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Ibérica

ISSN:

1139-7241

iberica@aelfe.org

Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines

Específicos

España

Edwards Rokowski, Patricia

English in the Tourist Industry

Ibérica,

núm. 10 , 2005 , pp. 171-173 Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos

Cádiz, España

Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=287024006011

Scientific Information System

Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative

IBÉRICA 10 [2005]: 171-176171

The authors ofEnglish in the Tourist Industry, Raquel Varela and Elena Bárcena, have definitely, although only partially, filled a void by presenting a textbook in a field in dire need of options for the professional preparation of this extremely important career in a leading tourist country like Spain at an intermediate and upper intermediate level. According to their statement the objectives are, first, to teach the basics of the sub- language used in the tourist industry in order to improve the oral and written use of English in native speakers of Spanish, and second, to provide linguistic practice in communicative contexts typically encountered in the world of work in tourism. The fact that the textbook is intended for self-study and distance learning, thus including the answer keys to tasks, makes it difficult for use in the classroom, as well as for those too curious to resist the temptation of looking up the correct answer that is far too easily available. It seems that this possible drawback can be remedied by introducing the key into an insertable pamphlet in the overleaf, and therefore removable if the teacher/learners so prefer. In short, a separate key would allow for a larger target audience and use in classrooms in technical schools, and at the secondary and tertiary levels. The overall presentation ofEnglish in the Tourist Industry, just off the press, is up to date in format, content and delivery. The illustrations, tables, and general graphic design are attractive and well laid out. The authors have not stipulated the number of class hours in line with their purpose of individualized study; however, as a rough estimate between the text and the workbook, there is enough material for well over

90 hours of intensive work.

Regarding the contents, a previous working knowledge of general English is presumed in order to follow the course. The criterion for topic selection has been made according to current, relevant trends in national and international tourism in the first six units, namely: tourism as a concept, transportation, the hotel and catering sectors, sustainable

Reseñas/Book Reviews

English in the Tourist Industry

Raquel Varela and Elena Bárcena

Madrid: Editorial Universitaria Ramón Areces, 2004. 325 pages + CD-ROM and Answer Sheet for Tests. ISBN 84-8004-644-9 tourism, resorts, and cultural tourism. The last two units reinforce written and oral communication, with an emphasis on business correspondence and CV preparation, and, telephone skills and translation respectively. Tourism is such a wide, heterogeneous field that a series of several textbooks would be needed to encompass all the sectors involved. Still and all, the authors have wisely chosen six of the most common in their eight units of study, although other important professional activities such as those undertaken in travel agencies, trade fairs, tourist boards, marketing and promotion, just to mention a few, could have been equally as justified as fundamental to the field. The structure includes a variety of interesting, well-presented exercises in the traditional language skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening, again with particular emphasis given to those pitfalls typical of the Spanish-speaking learner of English. Although this feature limits the target audience to the Hispanic learner of English for Tourism, it is also a custom-made advantage to adequately attend to this segment group"s linguistic needs. In addition, grammar revision, phonetics, specialized lexis and even translation exercises are dealt with. Follow-up transferal of these kinds of tasks are rounded out in excellent communicative simulations of real life situations, and modern internet references for further study. Finally, there are six tourist-related projects to complete and each of the eight units is complemented with workbook exercises to reinforce the material presented in them. The tasks themselves are entertaining, well-balanced and believable for the most part lending themselves to maintaining the learner"s interest, a very positive motivational quality. However, there are a few circumstances where advantage has not been taken of placing the material in a tourism-related context (e.g. dialogues on page 130), and therefore misses some valuable chances to reinforce the specific language content of primary importance to this specialization. The CD Rom for the listening and pronunciation exercises is one of the book"s strong points. The true to life aural/oral practice is useful and realistic. There is an array of authentic native speaker accents for audio practice (Australian, Irish, British, and American), in addition to a spattering of Spain"s top visitor non-native ones (German and French). Of course, there are Spanish speakers of English in the transcripts as well, sometimes to the encouraging delight of the learner who may consider his/her own accent much better. Some interlocutors speak up loudly and clearly, others are soft-spoken and inarticulate, at times the service sounds a bit curt towards the customers, at others, refined and dutiful -just like real the world where the tourist professional needs to communicate. Some teachers and learners might find this to be

RESEÑAS / BOOK REVIEWS

IBÉRICA 10 [2005]: 171-176172

a handicap, whereas on the contrary at this level, and given the demanding language requirements of today"s tourism sector, it seems most appropriate to develop challenging listening and speaking practice as the authors have deemed valid to do. As with any new product, there are undoubtedly kinks to be worked out in the piloting of the material and are escapable at a first glance. Perhaps the weakest point lies in the evaluation section of both the projects and the final tests. A total of seven model tests and six proposed projects for distance evaluation are provided, and the learner is supposed to choose two of each of them. There is a lack of instruction as to what should be done with them once they have been completed. So unless the learner belongs to an institution using the material, or has a teacher, these two sections cannot be knowledgably corrected. For example, an address or email in the Preface, on the answer sheet provided, or alternatively in the Project/Test sections, as to where the self-learner could forward the work for evaluation might be a viable solution, even if a nominal fee were charged for the service. In addition, with regard to the evaluation section, the most logical although simplistic criterion for evaluation is that of testing what has been taught. The format of the model tests breaks this all important desideratum because the multiple choice structure of the tests do not conform to the eclectic presentation of the material in the eight text and workbook units. Furthermore, some of the multiple choice options seem ambiguous and/or widely indecipherable as isolated items taken out of context. In order to validate the evaluation system, this particular portion of the book should be corrected in a revised edition. In conclusion, and in light of what has been stated, authors Raquel Varela and Elena Bárcena have provided this growing market with an attractive and interesting textbook for the learning of selected topics in English for the Tourist Industry at a challenging level of communicative competence for self-learning. Without a doubt there are some minor improvements to be made, as have been pointed out, and the revamping of the evaluation tests is considered of major pedagogical importance. Nonetheless, neither of these observations disqualifies the otherwise fine piece of work produced.

Reviewed by Patricia Edwards Rokowski

Faculty of Business and Tourism Studies

University of Extremadura, Spain

RESEÑAS / BOOK REVIEWS

IBÉRICA 10 [2005]: 171-176173

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