Abstract
The rapid growth of China's hotel industry has led to the popularity of hotel-related majors in higher education since the 1980s. Hotel English, an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) module, is a core module for these majors and has also been given a great deal of attention by ESP researchers. So far, studies have identified some problems with Hotel English modules in Chinese Higher Vocational Colleges (HVCs). Most studies have focused mostly on issues in syllabus, pedagogy, and curriculum design. There are still some gaps which could be filled, such as weaknesses in needs analysis and in evaluating reliability, validity and practicality in assessment. Therefore, this small-scale research focuses on evaluation especially with a needs analysis framework, of a Hotel English module offered by a Higher Vocational College (HVC) in Nanjing .A case study was adopted with Anthony’s (2018) four pillars model being the analytical framework which involves four aspects: (1) needs analysis, (2) learning outcomes, (3) teaching materials and methods, (4) assessment. Among them, needs analysis is the core. A mixed methods approach was used. To be more specific, the quantitative approach of questionnaires was used to get an overall view from students while the qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews was employed to get deeper and more concrete perceptions from students, teachers and hotel staff. Additionally, the syllabus and the Mode of Education (MoE) documents of the Hotel English module in this HVC were also analyzed. According to the findings of the research, some recommendations are made in all four aspects based on the four pillars. My main findings and recommendations are: First, I advocate for more specific guidelines in syllabus design for listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Additionally, the collected data suggests that hotel English textbook editors, syllabus designers, and teachers should incorporate reading, writing, and translation tasks into teaching materials and assessments to better facilitate a student’s future career development within the hotel sector. Furthermore, teachers can provide students with more opportunities to practice and create hotel-related situational dialogues in the classroom and the HVC should lengthen the duration of students’ practical training in hotels. Since Chinese HVCs have called for a reform concerning English education and ESP plays an important role in it, it is hoped that the findings and results of this research which offered an overall evaluation from the needs of learners, teachers and hotel staff and to some extent filled the gaps identified from previous research could contribute to answering this call by offering key stakeholders including policy makers, Hotel English teachers and module designers some meaningful recommendations.
| Date of Award | 15 Jul 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Anwei Feng (Supervisor) & Debra Costley (Supervisor) |