Needs Analysis of English Language Skills for the Saudi Tourism Sector
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The need for English language proficiency among professionals and global citizens has led to an immense interest in designing appropriate English for Specific Purposes (ESP) syllabi that cater to the actual needs of specific sectors. Among these sectors, tourism is a vital one that contributes to the national economy, creates employment opportunities, and promotes international relations. Despite the growing interest in tourism and new ESP areas in Saudi Arabia following the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategic plan, there is a lack of studies on syllabus design that are based on needs analysis in the Saudi Arabian context. This study aims to address this gap by administering a three-construct questionnaire to 47 Saudi tour guides to identify the most required functions, needed skills, and encountered difficulties in their profession. The results indicate that tour guides are mostly asked to introduce themselves and give directions to tourists. Consequently, they identified speaking and listening as the most needed skills. Further, they reported that they face challenges with foreign accents and in expressing their thoughts. The target needs list generated from this study can inform future tourism syllabus design, and further research is recommended to validate and elaborate on these findings.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Abdel Ghany, S., & Abdel Latif, M. (2012). English language preparation of tourism and hospitality undergraduates in Egypt: Does it meet their future workplace requirements? Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, and Tourism Education, 11, 93–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2012.05.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2012.05.001
Al Mukhallafi, T. (2019). English in Saudi Arabia: Status and challenges in the light of Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s Vision 2030. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(4), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n4p209 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n4p209
Albiladi, W. S. (2022). English teaching and learning in Saudi Arabia: Emerging practices and strategies for achieving the educational objectives of the Saudi Vision. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 13(4), 781–789. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1304.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1304.11
Aldohon, H. (2014). English for specific purposes (ESP) for Jordanian tourist police in their workplace: Needs and problems. International Education Studies, 7(11), 56–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n11p56 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n11p56
Aljabour, R. (2017). Saudisation: "An invented nationalism". Middle East Institute for Research & Strategic Studies. https://www.meirss.org/saudisation-an-invented-nationalism/
Al-Malki, E., Javid, C., Farooq, M., Algethami, G., & Al-Harthi, A. (2022). Analysis of the English language needs of the Saudi tourism workforce: A first step into designing ESP teaching materials. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 21(2), 72–88. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.2.5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.2.5
Almegren, R. (2022). Politics and foreign language learning: A study of Saudis' motivations to learn English following the announcement of Saudi Vision 2030. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 18(1), 135–158. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.171
Alqahtani, M. (2022). The Saudi 2030 vision and translanguaging in language learning in Saudi Arabia: Looking for concord in the future. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 18(Special Issue 1), 556–568.
Al-Tarawneh, 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 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2019.02.005
Al-Zahrani, N., & Rajab, H. (2017). Attitudes and perceptions of Saudi EFL teachers in implementing Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. International Journal of English Language Education, 5(1), 83–99. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v5i1.10733 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v5i1.10733
Astawaa, N., Mantrab, I., & Ayu, I. (2018). Communicative English language test: A prospective measuring device for tourism practitioners' employability. The 9th international conference of rural research and planning group (pp. 219–230). Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar.
Brindley, G. (1989). The role of needs analysis in adult ESL program design. In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum (pp. 63–78). Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524520.007
Brown, J. D. (2016). Introducing needs analysis and English for specific purposes. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315671390
Brown, J. D. (2022). English for specific purposes classroom needs analysis. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of practical second language teaching and learning (1st ed., pp. 68–82). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106609 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106609-6
Champers, F. (1980). A re-evaluation of needs analysis in ESP. The ESP Journal, 1(1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-2380(80)90007-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-2380(80)90007-4
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.
Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511733031
Larson-Hall, J. (2010). A guide to doing statistics in second language research using SPSS. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203875964
Lin, C. Y., Chang, W. H., & Lin, T. Y. (2014). The study on constructing a curriculum model of hotel English for undergraduate hospitality management in Taiwan. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(10), 2001–2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.4304/tpls.4.10.2001-2007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.4.10.2001-2007
Lou, Y. G., Li, H. X., & Zhao, Z. J. (2020). A study on needs analysis of Chinese vocational non-English-majored undergraduates in English for specific purposes. Open Access Library Journal, 7, Article e5694. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105694 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105694
Min, J. (2020). English for specific purposes education in university contexts: A research synthesis. TESL Reporter, 53(1&2), 59–77.
Montaño, E., & Corría, R. (2021). A theme-based syllabus to teach an ESP course to tourism workers. Journal of Research in Science, Philosophy and Language Teaching, 5(26). http://www.jrspelt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Edwin-ESP-course-to-tourism.pdf
Munby, J. (1978). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge University Press.
Prachanant, N. (2012). Needs analysis on English language use in the tourism industry. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 66(7), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.253 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.253
Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220
Ratminingsih, N. M., Suardana, M., & Martin, A. A. (2018). English for a tour guide: A needs analysis of a contextual-based language teaching. SHS Web of Conferences, 42, 2–6. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20184200012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20184200012
Suparsa, N., Suandi, N., Warta, I., Seloka, I., & Astawa, I. (2021). Discourse on English teaching material for tour guiding based on cultural social approach analysis. International Journal of Linguistics and Discourse Analytics, 2, 41–50. http://eprints.unmas.ac.id/id/eprint/724 DOI: https://doi.org/10.52232/ijolida.v2i2.36
The Saudi Ministry of Tourism. (2023). National tourism strategy. https://mt.gov.sa/about/national-tourismstrategy
UN Tourism. (n.d.). Language service. https://www.unwto.org/language-services
Wijayati, R., & Khafidhoh. (2021). Language aspects in English for tourism class. The 5th UAD TEFL international conference (5th UTIC) (pp. 29–33). Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12928/utic.v2.5732.2019
Vance, N. (2021). English for specific purposes. EBSCO Research Starters: Language and Linguistics. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/language-and-linguistics/english-specific-purposes
Zahedpisheh, N., Abu Bakar, Z., & Saffari, N. (2017). English for tourism and hospitality Purposes (ETP). English Language Teaching, 10(9), 86–94. http://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n9p86 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n9p86
