Needs of english for tour guiding from the perspectives of tour-guide professionals

NEEDS OF ENGLISH FOR TOUR GUIDING FROM THE 
PERSPECTIVES OF TOUR-GUIDE PROFESSIONALS 
Le Xuan Thong*; Tran Van Phuoc 
University of Foreign Languages, Hue University 
Received: 15/04/2020; Revised: 22/05/2020; Accepted: 25/08/2020 
Abstract: While practicing as tour guides, many students of English for Tour Guiding (ETG) at Hue 
University of Foreign Languages (HUFL) encountered many difficulties in their internships. The main 
reason may come from the designing of the current ETG syllabus neglecting the needs required by Tour 
Guiding Companies. The study analyzed the ETG needs raised by 25 tour-guide professionals (TGPs) 
from their companiesin Hue City, clarified students’ difficulties and presented measures to overcome 
these difficulties from the perspectives of TGPs. The qualitative and quantitative analyseswere based 
on written feedbacks to 15 items in the questionnaire for TGPs and on 15 ETG students’ feedbacks to 
10 questions in the interview for ETG students. The results of the analysis can help HUFL to modify its 
syllabus content relating to language-supported knowledge, balance between General English and ETG, 
aspects of linguistic knowledge especially pronunciation and specialized vocabulary, 4 skills and sub-
skills especially listening and speaking skills and their sub-skills. 
Key words: English for Tour Guiding, ETG needs, ETG syllabus, tour guide professionals 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Rationale 
 Needs of Vietnamese and foreigners for cultural understanding, international exchange through 
tourism and tour guides are growing day-by-day and are realized by means of foreign languages, especially 
English in Vietnam. However, in the internships as tour guides in Vietnam, many students of English for 
Tourism (ET) specializing in Tour Guides (ETG) who were trained to become tour guides from Hue 
University of Foreign Languages (HUFL) and some young tour guides have encountered several 
difficulties. The main reason may come from the procedure of designing the syllabus of ETG at HUFL 
without referencing real needs from labor market, especially Travel Agencies and Tour Guiding 
Companies. 
1.2. Previous studies 
 Many Asian researchers, including Vietnamese ones, conducted studies to find out the tentative 
solutions for some aspects of these difficulties.In East Java, Sujana (2003) proposed the establishment of 
English competencies for students of tourism department at the University of Mataram based on learners’ 
needs. In Jordan, Al-Khatib (2005) analyzed English communication needs of tourism and banking 
personnel in their workplace; Albakrawi (2013) presented the result of needs analysis of the English 
Language secondary hotel students based on the survey of 1370 secondary school students. In addition, in 
Thailand, Sri-Sumang (2007) pointed out English skills for inbound tour guides and found out listening 
skills as the most needed among 4 skills of English. Prachanant (2012) focused needs analysis on English 
language Use in Tourism Industry based on 5 tour companies located in Thailand to find out language skills 
problems and tourism employees problems. In Croatia, Kostic-Bobanovic and Grzinic (2011) compared 
students’ and employees’ perceptions on the importance of English language skills in the tourism sector 
and found out the similarities and differences in difficulties of skills. In Romania, Simion (2012) reported 
* Email: lethong1976@gmail.com 
the importance of teaching English in the field of tourism in universities based on general knowledge of 
tourism. In India, Satghare (2014) clarified the importance of foreign language skills in tourism industry on 
the survey of 30 tourism students. In addition, Chaudhary and Kaur (2016) presented the significance of 
English language in the field of tourism and suggested a careful needs analysis for teaching materials. In 
Greece, Tziora et al. (2016) did a survey on 92 five star hotels to find out their ideas on the important and 
decisive role of foreign languages in hospitality management. In Malaysia, Zahedpisheh et al, (2017) 
presented characteristics and features of ESP and ETP courses on which basis organizing course, including 
selecting materials, should be made more effectively. In Indonesia, Ekayati and Saniaty (2018) analyzed 
communication strategies used by tour guides and classified into types of communication 
strategies.Khoirunnisa et al. (2018) also focused the study chiefly on ESP teacher’s and student’s 
perceptions on teaching speaking for a tourism program; and Ratminingsih et al. (2018) presented the result 
of a need analysis of a contextual-based language teaching English for Tour Guide based on a descriptive 
qualitative research on 56 tour guides and found out the levels of their education related to tourism. In 
Ecuador, Erazo et al. (2019) discussed English Language Skills required by the Hospitality and Tourism 
Sector, based on surveying and interviewing 15 participants working in tourism, 5 tour guide professionals 
and 5 professors to seek for their agreement. In general, the previous studies abroad focused chiefly on the 
participants who were really working in tourism sector but not concentrating on their perspectives of 
academic difficulties encountered by the ETG students who took part in doing internships in tourism. In 
Vietnam, Vietnam Tourism (2012) opened a training course on tourism profession and English 
communication skills and focused on preparing skills for tour guides. Saigon Tourist (2015) issued a 
curriculum, Tour Guiding, aiming to provide students with an understanding of tourism related marketing 
and give students the skills for successful careers as tourism marketers, tour operators, local tour guides, 
professional tour guides, and beyond. Bach Thi Thuy Trang (2015) implemented a MA thesis on needs 
analysis of English Language Use in Tourism based on a case study of International Travel ...  difficulties, lack of practice in writing reports, adverts, travel plans from the university 
and lack of working experience can explain writing difficulties met by ETG students in tour guiding 
practice. This comment was supported by Kostic-Bobanovic and Grzinic (2011). 
