BUSINESS ENGLISH FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

Degree course: 
Corso di Second cycle degree in Hospitality for sustainable tourism development
Academic year when starting the degree: 
2022/2023
Year: 
1
Academic year in which the course will be held: 
2022/2023
Course type: 
Compulsory subjects, characteristic of the class
Credits: 
10
Period: 
First Semester
Standard lectures hours: 
60
Detail of lecture’s hours: 
Lesson (60 hours)
Requirements: 

As classes are fully taught in English, students will be expected to have a general English oral and written proficiency equivalent to the Council of Europe's B2 Level.

Final Examination: 
Orale

Students will be assessed via a 90-minute written examination paper and a spoken examination. Students need to demonstrate their understanding and use of the specialised language and terminology used in the tourism and hospitality industry. Students must pass the written examination to access the spoken examination.

WRITTEN EXAMINATION
 Reading comprehension: based on business and tourism texts together with extracts of information taken from a variety of published authentic guides, promotional materials, manuals, maps, plans and graphical data. Students will need to be familiar with the specialist vocabulary, terminology and abbreviations of travel, tourism and hospitality.
 Listening comprehension: requires students to be able to follow and understand a range of spoken materials, such as news programmes, presentations and everyday conversations about travel, tourism and hospitality.
 Writing: students may be asked to write promotional material for a leaflet or brochure, a resort hotel, a specific destination, a tour commentary or a travel itinerary supported by advice and recommendations. Alternatively, they may be asked to write a short essay (descriptive, analytical, comparative or argumentative) about tourism and hospitality or an e-mail of confirmation to a client, detailing complex travel arrangements.
 Functional/professional language: tests the use of English with tasks that show how well students can control grammar and vocabulary in a business-specific context.

SPOKEN EXAMINATION
• attending students

Students will be assessed via a 10-minute (approx.) spoken examination in English which consists of a topic discussion. Students are required to report on and discuss two specialist articles (please see list below). Students are assessed on their performance according to the following four assessment criteria: fluency, lexis (vocabulary), grammar and pronunciation.

The final mark will be calculated as follows:
10% - class participation and homework assignments
15% - role-plays
15% - project work
60% - final test (written and spoken examination)

• non-attending students

Students will be assessed via a 15-minute (approx.) spoken examination in English, which consists of two parts: a role-play and a topic discussion. Both parts carry equal mark weighting and students are assessed on their performance according to the following four assessment criteria: fluency, lexis (vocabulary), grammar and pronunciation.

The final mark will be calculated as follows:
50% - written examination
50% - spoken examination

Part 1
Students will act out a dialogue after being assigned a role among the following:

 travel clerks and travel consultants in travel agencies
 travel and tourism information officers in tourist information centres
 reception/front of house staff
 tour operator’s representatives at holiday resorts, tour guides on coach tours and on tourist sites

Part 2
Students are required to report on and discuss two specialist articles. Please see the list below.

Materials will be made available on the e-learning platform https://elearning.uninsubria.it/user/index.php?id=14674 in the relevant course section.

Assessment: 
Voto Finale

Effective and proficient communication is paramount in the global Tourism and Hospitality industry where professionals are required to use written and spoken English fluently and confidently on a daily basis. The course of Business English for Tourism and Hospitality focuses primarily on functional language and specialist vocabulary and is designed to enable students to:

• enhance their overall English communication skills with a specific focus on style, register, prosody and rhetoric
• develop professional competences for working in the tourism and hospitality industry such as marketing destinations and offering advice, dealing with enquiries, negotiating, writing essays and reports and ‘selling’ services and destinations
• develop language awareness through an integrated grammar and skills syllabus
• acquire the specialized vocabulary needed by tourism professionals
• practise language skills in realistic situational practice and role-plays
• hone and enrich intercultural and cross-cultural skills.

The coursebook provides a wide range of speaking, listening, writing and reading activities developed around topics related to the tourism and hospitality industry. A range of varieties of English and other international native and non-native speakers are featured, helping students understand how people speak English in different parts of the world.

Lessons are based on topics such as:
 Tourism and culture
 Trends in tourism
 Hospitality research and marketing
 Sustainability
 Facilities and services
 Social media
 Hotel branding
 Gastronomy
 Crisis management

to develop specific professional skills such as:
 describing and marketing locations, properties and attractions
 dealing with figures
 giving presentations
 dealing with guests and tourists
 offering advice
 handling complaints

ORAL EXAMINATION
Choose 2 articles: 1 article from Batch 1 and 1 article from Batch 2.
Be ready to summarize the general contents, answer specific questions about vocabulary and discuss the topic.

Batch 1
1. Hospitality language as a professional skill
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088949060100031X

2. Humanize your business. The role of personal reputation in the sharing economy
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431917307260#!

3. Emotional intelligence and creative performance: Looking through the lens of environmental uncertainty and cultural intelligence
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431917301081

4. Cross-cultural comparison of Chinese and Arab consumer complaint behavior in the hotel context
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431914000735

5. “Chef recommended” or “most popular”? Cultural differences in customer preference for recommendation labels
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431918308910

6. Career optimism of culturally and linguistically diverse hotel workers in the pandemic age
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431920303480

7. Determinants of Innovative Behaviour in the Hotel Industry: A Cross-cultural Study
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431920301948

8. The impacts of cultural intelligence and emotional labor on the job satisfaction of luxury hotel employees
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431921002279

Batch 2
a. Communicating Sustainable Tourism in English and Italian: A Contrastive Analysis
https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/linguae/article/view/2073/1395

b. Assessment of the Activities of European Cultural Heritage Tourism Sites during the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://www.mdpi.com/2199-8531/8/1/55

c. Exploring the Role of Tourists: Responsible Behavior Triggered by the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5774

d. Media Tourism and Its Role in Sustaining Scotland’s Tourism Industry
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6305

e. Social Representations about Cultural Tourism in the Time of COVID-19: A Case Study of Langhe, Monferrato and Roero (Italy)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6301

f. Brand Personality Traits of World Heritage Sites: Text Mining Approach
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6142

g. The Effect of Tourism Experience on Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior at Cultural Heritage Sites: The Mediating Role of Cultural Attachment
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/565

h. Does the Implementation of Robots in Hotels Influence the Overall TripAdvisor Rating? A Text Mining Analysis from the Industry 5.0 Approach
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517722000991

Convenzionale

Students will be engaged in a number of speaking, listening, writing and reading activities. Pairwork and groupwork tasks will be designed to provide opportunities to communicate in realistic and motivating tourism-related contexts and involve students in role-plays and discussions about topical issues in the tourism industry.
Regular attendance to classes is highly recommended.

Office hours
Please arrange an appointment by e-mail at eliane.nortey@uninsubria.it.

Professors

NORTEY ELIANE IRMA