ELT CURRICULUM ASSIGNMENT

A PROPOSAL OF DESIGNING ENGLISH FOR TOURISM COURSE CURRICULUM AT COLORADO ENGLISH COURSE BENGKULU

By: Yusrizal 1103761

ENGLISH EDUCATION SECTION LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM GRADUATE PROGRAM STATE UNIVERSITY OF PADANG 2012

A Proposal of Designing English for Tourism Curriculum at Colorado English Course Bengkulu

Introduction Curriculum is a written document containing a framework of teaching activities that helps students to learn as effectively and efficiently as possible in the given situation. In the wider sense, it refers to all aspects of the planning, implementation and evaluation of an educational program in the teaching-learning process. According to A.V. Kelly (Richards, 2002: 70) curriculum is the overall

rationale for the educational program of an institution that must include, among others, the intentions of the planners, the procedures adopted for the implementation of those intentions, the actual experiences of the pupils resulting from the teachers direct attempt to carry out the planners intentions, etc . Before designing a curriculum, curriculum planners which consist of relevant Institutions, employers, societies, teachers, students and stake-holders, should gather various information from individuals/prospective as well as graduate students through questionnaires or interviews, informal consultations with other teachers, observation on students performances, and assessments for evaluation. Curriculum design is based on the following important elements, that is, situational/environment analysis, needs analysis, as well as goals and objectives of the study. In order to design the curriculum for English for Tourism Course at Colorado English Course Bengkulu, the writer initially focuses on the Goals and Objectives of the said Institute. The Goals are general statements relating to program purposes based on need analysis that can be used as a guideline to develop objectives. While Objectives are specific statements that the learner is expected to know and to become competent. Objectives can be analyzed and assessed to create a coherent teaching or learning experience. Objectives can also be used to develop into some parts of activities to reach the goals. At the end of the course, it will be evident whether the course is effective or not.

1. Need analysis In order to design an English curriculum that meets the needs of students, it is also important to consider needs of both educational institutions and workplaces that may hire them. For the improvement of the ESP curriculum, It is suggested that three different kinds of needs analysis are prerequisite. The needs are 1) the needs of learners; 2) the needs of employers; and 3) the needs of curriculum designers and teachers. First, we have to find out what our students want. Their needs should be inquired and analyzed. Second, it is also obviously needed to learn what qualifications workplaces and employers want from newly recruited employees and what criteria they use to judge and select them. Third, to consider what teaching environment including English teaching policies and principles we have in the department and in the school. Sometimes conflicts and frustrations among these professionals may hinder them from coming up with an agreement in designing courses. This presentation as part of a bigger study that is planned to analyze all three needs mainly focuses on the students needs and discusses the results of their needs analysis. Needs analysis is directed mainly at the goals and content of a course. It examines what the learners know already and what they need to know. Needs analysis makes sure that the course will contain relevant and useful things to learn. Good needs analysis involves asking the right questions and finding the answers in the most effective way (I.S.P. Nation and John Macalister, 2010). Brindley (1989) suggests that if the needs are derived by outsiders from the facts, from what is known and can be verified, then they are objective and perceived needs. For instance, if students learn English to fulfill their requirements for graduation, then their needs to study English are be objective and perceived. On the other hand, if the needs are derived by insiders and correspond to cognitive and affective factors such as to become confident or to help oneself more capable in ones school or workplace then the needs are subjective or felt needs. Product-oriented needs are compatible with target situation or goal-oriented needs while process-oriented needs correspond to learning situation. In other words, product-oriented needs derive from

the goal or target situation while process-oriented needs derive from the learning situation. Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) suggest that objective, perceived, and product-oriented needs correspond to a target situation analysis (TSA) and subjective, felt, and process-oriented needs correspond to a learning situation analysis (LSA). They suggest one more analysis that is a present situation analysis (PSA). A present situation analysis is intended to suggest what learners already know. Thus the analysis can be used to find out what they lack. A TSA deals with objective, perceived and product-oriented needs of learners; an LSA discusses subjective, felt and process-oriented needs; and a PSA estimates strengths and weaknesses of learners in language, skills, and learning experiences. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) suggest similar yet different definitions and classifications concerning needs. They use three terms to explain needs such as necessities, wants, and lacks. They define necessities as the type of need determined by the demands of the target situation, that is, what the learner should know in order to work effectively and efficiently in the target situation. Hutchinson and Waters argue that to identify necessities alone is not enough to understand needs. Since in ESP major variable to be considered is particular learners, we also need to know what learners want and lack. We need to find out what learners actually view their needs are. Their needs may conflict with the needs perceived by course designers and teachers. As course designers, we also need to evaluate what learners already know. The target proficiency needs to be matched against the existing proficiency of learners. The gap between the two can be referred to as learners lacks. A necessities analysis corresponds to a TSA, a target situation analysis suggested by Dudley-vans and St John (1989), a wants analysis corresponds to an LSA, a learning situation analysis, and a lacks analysis corresponds to a PSA, a present situation analysis. However, different from Dudley-Evans and St Johns categorization, Hutchinson and Waters argue that there is no necessary relationship between necessities as perceived by sponsor or ESP teacher and what the learners want or feel they need. They view necessities, wants, and lacks in two different

