A needs-based approach to developing cultural competency in Spanish for animal health and care professionals

This article describes the approach followed to develop a cultural component in an undergraduate certificate program in Spanish for Animal Health and Care. This multi-cultural component is the last in a series of four upper-division courses and addresses the specific cultural competency necessary for professionals within livestock and rural veterinary professions. It was based on the program’s needs analysis, which investigated the populations’ workplace linguistic and cultural needs. The article discusses the methodology followed in the needs analysis and the cultural categories that emerged. It describes the organization of course contents, and the articulation of the cultural component with the certificate’s linguistic proficiency goals. This roadmap towards developing workplace cultural competency may be useful to those engaged in designing Language for Specific Purposes programs for similar populations.