a clear measure of the full impact and benefits of this work was to create 12 power point presentations that each student would present ot workers. The presentation were in Spanish and focused on what we proposed on the initial grant proposal: animal health, welfeare, and food safety. We assessed worker knowledge prior to students beginning their internsips and then after the internships after all students has presented the 12 presentaitons. Pre and post scores and impacts are being analysed. These presetnations allowed to students to apply thier newly learned Spanish communications skills and share knowledge to workers. This work will be published in 2025. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have presented this work at the Program Leaders National Conference, at various national (Americal Society of Animal Science, Pork Expo, other) and interanational conferences (Congresses and Symposiums). We have published two journal articles and will publish our third one within the next six month. In addition, this work will be used and disseminated via a collaborator platform called GoFamring in 2025. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have completed almost all of the work. Do to a delay caused by COVID we ran about 1.5 years behind but having strenghtend and produced products that will benefit multiple institutions. students, and the agricultural industry. Tasks to acheive via an extension requtest: 1 Analysis of Farm Data generated by student internships 2 Third and Fouth publications 3 Application for Google and IPHONE
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have met nearly all of the goals proposed. We had some delay assocated to COVID and farms allowing our students to be placed on internships but we managed to complete our objective of placing all student on internships in 2024. Note that due to this caused some delay in the completion of the work and we requested an extension last year to ensure we met our objectives. However, during this delay we took the time to further create content that was more meaningful and can be utilized by farms and other intstitutions by other students performinng internships. Goals Met: A needs analysis was carried out to identify food animal professionals communication barriers and needs when interacting with Hispanic animal caretakers. Based on the results of the survey, the following tasks were performed in order to develop and implement three courses of Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture (SSPA): Survey results were classified in terms of language needs and then used for designing the syllabus for SSPA 1, SSPA 2 and SSPA 3. Key topics were distributed through the different units of the three SSPA courses as displayed below: Course Unit; Topics SSPA 1: 1 Learning about some food animals 2 Environment and animal production 3 Management practices for animal husbandry 4 Animal health and welfare 5 Biosecurity 6 Food safety SSPA 2 1 Management practices 2 Feeding farm animals 3 Managing animal health 4 Activities on the farm 5 Health and hygiene of the workers SSPA 3 1 Management of dystocic birth in cattle 2 Management in laying bird production 3 Pre-slaughter pig management 4 Students' presentations focused on animal health, welfare, and food safety. Other Advertising campaigns were set up prior to each academic term with the purpose of recruiting participant students for the Spanish Certificate Program (that comprised the 3 SSPA courses plus an internship). Instructional materials for the three SSPA courses were designed with the collaborative work of experts on different animal species and on linguistics and foreign/second language teaching. Evaluation instruments (quizzes and final tests) were generated to assess students' progress throughout the three courses. Students from Texas Tech University (TTU), North Carolina State University (NCSU), and Tarleton State University (TSU) completed the SSPA 1 (Fall 2022), SSPA 2 (Spring 2023) and SSPA 3 (Maymester 2023 and Spring 2024) courses. The SSPA courses were supported by the premise that the ability to communicate in Spanish is a key factor to bridge the widely reported communication gap between English-speaking veterinary and animal science professionals and Hispanic on-farm animal caretakers. The courses were field-oriented sincethey focused on the specific discipline of food animal production. Theycomprised a range of topics, key vocabulary, and activities aimed at promoting communicative competence in Spanish in specific areas such as animal health, animal welfare, and food safety. Throughout the SSPA courses, studentswere actively engaged in learning tasks involving contextualized meaningful interactions in the target language. This helped themgradually develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to communicate effectively in the framework of real-life on-farm settings. An enriched teaching perspective inspired the design of all the SSPA courses.Their communicative nature is firmly rooted in the theoretical assumptions of communicative language teaching coupled with generalprinciples derived from the constructivist theory and the study ofmetacognitive processes. This enhanced teaching approach aimed at providing students with learning experiences that took advantage of their full cognitive potential and language abilities. Farm internships Students who had successfully passed the three SSPA courses were enrolled in farm internships to complete our Spanish Certificate Program (Summer 2024). A farm recruiting process was conducted in Texas and North Carolina states. The selected farms hosted our students during their internship period. Products Generated A glossary of food animal production specialized terminology in Spanish was developed to assist interns while communicating and interacting with the Hispanic workforce throughout the entire internship. The research team developed a series of Power Point presentations which were then delivered by the interns to the Hispanic workers on a weekly basis. The presentations covered key topics associated with best management practices and animal welfare. A survey for assessing Hispanic workers knowledge on animal welfare was developed and administered at the beginning and the end of the internship period to determine the impact that student's intervention had on workers awareness and knowledge of animal welfare practices. Data regarding changes in workers' knowledge were gathered and are currently being analyzed, and the final results will be published in 2025. Outreach Preliminary and final results associated with the research objectives were presented at various conferences nationally and internationally.