4.3. Research question 3 
 How should these difficulties be overcome to satisfy English language needs for tour guiding from 
the perspectives of tour guide professionals and ETG students from HUFL, Hue University? 
 This questionwas answered through the findings and discussions of the items 15, 16, 17 related to 
open questions from the questionnaire for the tour guides and question 10 from the interview. 
Item 15 from the questionnaire and question 10 from the interview clarified suggestions to Faculty 
of English, University of Foreign Languages, Hue University in terms of (1) the selection of students for 
ETG programs: HUFL should balance genders in their selection of students for ETG programs so that all 
of students can become future tour guides instead of hotel receptionists, restaurant managers; (2) the 
qualifications, working experience and teaching methods of ETG teachers/lecturers: HUFL should recruit 
their ETG staffs with BA or MA qualifications but Tourism or Tour guiding or ET/ETG certificates issued 
by Tourism schools or colleges in Vietnam or in English-speaking countries. Most of difficulties in 
knowledge outside language and in communication skills and sub-skills can be covered, solved by their 
qualified staffs’ training, tutoring and practicing activities in the context of classroom. Additionally, ETG 
lecturers or visiting lecturers from Tour guiding companies should be fluent in General English 
communication skills and ETG functional skills and sub-skills. ETG lecturers should accompany with ETG 
students while their students implement internships in order to foster and update ETG staffs’ knowledge 
and skills in the workplace.; (3) HUFL’s ET/ETG syllabus, teaching and supporting materials: HUFL 
should do regular or yearly researches on all or part of needs analysis, TSA in Hue City and neighboring 
regions on which they design their ETG syllabus more applicably and practically than the present syllabus, 
they choose English functional skills with pronunciation, grammar and specialized vocabulary more 
properly. They also raised the ideas of adding more periods for training and practicing ETG instead of ET 
in terms of knowledge outside language such as culture, religion, history, geography, population, 
psychology and English functional skills. Moreover, HUFL should design their ETG teaching materials by 
themselves because the choice of foreign ETG materials really did not support Vietnamese students in their 
future career in the context of Vietnam. Moreover, HUFL should use technology supporting their training 
and (4) ETG internships, practicing in the workplace, attending to seminars sharing working experience in 
tour guiding by tour guide professionals: HUFL should prolong internships in the tour guiding workplace 
with the guidance of senior experienced tour guides and invite senior tour guides to share experiences in 
tour guiding before attending practice in the workplace. 
Item 16 from the questionnaire and question 10 from the interview showed suggestions to 
(international) travel agencies, companies in terms of (1) recruiting tour guides for tour/travel programs: 
Travel agencies, Tour guiding companies should recruit qualified tour guides from accredited universities 
or colleges locally or abroad where ETG students or Tour guides were trained in long-term programs in 
English or in bilingual programs or blended programs. Additionally, these companies should prioritize 
recruiting tour guides who had experienced practicing at the companies before; (2) fostering professional 
skills and ETG to tour guides and training ETG students in internship programs: Travel or Tour guiding 
companies or agencies should invest more funding for fostering professional skills and tourism knowledge 
and updating knowledge about tourist attractions in Vietnam. Moreover, Travel or Tour guiding companies 
or agencies should give more opportunities to send their tour guides to HUFL or any institution in Vietnam 
or abroad to take some short-term courses in English language including GE and ETG linguistic knowledge 
and communication, functional skills. 
Item 17 from the questionnaire and question 10 from the interview raised some suggestions to ETG 
students in terms of (1) overcoming cultural difficulties in tour guiding: self-study was one of useful 
measures to overcome cultural difficulties. Some other measures are mastering the cultural and ETG content 
presented in ETG textbooks taught at HUFL, collecting and reading official (text) books or materials about 
Vietnamese culture, history, geography, translated into English or some necessary materials about some 
Asian or Western countries where there are many tourists visiting Vietnam; (2) overcoming English 
linguistic knowledge in tour guiding: ETG students should regularly practice pronouncing confused sounds, 
words, review grammar structures and note specialized vocabulary used often in tour guiding. Additionally, 
they should review English grammar more; improve specialized vocabulary through textbooks; and (3) 
overcoming English communication skills in tour guiding: the students should listen to VOA, BBC or watch 
CNN, BBC TV programs, take advantages of speaking to foreigners whenever meeting them, contact 
partners or tourists by emails in English. Besides, they should practice skills and sub-skills combining with 
using pronunciation, grammar or specialized vocabulary, for example, review English grammar more often 
by speaking to classmates or any foreigners and writing in all genres related to tourism; listening and 
watching English speaking TV programs regularly, writing emails or business letters to pen friends. 