perspectives: one is perceived by course designers, that is an objective viewpoint and the other perceived by learners, that is a subjective viewpoint. Based on necessities, the curriculum planners decide at the beginning stage of the study, what the learners need to know . For example, the students of Tourism Institute need to have an in depth understanding on topics about what tourism is all about, world destinations, the jobs information about of tour operators, tourist motivations, agencies, transport in tourism,

the functions of travel

accommodation, marketing and promotion, transportation, the airline/shipping industries, types of holidays, reservations and sales, and procedures at the airport/harbor for arrivals and departures. On lacks i.e. what the students do not know , a set of materials is provided which relates to information that tourism as one of the biggest business in the world, facts and statistics about tourist industry in Indonesia, description on job skills and routines. On world destinations and tourist motivations, the students have to understand the different destinations and cultures especially in Indonesia, reasons for travel, destinations for old and young tourists, the changing face of tourism, tourists favorite places and where they come from, the biggest spenders and earners and descriptions about destinations. Relating to tour operators, tour agencies, marketing and promotion, the students need information on the roles of tour operators, how to design a package tour, local tours, promotions/sales, passengers survey, etc. On accommodation, reservations and sales, there should be information and exercises on how to handle/make reservation by telephone, the availability of local accommodation (average good quality hotels), explanation/confirmation on bookings and knowledge on computer reservation systems. While study on airline/shipping industry and airport/ship arrivals and departures which include high and low-cost airlines, the air/ship travel route map, the check-in and

information-desks and other relevant information. On wants , i.e. what the students want/need to learn , the curriculum should focus on the four components of learning English i.e. listening, reading, speaking and writing skills with addition on vocabulary and

pronunciation and other specific knowledge according to their levels of study. In general, materials on listening skill relating to tourism can be in the form of listening to conversations between two or more foreigners planning to take a holiday, their favorite destinations, dialogues between tour operators, story about a cruise-ship worker, taking a reservation by telephone, promotion in tourism, interview with a tourist on why he/she chooses a particular holiday, dialogue s between airport/cruise -ship workers and people working in the tourist industry.

Acquiring the Target Needs To get information as a basis for the curriculum design, it is necessary to collect data. The data are gained from questionnaires and interviews, informal consultation with other teachers, and observation on students class performance.

A. Questionnaires and interviews on prospective students and graduate students. 1. Question on prospective students: What specific subjects would the students like to learn and why? What are their weaknesses in languages skills ? What kinds of reading materials/text books would they prefer to study ? What kinds of learning method is preferable to them? (through tape recorders, computers, Over Head Projectors, etc.) What kind of jobs would they choose after graduation? What do they expect from the school aside from studying and gaining knowledge in tourism business?

2. Questions to graduate students which include general and specific questions: a. General questions How long have you worked in the company? What skills do you need to work in the company?

Is the knowledge learnt from the Institute applicable in your job? Yes/No. What are the advantages/disadvantages? What kind of assistance do you expect from Institute after you graduate from the school? What specific lessons help you much in your job? Why? What subjects/activities you learned at school should be given more attention and what subjects should be reviewed or deleted?

b. Specific questions 1. Communication skill Is presentation skill in pairs or groups required ? Is professional skill such as handling telephone calls or customers complaints required? Is it necessary to communicate using polite expressions? What about other skills in guiding, promoting or recommending?

2. Writing skill What important writing skill do you need? (business

correspondence, taking messages, memos, letters of enquiries, e-mails, making schedules, advertisements, reports, response on letters ) 3. Listening skill What should listening skill focus on? (dialogues, news, weather forecast, reservation, announcement, giving instructions, making suggestions, bookings) 4. Reading skill What kinds of reading skill should be given more attention? (leaflets, stories, articles from various media, biographies, text books, news) 5. Other skills Is it necessary to learn other cultures by going on a study tour abroad (Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand) ? Yes/No. Give your reasons.

