ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND CAREER SUCCESS IN AGRICULTURE:
A NEEDS-BASED CURRICULUM
Educational Needs Area: Curricula Design and Materials Development
CSREES Strategic Objective: To improve student recruitment and retention
Project Blog: http://usdaenglishandagriculture.wordpress.com
Project Email: usdaenglish@gmail.com
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
Department of English – P.I. Catherine M. Mazak
Co P.I.s Rosita L. Rivera and Judith K. Casey
Award Number: 2009-38422-19869
OBJECTIVES
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To create and pilot a two-course English curriculum based on the academic and
future employment needs of undergraduate agriculture majors.
To describe the use of English in agriculture majors’ undergraduate courses by
analyzing the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills necessary to
understand the content being delivered in English.
English Language Needs Analysis
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Observe focal students in all their classes to understand their English language needs
Interview the focal students’ instructors to understand their language use
(Spanish/English) during course
Analyze materials (textbooks, quizzes, handouts, etc.) for language use
Interview and conduct focus groups with focal participants to understand their English
language needs and learning strategies
Interview professionals at TARS (Tropical Agricultural Research Station) and NRCS
(National Resource Conservation Service) to understand the English language needs
of employees.
Revise English Courses
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Publish revised curriculum on blog (http://usdaenglishandagriculture.wordpress.com)
Present results at local and international conferences, as well at our own institution
Publish academic article based on results
Student Development
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Send selected focal participants to conferences
Train graduate research assistants in qualitative research methods
Support two NRCS summer interns with a $1000 stipend
PRODUCTS
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A two-course English curricular sequence for agriculture majors; accompanying
documents to include syllabi, lesson plans, materials, readings, and course blog.
A project-based website where all course materials (syllabi, lesson plans, etc.) will
be available to other ESL instructors for easy download.
A qualitative research “lab” equipped with laptops, voice recorders, printer,
transcriber, and software.
RESULTS
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Course materials available to other ESL professionals at Hispanic Serving
Institutions in Puerto Rico and throughout the world.
Researchers collect data on agriculture student performance in English.
English Department and Agriculture Faculty will have necessary data to implement
a permanent curricular change for agriculture majors.
BENEFICIARIES
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Evaluation
Outcome
Curricular revision
Evaluation criteria and weight in %
Student pre- and post-tests show 80% of students can
score an 80% (25%)
Loop assessments of student performance on select
curricular goals show that 80% of students have
mastered the goals (25%)
Faculty evaluation of new curriculum (survey) (25%)
Student satisfaction survey (25%)
Faculty evaluation of project (survey) (100%)
Build alliances across
departments and
disciplines
Train research assistants Assistants co-author a submitted publication (50%)
Assistants present at academic conferences (50%)
Advance the
understanding of the role of
English as a second
language in academic
content learning
Reveal both effective and
ineffective models of
content learning with
support for English
language learning
Article about this topic accepted to peer-reviewed
journal (50%)
Feedback from project website (survey of HSIs) (50%)
Article about this topic accepted to peer-reviewed
journal (50%)
Presentation about this project made at academic
conference (50%)
Create, Implement, and Evaluate revised English courses (INGL 3201 and 3202)
based on the needs analysis data
Dissemination Activities
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EVALUATION
To describe the use of English in potential employment situations for agriculture
graduates, such as the NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service) and TARS
(Tropical Agricultural Research Station).
ACTIVITIES
Amount: $249,753
24 participants ($200 per semester for 6 semesters for participation, access to travel funds)
125 (approximately) Agriculture majors who place into the Basic English track each year
1500 (approximately) students per semester who take courses in the Basic English Track
OUTCOMES/IMPACTS
(1) The outcome will be a curricular revision of two English courses. This needs-based
curricular change will potentially affect 60% of agriculture majors each year that the revised
curriculum is in place. The new curriculum could result in shorter time-to-degree, higher
retention rate, and better job placement for students, and thus an increased number of Hispanic
professionals in the agricultural workforce.
(2) The project will build alliances between the Department of English, the College of
Agriculture, and other academic departments as researchers come to understand language use
across various disciplines. The process of data collection, analysis, and write-up will advance
discovery and understanding in the fields of agriculture, math and science content learning and
English language learning while promoting researcher training and cross-disciplinary
understanding.
(3) The project will train four Puerto Rican student research assistants, increasing the
participation of Hispanics in education research.
(4) Hispanics are traditionally underrepresented in science and math. Our results will
significantly advance understanding of the role of ESL in math and science content learning,
potentially improving math and science education for this population.
(5) The results of this research will reveal both effective and ineffective models of content
learning with support for English language learning. Published articles will report findings so that
teaching practices facilitating content learning for low-English-proficiency students can be
replicated. In addition, the revised curriculum will be made public for adoption for use with ESL
students at other institutions.