English for specific purposes (ESP) for Jordanian tourist police in their workplace: Needs and problems

Abstract

With the rapid development of the global tourism industry, designing ESP-based curricula is now more vitally needed than ever. To work towards this goal, analyzing learners' problems and needs has become merely unavoidable. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the needs, functions and problems of 46 tourist police serving in different workplaces in Jordan. A questionnaire was used for this purpose and data were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that speaking and listening are the most important skills, followed by reading and writing. Concerning the English language functions, the results indicated that general conversation, answering questions and solving problems, then providing services were the most important functions. The results also showed that speaking too fast in English by foreign tourists is the most serious problem for Jordanian tourist police. The other difficulties they encountered included, using inappropriate English in speaking, lexis shortage and inability to use grammar for writing. Data analysis showed that tourist police faced problems with English language skills especially, listening, conversation and reading respectively. Recommendations and pedagogical implications were suggested.