Is it worthwhile to have practical guiding skill to be organized outside Jakarta such as in Bandung, Bali, Lombok, etc.

B. Informal Consultation with other Teachers Another means to collect information is by informal consultation with other teachers posing specific questions such as follows: What are teachers common problems in teaching English language? What kinds of approaches and teaching methods should be applied to motivate the students? Aside from the given text books, what other mate rials and topics on tourism should be useful to the students? How do teachers cover the syllabus on time ? How many times should teachers give trial tests to the students ? Is there a specific method for teaching English which will bring about better results? Is there enough time or is it necessary to repeat all the materials covered during the study before Mid-Term and Final Exams?

C. Observation on Students Class Performance Besides interviews and questionnaires to the prospective and graduate students as well as informal consultation with other teachers, it is also necessary to observe students competence and performance in class to see whether the curriculum is in line with goals and objectives of the Institute. According to general observation :

Some students have low proficiency in English and need to be given special attention Due to the long session (once/3 hours/week), students should be given different types of activities to attract their attention

Writing short essays in class before the start of every session in the form of journals has become a stimulating exercise in improving their writing skill

Presentation or role play in pairs or groups of 3 to 4 students has increased their confidence and speaking skill Listening to dialogues/stories through tape-recorders and watching short movies are also effective for the ir listening skill

2. Situational And Environment Needs

Situational/environment analysis which come from the learners, the teachers and the teaching and learning situation, have a strong influence on the goals of the study, on what to include, how to teach and asses it. From the learners side these include their attitudes and interests,

specific language skills that they wish to focus on, preferences (styles, strategies) about their learning, and purposes for studying English. On the teachers language part, it includes their educational background, attitude in teaching English,

proficiency, professional

techniques and classroom management, as well as time availability to prepare materials and make corrections on the students class assignments and homework. While in the learning and teaching situation, the size of the class, facilities from the school for example library, text books and teaching aids: tape-recorders, over-head projectors, and computers are influencing factors on the goals of the study.

In situational/ environment analysis, there are a number of nature constraints, such as the students different levels of competency, age, students/class, insufficient allocated time for learning, large number of various ethnic

backgrounds, different intentions and needs to study, should also be taken into consideration.

3. Goals and Objectives

A. Goals At this course, the Goals of learning English language, among others are to give new knowledge relevant to the students future careers and to motivate them so that;
1. Students are able to communicate with foreigners related to tourism aspects in Indonesia. 2. Students are able to correspond with relevant parties such as hotels, travel agencies, tourists of different nationalities. 3. Students are able to understand the differences among cultures (cross cultural knowledge). 4. Students are able to answer questions and give explanations about their local culture (Indonesian traditions, customs, habits, places of interest, dances). 5. Students have a thorough knowledge about the tourism business.

B. Objectives Based on the said-goals, the planners develop the Objectives containing specific statements which the students are expected to know and master well at the end of their study; 1. Students understand the proper language and are able to use the correct English terms in tourism. 2. Students understand the different ways to treat foreigners based on their cultures. 3. Students have the abilities to give explanations on Indonesian cultures to tourists. 4. Students posses a comprehensive knowledge on tourism business. 5. Students have the abilities and proficiencies to correspond in English.

4. Three Month Program Duration The class will have 24 times meeting, excluding evaluation session, as follows; Unit Language Focus Vocabulary Professional Practice Estimated learning time A. Month I 1. Careers in Tourism Question forms Jobs and duties The word Skill Action verbs Pronunciation 2. Destinations Present simple Present continuous Reasons for travelling Describing a destination 3. Hotel facilities Have Get something done Hotel facilities Describing hotels Pronunciation : Making comparisons 4. Tour operators Present perfect Past simple Pronunciation : /I/, /i:/ and /aI/ Tour operators Package holidays Deal with a complaint Write a letter of apology Persuading clients to buy package holidays B. Month II 5. Dealing with guests Articles definite Describing people and indefinite Misunderstandings -ed and ing adjectives Deal with a complaint 2 Solve an overbooking 90 minutes problem 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes word stress Write a CV Write a cover letter Attend an interview Apply for a job Prepare a presentation Give a short presentation Compare hotels Refurbish a hotel Write a hotel description 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes

