ESP: Teachers and students perceptions on teaching to tour guides

Abstract

This qualitative study focused on identifying the perceptions of teachers and learners about implementation of an English for Specific Purposes course for tour guides in terms of necessities, lacks, wants, learning needs and language skills development. The study was conducted between October 2023 and February 2024 in La Esperanza de Ibarra, Ecuador.  The participants were a group of four pre – service teachers and a group eight local tour guides. For data collection, there were held three focus group sessions with teachers and learners. The information was recorded, transcribed and translated into English for its posterior analysis using the Needs Analysis frame proposed by Hutchinson and Waters. The tool used to analyze data was the free version of the program QDA miner lite. Data revealed that, as for the necessities, ESP implementation must strongly be connected to learners’ occupational needs. Lacks analysis indicated that before the implementation, none of the learners had achieved the minimum level of skills mastery required by Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador for tour guides. Regarding wants, informants suggested the inclusion of field trips as part of the course. Due principally to schedule overlaps and the limited number of classrooms available, the shift from classroom-based lessons to blended teaching modality was also suggested. As far as the learners´ language skills development, teachers informed that after the implementation, learners demonstrated improvements in oral production, specially. It was concluded that ESP can be beneficial for tour guides if their necessities, lacks, wants and needs are met through informed content selection, context teaching and adequate teaching modality.