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Martinez Aguiriano, A. J., Salazar, L., Pietrosemoli, S., Schmidt, M., Awosile, B., & Garcia, A. (2024). Understanding communication barriers: demographic variables and language needs in the interaction between English-speaking animal professionals and Spanish-speaking animal caretakers. Animals, 14(4), 624.
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Salazar, L., Martinez Aguiriano, A. J., Pietrosemoli, S., & Garcia, A. (2024). Developing Courses of Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture to Bridge the Communication Gap Between the Hispanic Workforce and English-Speaking Veterinary and Animal Sciences Students. Animals, 14(24), 3639.
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Progress 04/01/23 to 03/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:In total, we have had 36 students participate in the program. Our final goal for student participation is 40 students. Our goal was also to publishe the first phase of the work in a peer reviewed journal with international reach. We have published the first manuscript (more details under products). In addition, our goal was to present our work at national and international conferences. This work has been presented at the World Pork Expo in Iowa, at the Iverson Bell Midwest Regional Diversity Conference in Minnesota, and will be presented this month at the American Society of Animal Science Conference in Canada. Our goal is to disseminate the work nationwide to stakeholders, academics, and univeristies who seek to bridge the gap in communicaiton with agricultual workers and the Hispanic Workforce. We have accomplished this goal through are various activies. Changes/Problems:We requested an extension because we have encountered disease outbreaks at many farms. The farms did not allow outside personnel to enter the farms. This prevented students from doing thier internships at farms. Thus, we placed several students at veterinary clinics to do thier internships, as many were seniors and close to graduation. Furthermore, we struggled to get students to commit to 12 week internships. To resolve this, the team developed 12 presenations to be given in Spanish at each farm, to ensure the workers were able to learn from the students. This increasedthe rigor of the student internships but ensured that the presence of the students at the farms would be impactful. To ensure that we accomplished objective 2 (improve student communication skills and improve animal health, welfare, food safety) we surveyed workers pre and post student presenations. Our work showed a significant effect on worker knowledge over the period of time the students were on farm presenting the 12 topics. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has gone beyond our initial objectives to provide students with improved communication skills on-farm. We have further developed 12 presentations based on commonalites among multiple animals welfare standards. These presenation are given by students on-farm in Spanish. These presentations have allowed us to objectively measure improvements in Hispanic worker knowledge (through a pre and post survey evalaution of workers). We are training the next generation of students on animal health, welfare, and food safety as well as increasing workers knowlege on-farm that will lead to sustainable agriculutal systems. This work hasallowedstudents to nuse/apply their Spanish skills learned through the program but also has provided them with on the job training through and internship, and also professional skills through presenatations given at the farms. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated via poster presentations, conferences, publications, and with collaborations with institutions of veterinary medicine who are wanting to collaborate to get this program at their home institutions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are actively recruiting farms at conferences to place the last of our students on internships. Our goal is to get all of our students through the program. We plan to publish the next publication by the end of 2024/early 2025. We are presenting the findings of this work at two international conferences. Although we did not request the funds to launch this work on a platform... we are seeking industry sponsorship to further disseminate this work through an nationwide accessbile platform.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have developed and implmented three courses in Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agricultue and thus, acheived our first objective. We are currently working to finish objective 2. We had a little bit of a delay associated to disease outbreaks at farms, which prevented our students from doing their internships and finishing the program. We have requested an extension and have placed them on internships. A total of 36 out of 40 students have completed the program. We are only 4 students away from completing objective 2.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Martinez Aguiriano, A. J., Salazar, L., Pietrosemoli, S., Schmidt, M., Awosile, B., & Garcia, A. (2024). Understanding Communication Barriers: Demographic Variables and Language Needs in the Interaction between English-Speaking Animal Professionals and Spanish-Speaking Animal Caretakers. Animals, 14(4), 624.