6. Travel agencies

The future tenses

The word time Telephone language

Take a telephone booking Prepare an

90 minutes

90 minutes

Pronunciation: The educational report alphabet 7. Hotel reservations Indirect questions Reported speech Text messaging Conferences and conventions Pronunciation : Politeness Contrastive stress 8. Sightseeing The passive tense Places of interest Case study ? Exhibitions Pronunciation : /ae/, /e/ and /eI/ C. Month III 9. Getting around Modal verbs Checking in Using a dictionary Pronunciation : Same spelling, same sound ? 10. Eating out Countable and Verbs of preparation Pronunciation /e/ Giving advice on driving Giving directions Car hire bookings Hire a motor home Describe dishes Recommend a restaurant Prepare a menu Take an order 11. Traditions Defining clauses Vague language relative Traditions The theatre Public holidays Describe a festival Exchange historical facts 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minutes Recommend sights Describe an exhibition Guide for a famous sight 90 minutes 90 minutes Reply to an enquiry Take messages Send a text message Sell a conference venue to a client Write a formal letter 90 minutes 90 minutes

uncountable nouns Quantifiers

Pronunciation dates 12. Special interest tours Conditional sentences Special interest tours Pronunciation : word stress

Recommend a festival Exchange hobbies and interests Sell a holiday Organize a three day cruise A career in hotel management

90 minutes

90 minutes

90 minutes

5. Selected material A. Linguistic competence (structures) Specific vocabulary adjoining/interconnecting rooms, aisle seat, allocation (of rooms/ seats etc), check-in, on/to board, boarding pass, berth, business class, carrier, charter, chain (hotel/ restaurant), checkout, coach party, configuration (aircraft), confirmation, connecting flight, continental breakfast, cruise, deck plan, disembark, duty free, evacuate, excess baggage, en suite, ferry, fly-drive, front office, flight deck, flight crew, full board, guarantee policy, go first class, half board, hand baggage, hire car, inbound, in-flight, in-house, inclusive tour, independent traveler, itinerary, landing card, limousine service, motel, meal plan, non-refundable ticket, one way ticket, outbound, one hour ahead, package, (off) peak, porter age, promotional fare, quay, row, reconfirmation, resort representative, room types, safari park, high/low season, self catering, sightseeing tour/excursion, souvenir, suite,

supplement, tailor-made holiday, terminal, theme park, through-fare, tour guide, tourist class, transfer, twin-bedded, visa, validity, voucher

Specific phrasal verbs to break down to check-in/out to fly over to go on/get off to pick up to put up

to set off to stop off/over Industry standard used abbreviations R.O. (Room Only) B & B (Bed and Breakfast) H/B, F/B (Full / Half Board)

to take off to turn round

to work out

Tw, Sgl, Dbl (Twin, Single Double) Ex Dep. Arr. (from, Departure, Arrival) P.P. (per person) Pax (passengers) Air con, 5 dr (Air Conditioning, 5 door) Re, Ref (Reference to) Req (required/requirements) TV (Television) VIP (Very Important Person) Mon, Tue, Wed etc ... (Monday etc ...) Jan, Feb, Mar etc ... (January etc ...)

Verb forms The simple present (eg I enclose...) The present continuous (eg I am enclosing...) The simple past (eg You reserved...) The perfect (eg I have booked...) The passive voice (eg Brochures are sent / Tickets will be sent/The room has been cleaned..) The future expressed with present + time marker (eg I am arranging your flight today) The future expressed with will and going to (eg We will / are going to allocate twenty rooms) Imperatives (eg Please refer to our letter of...) The modals can, may, would, must and will

(eg We can offer you a discount for a group booking) The past continuous (eg I was checking the timetable...) The past perfect (eg He had invoiced...) the modals could, shall and should (eg What table decorations should we purchase?) Gerunds (eg a client who enjoys playing golf can ...) Industry used adjectives/ adverbs Possessive adjectives (eg We refer to your letter of...) Demonstrative adjectives (eg He chose these hotels for the conference) Descriptive adjectives, comparatives and superlatives (eg The weather report was very good / The climate is better in July) cheap / expensive, better / worse, easy / difficult Complex descriptive adjectives quite and rather (eg The resort representative was quite good at sorting out the problems at the hotel) Locative adverbs here, there, anywhere and inside (eg Please come inside to the Hospitality Desk on arrival) Locative adverb nowhere (eg There is nowhere for small children to play)

