An Investigation into materials used in English courses from various perspectives: A case study

ABSTRACT: The aim of the study is to find out whether the English courses offered to Tourism and Hospitality Management students meet their needs both in terms of the materials offered and the ways that these materials are presented. The rationale behind the choice of this topic is based on our observations that the English courses they take fail in some points. The choice was also motivated by the fact that in most faculties, including the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, the language of instruction is English, and the aim of these courses is to enhance the students’ level of English language proficiency to learn their subject courses. The setting of the study is Tourism and Hospitality Management Faculty at the Eastern Mediterranean University. The participants were 106 students majoring in Tourism and Hospitality Management in academic year 2013 and four English language teachers who were teaching English for specific purposes courses at the faculty. In order to increase the reliability, the researcher triangulated the data sources. In other words, the researcher used (a) a questionnaire for students, (b) semi-structured interviews with English teachers and (c) classroom observations. Also, the researcher analyzed the materials they used in order to find out the perceptions of both the students in terms of their perceived needs and the teachers’ perceptions of students’ needs. The data were processed by using SPSS to get descriptive statistics. In other words, the methods employed by the study was qualitative. The result of the present study is that learners’ needs are, generally, met by the materials used in the Tourism and Hospitality Management Faculty in terms of language skills, language content areas, and learning style, but with a slight difference in some exercises. Limitations, pedagogical implications and recommendations for future research are provided. Keywords: ESP, EAP, EOP, EGP, learning styles (LS), need analysis. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………