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Progress 04/01/22 to 03/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience: 1)Veterinary and Animal Science students; 2) Scientists, animal professionals, technicians, and agricultural workers; 3) Other universities; 4) Commercial Livestock Operations/Industry Entities Our main audience and focus will be our students: 1 graduate student (involved with data collection for surveys and tasks associated with SSPA course development) and a total of 40 veterinary/ANSC students (provided with stipends for internships for experiential learning). The course content for Spansih for Specific Purposes 1 was developed and delivered in 2022. We continued to work on the development of the continuing courses. We havebeen refining thembased on the needs that current professionals identifiedas a stuggle in communication with Spanish speaking animal caretakers. The information from these professionals wasrefined and incopoated in to the coursesdirected towards improving communication between the students and farm animal caretakers during their courses and internships. These courseswill lead to improvements in animal agriculture (animal health, food safety, animal welfare and among other aspectrs of animal production). Other audiences will include professionals, technicians and other employees that are on-farm during student internships that are starting this summer 2023. These professionals will be an audienein the sense that they will be able to see the students apply thier learnings and help make a difference by helping educate animal caretakers on thier current farm protocols in their target language. In addition, students will present thier understanding on protocols on-farm to caretakers and supervisors. Lastly, we will post our findings on our university platformorm. Furhtermore,the knowledge generated through this project will be disseminated via the veterinary and animal science colleges association/network. It will be made available to all pertinent organizations via written and electronic media, using digital media and website technology. To share the knowledge gained from this project with the agricultural industry, we will publish the findings in top producer magazines such as Animal World for the general audience and Hoard's Dairymen and Pig Progress for specific agricultural industries. Findings will also contribute to the scientific knowledge of effective communication on farms and translate into at least three peer-reviewed research articles. Outputs will be sustained after the end of the project's conclusion through the TTU-SVM, TTU-AFS, NCSU, and TSU web pages, animal science meetings, and conferences. Finally, the information will be shared with students through TTU and animal Changes/Problems:We have experienced some attrition in students and have struggled with student recuritement. What we have done to ensure that we meet the number of students that we need is that we have allowed students to enter later in the course if they are able to get a higher score on the entrance exam, listen to the class recordings, and pass the quizzes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have developed the first of 3 workbooks that will allow us to provide training to animal science professinals and veterinarians. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have continuously been in contact with animal science professinals and veterinarians to help us recruit farm and have made them aware of this program. The PI has taken part in several nationally known podcasts and has disemminated this USDA funded work. Indusry partners such as pharmaceutical companies are helping recruit farms to host our students on internships- helping us promote and disseminate out work. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to have finished delivering all of the 3 courses and have our 3 workbooks developed. We will also have recoded audio material for the workbooks. Our application for the glossary/dictionary should also be up and running. We are also working our our first publication to be submitted in 2023.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
2nd Annual Report of Research Activities (2022-2023) for USDA NIFA - Capacity Building Grant Project Investigator Dr. Arlene Garcia Co-Project Investigators Silvana Pietrosemoli Leonor Salazar Kim Guay Guy Loneragan Alexandra Calle Maria Salud-Rubio Amy Boren-Alpizar Jorge Zamora Research Project Developing Spanish communicative competence among veterinary and animal science students as a means for improving U.S. agriculture Objectives 1) To develop and implement three courses of Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture (SSPA) in the framework of the current veterinary medicine and ANSC program curriculum using innovative teaching methods and experiential learning activities integrated into the curriculum. 