التعليمية
Volume 8, Numéro 3, Pages 283-289
2018-09-17

English As A Lingua Franca For Hotel Front-line Employees

Authors : Zourgui Malika .

Abstract

It is indisputable that English has become a global lingua franca in the world market. It is viewed as an instrument language serving as a means of communication between non-native speakers. English has been used as lingua franca of tourists and travellers worldwide. As the hotel operators communicate daily with guests from different linguacultural backgrounds, comprehensible communication in English plays a significant role in facilitating hotel business. Communication is vital to the success of tourism business since it is only through the effective use of communication that tourism operators can offer higher service quality to customers. Thus, good communication skills can reduce misunderstanding, doubt, and conflict. In fact, misunderstandings often happen in the workplace especially with international visitors, and thereby neither good quality service is delivered nor the customer‘s satisfaction is achieved. To address this lack, the current study examines learners’ attitudes towards the use of English as lingua franca as a corporate language in hotel reception curriculum. The study is an examination of teaching tourism practices and approaches currently used in Bou- Saada training institute. It probes the communication needs of the receptionists in the workplace.

Keywords

Hotel receptionists ; tourism business ; English as a lingua franca ; communication needs