ESP for Tourism: Does It Meet Employers’ Needs and Prepare Students for the Workplace?

This chapter focuses on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for tourism and investigates whether the content and skills taught to students enrolled in tourism degrees in Spain actually prepare them for the workplace and meet the needs of their future employers. In order to do this, the ESP courses o...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Chamorro Galán, María Gloria, Vázquez Amador, María, Garrido Hornos, María del Carmen
Formato: capítulo de livro
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/23058
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/23058
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:57 Lingüística
English for Specific Purposes
tourism
Spain
syllabus
employers’ needs
students’ preparation
Descrição
Resumo:This chapter focuses on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for tourism and investigates whether the content and skills taught to students enrolled in tourism degrees in Spain actually prepare them for the workplace and meet the needs of their future employers. In order to do this, the ESP courses offered by all Spanish universities with an undergraduate degree in tourism were reviewed and the main topics, functions, and skills were extracted. With the information gathered, an online questionnaire was designed and sent to different tourism companies in Spain, including accommodation businesses, cultural and active tourism companies, travel and event organisation agencies, and tourist information centres. In this questionnaire, employers were asked to answer a series of questions relating to the use of English in their companies and assessing how prepared tourism students are to perform the different functions highlighted in the ESP syllabi in the workplace. The results from this survey will be presented and discussed with the aim of informing ESP curriculum and materials developers, as well as teachers, to tailor courses, materials, and lessons that prepare tourism students to graduate with an English competence that allows them to successfully perform in their future careers.