5. Implications 
5.1. For Faculty of English at HUFL, Hue University 
 The results of the research imply that the Faculty of English, HUFL should devote more efforts and 
finance to prepare for ET/ETG students as much as English and Vietnamese language-supporting 
knowledge such as culture, history, geography, psychology, economics, etc.,including the ETG textbooks 
and supplementary materials. Linking training activities to the needs of learners and of the workplace of 
tour guiding should also be implemented as much as possible through ETG syllabus design based on needs 
analysis including TSA, choice of updated ETG textbooks or designing supplementary or CALL or on-line 
supporting ETG materials, organizing many real-life tasks in classroom context, and giving more 
opportunities for ETG students to practice in real working place, inviting more experienced tour guides or 
tour agencies to share experiences in their workplace with ETG students. 
5.2. For ETG students 
 The perspectives from tour guide professionals on English language needs and difficulties faced by 
ETG students in actual situation are very precious to ETG students who have experienced time of practice 
for a rather short time. Learning from successes and failures of the on-the-site tour guides is precious to 
ETG students. From the findings, ETG students should think over before moving from BA in English 
language program to BA in English language specializing in ET and ETG program because the former 
focuses chiefly on English linguistic knowledge and communication skills and translation developed by 
British literature and culture knowledge whereas the latter concentrates partly on basic knowledge of 
English linguistics such as Phonology, Grammar and Semantics, communication skills and British literature 
and culture, part of the program is devoted to courses related to English for Tourism, English for Tour 
Guiding and short-term internship. Knowledge of ETG is the limited integration of fields of tourism and 
hospitality into English use in the chosen textbooks by HUFL, Hue University; therefore, ETG students, 
who will become tour guides in Vietnam, should read and update more about Vietnamese culture, history, 
geography, psychology, politics, population from official sources published by monolingual or bilingual 
format. English communication skills will be more accurate, fluent and meaningful if ETG students are 
patient to review basic rules of pronunciation, grammar structure and heap up more and more general 
vocabulary and idioms, expressions or terms related to tourism, tourist attractions to meet the requirement 
of English language needs. 
6. Conclusion 
 The research collected and discussed preliminarily the data related to English language needs for tour 
guiding such as needs of tour guiding activities, knowledge about culture, history geography, psychology, 
ETG linguistic aspects and skills supporting tour guiding, from the 25 tour guiding professionals in Hue 
city. Three groups of measures were also suggested to HUFL, Travel agencies and ETG students to help 
overcome ETG students’ cultural, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills found by their tour guiding 
professionals’ supervision in their practice. Some findings and comments were also supported by previous 
researchers in Vietnam and even abroad in spite of their different contexts of studies such as Indonesia, 
Thailand, Malaysia,... Due to the limitations of narrow location, small number of participants and two 
instruments, questionnaire and interview, the contribution of the research was not very significant; however, 
the researcher hopes to raise some prompts to further studies by any researchers who are willing to improve 
the quality of training future tour guides in Vietnam. 
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NHU CẦU TIẾNG ANH HƯỚNG DẪN DU LỊCH 
THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA HƯỚNG DẪN VIÊN CHUYÊN NGHIỆP 
Tóm tắt: Nhiều sinh viên Tiếng Anh hướng dẫn du lịch (TAHDDL) của Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, 
Đại học Huế gặp khó khăn khi thực tập. Đây có thể do thiết kế chương trình TAHDDL không cập nhật 
nhu cầu của các công ty du lịch. Bài viết trình bày phân tích định tính và định lượng nhu cầu TAHDDL 
theo quan điểm của hướng dẫn viên du lịch chuyên nghiệp (HDVDLCN) tại Huế, những khó khăn của 
sinh viên và những biện pháp giải quyết khó khăn thu thập từ những phản hồi của 25 HDVDLCN về 15 
câu hỏi điều tra và trả lời của 15/31 sinh viên về 10 câu hỏi phỏng vấn. Kết quả phân tích giúp trường 
điều chỉnh nội dung chương trình liên quan đến kiến thức ngoài ngôn ngữ, kiến thức ngôn ngữ nhất là 
phát âm và từ vựng chuyên ngành, 4 kỹ năng đặc biệt là kỹ năng nói, nghe, chung và cụ thể. 
Từ khóa: Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành hướng dẫn du lịch, nhu cầu tiếng Anh hướng dẫn du lịch, chương 
trình tiếng Anh hướng dẫn du lịch, hướng dẫn viên du lịch chuyên nghiệp