The Hospitality Industry

Abstract

“The Hospitality Industry: Let’s Communicate!” is designed to help Korean university students who are interested in pursuing internship programs abroad; it is intended for English for Occupational Purposes (EOP), specifically for students who would like to work in the Hospitality Industry. According to the Hankook Newspaper, it is becoming a trend for Korean university students to apply to internship programs in English speaking countries, otherwise known as ‘working holidays’ (Noh, 2008). The intended target learners wish to improve their communicative abilities as well as to experience the culture of their preferred English speaking countries. Ideally, a language and its cultural circumstances are learned at the same time. (Seelye, 1997) As Cindy and Charles noted (2011), learners can improve their communicative abilities while being immersed in other cultures. While there are many Korean students who want to pursue internship programs, there are currently few courses in the country that serve as a preparatory class. Thus, this Portfolio will help students enhance the necessary English language skills that would be required in the Hospitality Industry. The target learners of this Portfolio are mix-gender university students near the age of 20 or above. In terms of the students’ proficiency levels, this Portfolio was designed for novice-high to intermediate-mid students, according to the ACTFL English proficiency scale. These students are able to successfully interact in a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks. To be more specific, students are unsuccessful when attempting to express their opinions at length, but they are capable of expressing their feelings and preferences with simple language structures. They are only able to comprehend familiar topics and predictable situations such as greetings, asking about the weather, as well as introducing themselves. This target group of students has been selected because EOP requires a more specific skill set than typical English conversational courses. If students can communicate more fluently in English about topics related to the Hospitality Industry, they will, in effect, be better candidates for employment in their field.