Development of ESP Materials for Hospitality

I Gde Rama Putra Yuda

20020084081

ESP Materials Development 2020D

English Language Education

State University of Surabaya
1. Introduction

English plays an important role in times of globalization. Almost all areas of life
need English. It is a language that is most needed in countries around the world. English
is used in nearly 112 countries around the world, including ASEAN countries. In 2015,
President Joko Widodo issued the Visit Visa Regulations, Presidential Regulation No. 69
of 2015. The Visit Visa Regulations are an attempt by the Indonesian government to
revitalize the tourism industry and increase the number of foreign tourists visiting
Indonesia. Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesians should take advantage of this visit,
especially for the tourism and hospitality sector. As part of efforts to take advantage of
these opportunities in this competitive era, Indonesians must prepare competent human
resources in their field. One of the required skills is fluent English. Those responsible for
this global competitiveness are not just professionals, but all people in Indonesia,
including academic staff and university professors. Therefore, professors or university
staff should sensitize them to this topic. This can be achieved by conducting research to
improve English for Communication and ESP (English for Specific Purposes).

The hospitality industry is one of the largest components of the global economy.
The rapid development of the hospitality industry can directly affect language needs.
Employees of the hotel industry have the same pressure to communicate efficiently with
English-speaking hotel clients (Kuppan, 2008). This in-depth study should fulfill
students’ needs and involvement in the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study is
to examine the English efficiency of schoolteachers and hotel supervisors on ESP
competence, and the learning styles of tourism and hospitality college students, and hotel
employees.

Hospitality management majors have different learning styles compared to other

students’ programs (Barron & Arcodia, 2002; Dale & McCarthy, 2006). A learning style
integrates people’s cognitive, affective, and psychological traits (Cassidy, 2004). Conner
(2007) indicated that learning styles are mainly related to people’s perception,
organization, processes, and present information developed during past decades. Fleming
 indicated that people have preferred sensory routes for learning based on learner type,
which are classified as the four learning styles of the VARK model (Visual/seeing,
Aural/listening, Read/Write, Kinesthetic/experiencing). Kolb (1984) divided learning
styles into four areas: diverging (feeling and watching), assimilating (watching and
thinking), converging (doing and thinking), and accommodating (doing and feeling).
Honey and Mumford (1995) identified four major learning styles in which people have a
preferred learning style that determines how they enjoy learning: pragmatist, reflector,
activist, and theorist.

2. Discussion

Studies have indicated that students are attracted to practical activities rather than
theory and reflection; thus, TH educators need to instruct students through different
teaching styles to increase students’ learning preference in certain programs (Barron &
Arcodia, 2002; Lashley, 1999; Lashley & Barron, 2006; Dale & McCarthy, 2006). Blue
and Harun (2003) emphasized that hospitality in the hotel is a type of commercial
business hospitality. Blum-Kulka (1982) concluded that effective language
communication requires more linguistic knowledge. In Spolsky’s (1989) theory of second
language learning, individual language learners through listening and reading generally
develop prior to a higher level through speaking and writing. The language domains and
modify the communication for the language proficiency levels. The definitions of the
language domains are as follows:
Listening—process, understand, interpret, and evaluate spoken language in a variety of
situations.
Speaking—engage in oral communication in various situations for an array of purposes
and audiences.
Reading—process, interpret, and evaluate written language, symbols, and text with
understanding and fluency.
Writing—engage in written communication in various forms for an array of purposes
and audiences (Lisboa, 2004, pp. 3-4).
 The five language proficiency levels outline language development with English
as the second language. The process advances from 1 (Entering) to 5 (Bridging) to
achieve academic content standards. Each step of the model indicates a language
proficiency level (Lisboa, 2004).
Therefore it is necessary to
conduct an in-depth study
of the appropriate teaching
materials for English at
hospitality that are relevant
with the results of a need
analysis of target situation.

The levels of English language proficiency

In the field of English for hospitality, many of the studies are focusing on the
strategies, appropriateness of in structural materials and adequacy. Comparison between
the communicative needs of tourism employees and personnel of the banks were done by
Al-Khatib (2007) to shed some lights on the attitudes towards the lack, needs and wants.
In his study, he also investigated the participants’ realization toward English to know
what they need more to be included or what they considered less important to be
excluded. In his study, he observed that in applying and evaluating staff English
proficiency the type of work has a significant role. Travel agency staff believed that the
most common reasons for communicating were writing and sending email and faxes,
making on-line ticketing, browsing the internet, making online hotel booking and
offering destination guides. Moreover, in this study, the most important skill for tourism
employees was writing and travel agency employees used English more than banking
staff at their workplace. Thus, developing and instructing an ETP course is an important
issue that has to take into account. The reason is that using professional strategies and
sufficient language learning is required in the tourism field.
 In fact, people who are required to use English at work for hospitality purposes
need to improve their communicative abilities, language fluency, and accuracy. These
people in international tourism and service industry have the opportunity to apply and
utilize the target language in their activities and routine work. Cravotta (1990) states that
mastering English for Tourism Purposes (ETP) p provides people with the required
linguistic tools to work in the different chosen professions.

It is supposed that teaching English for tourism and hospitality industry is

achieved through a topic-based focus. This method of teaching fulfills the double role of
providing a meaningful framework, and learners can develop their language skills and
knowledge. Moreover, it avoids the too-evident repetition of language items they have
already seen. Topic-based approach aids that the language items covered are those truly
required within the field chosen.

3. Conclusion

The second language speakers of English who wish to be employed and work in
the service industry and international tourism and those who aspire to learn English for
hospitality purposes have to carefully regard the language they use and the context of the
particular situation. Therefore, a complete and comprehensive curriculum of practical
courses should be helpful and beneficial for them. A curriculum relating to English for
the international tourism and service industry need to be carefully designed and created to
suit the specific learners’ needs and wants. The aim of these courses is to provide the
learners with certain and definite level or a situation where the language is going to be
utilized. Methods and contents have to be specific to equip the learners for the particular
situation (Hutchinson &Waters, 1987). Considering the international tourism and
hospitality, English will give a smooth path to aid the tourism employees to meet up with
their professional linguistic requirements in a satisfactory manner and finally to improve
the quality service in international tourism. In ESP courses appropriate and related
teaching materials are required to be designed and prepared based on different
 employees’ duties. Mastering English for tourism purposes provide the individuals with
the linguistic tools needed for travelling or for working in a variety of chosen professions
in tourism and hospitality sectors.

4. Assessment
5. References

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Employees in Taiwan. 1(8), 1–14.

Zahedpisheh, N., B Abu bakar, Z., & Saffari, N. (2017). English for Tourism and
Hospitality Purposes (ETP). English Language Teaching, 10(9), 86.
https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n9p86
Sharpley, J. (2001). Hospitality and Tourism Law. Tourism Management, 22(1), 107–109.
https://doi.org/10.1016/s0261-5177(00)00025-x

Ratmanida, Fatimah, S., Al-Hafizh, M., & Chair, I. M. (2020). Need Analysis on English for
Hotel at the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality at Universitas Negeri Padang. 463,
48–53. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200819.010