Abstract:
Communication plays a key role in one's personal and professional life. Effective
communication in English is important for two main reasons. Firstly, international business
depends on it for its global markets and partnerships, and secondly tourism depends, for its
sustainability, on a variety of professionals efficient in communication. Tourism, a laborintensive
service industry has become a booming industry in Sri Lanka with the restoration
of peace since 2010. It is one of the major contributors to the economy of Sri Lanka, and
is also a promising industry generating a wide range of career opportunities for the youth.
When it concerns the undergraduates and students of the three-year Diploma in Tourism
and Hospitality Management offered by universities, namely Sabaragamuwa University,
Rajarata University, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel
Management (SLITHM) and its nine satellite schools across the island, Mt. Lavinia
International Hotel School, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has not been focused on
since none of these institutions are aware of the specific needs of the learners in the tourism
context. As a result, teaching English has failed to address the specific needs of the
students. This study focuses on the specific needs of the communication skills of a target
group of learners and also professionals who are already in service in the tourism industry
using English for communication within the domain of tourism. This study therefore
proposes to assess the communicative skills and competences of the tourism professionals
through needs analysis in order to investigate the purposes of learning English, the existing
language proficiency and the target language proficiency of various categories of tourism
professionals: undergraduates, managers, tour guides and tourist police. Based on the
results, an effective course in English is suggested within the frame work of ESP, that
focuses on the specific needs of the skills and competences of the tourism professionals at
various levels so that they would be able to develop language proficiency and acquire
necessary competences for effective communication in English as required by the tourism
industry. The survey employed questionnaires, informal discussions and interviews with
the target group: lecturers, course coordinators, human resource managers and
stakeholders, apart from analysis of text materials, i.e., syllabus, past question papers and
answer scripts for data collection. Two hundred and twenty four (224) questionnaires were
administered to these professionals as well as foreign tourists, and out of these 161 were
completed and returned. The major findings of the study reveal that the academics in
English are not aware of the specific needs of the undergraduates of tourism, 100% of the.
undergraduates are weak in all four skills, and also the use of related vocabulary in tourism
context, and the great majority of the tourism professionals are weak in communication
skills. The findings also reveal that English plays a crucial role in the professional life of
the tourism professionals since it is used extensively in conducting their day to day
activities at the workplace.