2) To improve veterinary and ANSC students' communication on-farm with animal caretakers, leading to enhanced animal health, welfare, and food safety. Research Activities Research team members participated in periodical Zoom meetings to discuss advancements, tasks performed, difficulties encountered and to decide on research plan readjustments and further actions. Advertising campaigns were set up prior to each academic term with the purpose of promoting our Spanish Certificate Program (comprising three Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture workshops [SSPA 1, SSPA 2 and SSPA 3] plus an internship and recruiting participant students from TTU, NCSU and TSU. Candidates completed a Spanish placement test and a Spanish-for-specific-purposes test. Those who fulfilled the entrance requirements were accepted and incorporated into the SSPA 1 (Fall 2022), SSPA 2 (Spring 2023) and SSPA 3 (Maymester 2023) workshops. Syllabi for SSPA 2 and SSPA 3 were designed based on results derived from initial survey that explored language needs in the context of farm settings. Instructional materials to be used in the three Spanish workshops were designed with the collaborative work of experts on different animal species and on linguistics and foreign/second language teaching. A graduate student was hired and has been assisting the PI and Co-PIs, working on student recruitment, farms selection, data collection, and on other project-related tasks. A graphic designer was hired to create the visual concept, the appropriate illustrations and the overall layout of the instructional materials to ensure that they are visually appealing and pedagogically appropriate. Evaluation instruments (quizzes and final tests) were generated to assess students' progress throughout the three Spanish workshops. A glossary of agriculture specialized terminology in Spanish was developed to assist students/interns while communicating and interaction with the Hispanic workforce during the internship. A farm recruiting process is being conducted in Texas and North Carolina states. The selected farms will host our students during their internships in the summer. A survey has been designed for assessing Hispanic workers knowledge of animal welfare. The survey will be administered at the beginning and the end of the internship period and will help determine the impact that student's intervention had on workers awareness and knowledge of animal welfare practices. A series of Power Point presentations on key topics associated to farm operations are currently being developed. These presentations, addressed to Hispanic workers, focus on best management practices and animal welfare and will be presented by students during their internship.
Publications
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Progress 04/01/21 to 03/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:***COVID CAUSED A DELAY IN SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES*** TARGET AUDIENCE WERE RESEARCHERS, NATIONAL VETERINARY COMMUNITY, STUDENTS RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITES AND NATIONAL SURVEY FOR VETERINARY NEEDS Virtual meetings with research team were held on amonthlybasis to discuss progress made by each team member and to plan activities for further stages of research plan. Animal Welfare Standards for farm audits were consulted (Animal welfare approved, AssureWel, DEFRA, Welfare quality ®). Key information deemed relevant to research stated objectives was excerpted. Survey items on animal husbandry and farm operations were drafted. Language theories were revised to support the construction of survey items focused on linguistic features. Preliminary version of survey for analyzing language needs in on-farm settings was created. Survey blended linguistic components with the area of agriculture, which is fully in line with the principles of teaching languages for specific purposes. Content validity was performed by experts' judgement. Changes were made as suggested by experts input to improve survey items and overall design. Survey format was adapted to make it accessible online. Survey was sent to potential target respondents. Data was collected and analyzed. Outcomes were classified in terms of language needs. COURSE DEVELOPMENT FOR SPANISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN AGRICULTURE COURSES Results were used for designing syllabus for course 1 (Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture SSPA1), which comprises: general objectives, specific learning objectives, topics, content details and distribution throughout units, teaching methodology, evaluation strategies, technical aspects. Instructional material for SSPA1 is being designed. Farm visits were conducted to gather multimedia content (raw footage and photos) which will be incorporated into instructional materials and videos. Literature review is in progress and initial sections of Article 1 (on needs analysis) are being drafted. SSPA1 is being advertised at TTU, NCSU, and TSU. STUDENTS Students were recruited by all three institutions. Placement exams were taken by students to determine the thier level of Spanish. A graduate student was recruited to help with the graphic designs of the Spanish units. Changes/Problems: The funding for this project did not come in until May of 2021. Furthermore, COVID delayed some of the work, as the linguistic experts visa expired and due to COVID delays