Hotel English: A Needs Analysis of Hotel Front Desk Staff, Vietnam

• Main Authors: DO, MANH HIEU, 都曼修
• Other Authors: CHENG, YING-HSUEH
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/ct36db

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國語文學系英語教學研究所 === 107 === English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is considered a language course design to train learners who have a specific purpose in learning English (Woodrow, 2017). Many ESP-related studies were conducted in the field of hotel industry. However, little research has investigated English language needs of Vietnamese hotel front desk staff. To bridge this gap, this study aims to conduct an English needs analysis of hotel front desk staff at five international hotels in Hue City, Vietnam. In addition, this study intends to uncover the effects of the training programs offered by the hotels and investigates whether such training meets their needs. In order to gain a thorough understanding of the needs of hotel front desk staff and their expectations about the course design, qualitative research method is adopted for data collection. A total of 15 hotel front desk staff and three managers from five different hotels are invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. This study reveals four main findings. First, the participants reported that speaking and listening skills are frequently used, whereas reading and writing skills are less used. Second, the participants encounter some difficulties in listening in their workplaces such as understanding guests’ accents, speeds, and pronunciation, especially when dealing with guests’ complaints, and telephone conversations. Third, the hotel front desk staff report that individual training at the hotels was helpful; however, they need to have an English class to improve their English skills. Last, regarding the course duration for attending English training course, the participants consider it necessary to meet twice per week, with two hours per lesson. In terms of teaching methods, the hotel front desk staff prefer to join an interactive class where they can have group discussions and share their ideas with one another. The present study shows that speaking and listening skills are frequently used by the hotel front desk staff. From the interview results, the participants expect to receive more training on their speaking and listening abilities. Hence, it is suggested that university instructors could facilitate future students to practice listening to different speakers’ accents, speeds, and pronunciation. Moreover, hotel managers could provide English courses to enhance language skills needed in the workplace (i.e., using English for dealing with guests’ complaints and telephone conversations). It is hoped that these suggestions can be used as guidelines for creating effective English training courses for future hotel front desk staff.