NEEDS ANALYSIS: HOTEL RECEPTIONISTS’ USE OF ENGLISH

Chi Kim Pham

Abstract


Needs analysis is critical in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) development of teaching and learning because it decides learners' goals, needs, or deficiencies in the environmental situation. Learners are often taught and led in educational practices by textbooks authored by native speakers Ministry of Education and Training (MOET, 2008). However, Vietnam received a record of over 18 million of international arrivals in 2019 arrivals (VNAT, 2022). An analysis must evaluate real-life conditions to find difficulties met when working as a hotel receptionist. This research looks at the lives of eighteen hotel receptionists in Can Tho, Vietnam. A quantitative approach is used in this research to find out in what ways hotel receptionists use their positions and the obstacles they experience on the job. The study results show that hotel receptionists employ four skills, but speaking and listening are significantly more critical in this sector. Furthermore, hotel receptionists need help with these abilities when speaking with non-native visitors. The findings imply that, besides textbook resources, educators and curriculum designers could include distinct accents from non-native English speakers into a curriculum for ESP learners. Practical markets, particularly in Asia, now have implications for real-world tourism development practices.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


ESP, hotel receptionist, English, needs analysis

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alexandra, M., Erazo, C., Molina, S., Rez, R., Rojas Encalada, M., Villafuerte, J., & Zou, J. (2019). English Language Skills Required by the Hospitality and Tourism Sector in El Oro, Ecuador. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9, 156–167. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0902.05

Altarawneh, M., & Osam, U. (2019). Tourism English training at the tertiary level in Jordan: Reality and expectations from a university context. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 24, 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2019.02.005

Amirbakzadeh, E., & Vakil Alroaia, Y. (2020). Using Foreign Language Learning Factors in Tourism Development in Iran. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 8(Issue 30 (Spring 2020-No.2)), 61–79. http://jfl.iaun.ac.ir/article_671059.html

Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing courses in English for Specific Purposes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Blue, G and Harun, M. (2003). Hospitality language as professional skill. English for Specific Purposes, 22, 73–91.

Brindley, G. (1989). The role of needs analysis in adult ESL program design. In: Johnson, R. K. (Ed). The second language curriculum (pp.63-78). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, J. (1995). The elements of language curriculum. A systematic approach to program development. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Chan, Mei-Yuit (2002). English language communication training needs of front office assistants of hotels in Kuala Lumpur. In Jayakaran Mukundan, Arshad Abd Samad & Teh Chee Seng (Eds.), Readings in English Language Teaching (ELT): Selected Papers from the Millennium MICELT (pp. 35 – 44). Serdang, Malaysia: Penerbit Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Charunscri, K. (2011). The needs and problems of English languages skills for the hotel front office staff in Chinatown, Bangkok. Language Institute, Thammasat University.

Christison, M.A., and Krahnke, K. (2004). Student perceptions of acedamic language study. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 61–82.

Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M.J. (1998). Developments in ESP: a multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hutchinson, T., and Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning-centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johns, A. (1991). English for specific purposes: Its history and contribution. In Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp.67-77). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Kardijan, D., Emzir & Rafli, Z. (2017). The gap between learning needs and its’ implementation in English for hospitality specific purposes program. English Review: Journal of English Education, 6(1), 125–135. DOI: 10.25134/erjee.v6i1.779.

Lertchalermtipakoon, P., Wongsubun, U., & Kawinkoonlasate, P. (2021). Need Analysis: English Language Use by Students in the Tourism and Hospitality and Industry. English Language Teaching, 14(3), 59–71. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1288210

Maniruzzaman, Dr. (2006). Phonetic and phonological problems encountered by the Bengali speaking EFL learner: How can they be overcome?. The Jahangirnagar Review Part-C. XVII.

MOET. (2008). Report on teaching and learning English in non-English major universities. Paper presented at the teaching & learning English in non-English major universities, Ha Noi.

Ratmanida, Fatimah, S., Al-Hafizh, M., & Chair, I. (2020). Need Analysis on English for Hotel at the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality at Universitas Negeri Padang. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200819.010

Robinson, P. C. (1989). An overview of English for specific purposes. In H. Coleman (Ed.), Working with language: A multidisciplinary consideration of language use in work contexts (pp. 395-428). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Shieh, W. (2012). Hotel employees' perception on their workplace English use: An example from Taiwan. US-China Foreign Language, 10, 1729–1733.

VNAT. (2022). International visitors to Vietnam in December and 10 months of 2022. Retrieved from http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php/items/13551.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v10i1.4634

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Chi Kim Pham

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.


This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).