was not able to work on the project for over 4 months.This caused a delay in starting the survey work and the devlepment of the first course. We do foresee that there may be a possibleneed for a no cost extension. However, we worked out of order on the timeline to utilize our time wisely- while we waited for the linguistics expert to come back to work. The home institiution has an entrance exam that is more focused towards heritage and non-heritage speakers. The reserach group determined that this would give us a better understanding of the level of Spanish knowledge each student had. Although the exam gave us a better representation of student knowledge, it required a student ID number that can only be assigned after a student enrolls in the home univeristy. We did not expect students to have to enroll in order to take a placement exam. Thus, we had to wait long periods of time for students to apply and then take the exam. This process caused a further delay to the start of the courses. However, this exam did make is clear that our beginner couse was still too advanced for most of the student population. This led to the development of an additional course to prepare students for SSPA 1 What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have made a tremendous amount of progress in a short period of time. In addition, we develped an additional prep course to help the students be successful in the more advanced spanish courses. At this time, we need to ensure that the courses begin in the fall to get back on our timeline. We are currently working on the glossary that will be a tool for students to use during their internship. We foresee that we will be through SSPA 3 by the next reporting period. We alsohave enough data to be able to publish the survey results by the next reporting period.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
***COVID CAUSED A DELAY IN SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES*** Goal number one is still in progress. We have surveyed the veterinarians to determine the course content we need to cover. We realized that our beginner course is still too advanced for the majority of students. Thus, we developed a very basic spanish course to prepare the students for the SSPA courses. The course content for SSPA one was finished using the survey recommendations and audit tool standards. The content for SSPA 2 is still in progress. Students were recruited and took a placement test to determine their level of Spanish. Students have either been placed in the prep course or SSPA 1 that is set to start fall 2022. The graphic designer helped modify the presentations as needed. The glossary that will be used for internships is more than half way done and we are working on converting it into a phone application for easy access during student internships. Internship sites continue to be recruited. More specific details on activites below. RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITES AND NATIONAL SURVEY FOR VETERINARY NEEDS Virtual meetings with research team were held on amonthlybasis to discuss progress made by each team member and to plan activities for further stages of research plan. Animal Welfare Standards for farm audits were consulted (Animal welfare approved, AssureWel, DEFRA, Welfare quality ®). Key information deemed relevant to research stated objectives was excerpted. Survey items on animal husbandry and farm operations were drafted. Language theories were revised to support the construction of survey items focused on linguistic features. Preliminary version of survey for analyzing language needs in on-farm settings was created. Survey blended linguistic components with the area of agriculture, which is fully in line with the principles of teaching languages for specific purposes. Content validity was performed by experts' judgement. Changes were made as suggested by experts input to improve survey items and overall design. Survey format was adapted to make it accessible online. Survey was sent to potential target respondents. Data was collected and analyzed. Outcomes were classified in terms of language needs. COURSE DEVELOPMENT FOR SPANISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN AGRICULTURE COURSES Results were used for designing syllabus for course 1 (Spanish for Specific Purposes in Agriculture SSPA1), which comprises: general objectives, specific learning objectives, topics, content details and distribution throughout units, teaching methodology, evaluation strategies, technical aspects. Instructional material for SSPA1 is being designed. Farm visits were conducted to gather multimedia content (raw footage and photos) which will be incorporated into instructional materials and videos. Literature review is in progress and initial sections of Article 1 (on needs analysis) are being drafted. SSPA1 wasadvertised at TTU, NCSU, and TSU. STUDENTS Students were recruited by all three institutions. Placement exams were taken by students to determine the thier level of Spanish. A graduate student was recruited to help with the graphic designs of the Spanish units.
Publications
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