Pronouns Possessive pronouns (eg The suitcase is mine / Yours is in front of the reception desk) Indefinite pronouns (eg Can anyone assist you? / Everything is under control) Relative pronouns and simple clauses with that (eg The Conference Manager, who was organising the event... / The catering supplies that must be ordered) Indefinite pronouns somebody, nobody (eg Is somebody coming to meet the group?) Relative pronoun whom (eg To Whom it may concern)

Quantifiers, demonstratives and determiners Determiners a and the (eg The memo you wrote / A city guide)

Demonstratives this, that, these and those (eg Please take these vouchers with you) Quantifiers a lot of and some of (eg A lot of new trainees are joining the airline) Quantifiers enough and much (eg We have enough fuel)

Question forms Interrogatives when, where, why, what, how far, how much and how many (eg When did you write? / How many rooms did you reserve?)

Clauses and conditionals Subordinate clauses with if, that, because, where and when (eg We shall repeat the tour when we have twenty bookings / Our client wishesto cancel the holiday because he is too ill to travel) The first conditional (eg If the fog clears, the plane will take off. If you need any more information, please let me know.)

B. Linguistic competence (concepts) Understanding of: Spatial relationships (geographical location north, south, east, west) Distance near, far, from ... to ... Directions left, right, straight on,across, along Time Days of the week Telling time Sequence first, last, then, starting, finishing Frequency once, twice, weekly, daily Duration during the tour/flight Quality Shape round, square Dimension: size big, high; length kilometre, long; weight kilo, heavy

Evaluation and opinion Adjectives used to describe places, facilities etc in guide books and brochures (eg romantic, luxurious, comfortable, budget, peaceful, lively, busy, historic, ancient, tropical, stony, hilly, charming, unspoiled, welcoming, ruined) Nouns used in adjectival form to describe colours (eg golden sand, emerald sea)

C. Linguistic competence (vocabulary) Vocabulary in the following areas: Social exchanges (eg greetings / forms of address and introduction / leave-taking / expressing interest in job-related activities / leisure pursuits) Social arrangements (eg making suggestions, issuing invitations / responding by acceptance or declining / making simple arrangements for meetings and functions / food and drink) Selecting destinations based on: Hobbies and interests (eg fishing, sailing, photography, painting) Entertainment (eg sightseeing, theatre, cinema, music, dancing) Sporting activities (eg tennis, golf, watersports) Weather/climate conditions (eg hot, sunny, windy, mild, cool, cold, rain, storms, fog, snow, humidity) Travel arrangements (eg types of travel -rail, road, air /booking arrangements /arrival and departure / destinations, duration of journeys / arrangements for meeting clients / hotel bookings and facilities / services available)

The workplace Organisations (eg simple job titles/ occupations / relationships within the organisation) Workplace items (eg furniture and equipment in everyday use / correspondence methods / daily working routines) Orders (eg cardinal numbers to 5 digits / ordinal numbers to 2 digits / approximations)

Quantities (metric) / dates for delivery, arrival and departure / availability of goods and services Making payments, credit cards Products and services Basic description of products in the travel and tourism industry Simple faults, symptoms and remedies Simple operational instructions for basic equipment Shapes, dimensions, texture, colours, materials Simple evaluation and opinion about familiar items and procedures Accommodation Features, furniture, amenities Services (eg hot water, room services) Regional varieties, differing types

D. Linguistic competence (functions) Expressions of Desires Positive desires (eg I want a room with a sea view)) Negative desires (eg I do not want to stay in the city centre) Enquiring about desires (eg What do you want to do about booking the holiday?) Preferences (eg I would prefer a job in reception / I would rather not travel by air) Apology (eg I am so sorry you missed your flight) Regret (eg We are sorry to inform you that we are fully booked until) Gratitude and pleasure (Thank you very much for booking with us/ The resort was very pleasant indeed)

Social conventions Greetings (eg Good morning / How are you? / How are things?) Responding to greeting (eg I'm fine, thank you / I am very well) Addressing a customer (eg Please excuse me, Sir/Madam) Communication repair Can you repeat the last name please?

Sorry, when do you want to leave for .? Excuse me, but I lost your instructions

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Richards, Jack C. 2002. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. USA: Cambridge University Press Yogman, J. & Kaylani, T. (1996). ESP program design for mixed level students. English for Specific Purposes, 15, 311-324.