Jacet Kansai J. 12 (2010), 92‑103. c Kansai Chapter, JACETISSN 1880‑2281 Printed in Japan2010

Analysis of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,
technical schools, and hotels in Japan
Chiharu
Osaka

Iwai

Prefecture University

ABSTRACT
Despite strong promotion of the tourism industry in Japan, littleattention has been given to English
education for the hotel industry, whichplays an important role in welcoming

foreign guests andproviding a base for tourism. The purposes of thispaper are 1) to investigate the English needs andEnglish education in the Japanese hotel industry, 2) to examineand conduct a comparative

study ofEnglish education in the tourism‑related departments of universitiesand technical schools, and 3) tooffer suggestions to improve ESP
research results showededucation for the hotel industry at universities.The analysis of thewhat kind of English usage and abilitieshotels need for their operation,

while revealing their difficultiesin providing such English education at their hotels. The survey ofEnglish education at universities and technical schools showed
importanceon

practical education, particularly throughinternships. The

that technical schools place more

greater focus onfindings of this research shed light on how

ESP

and

university English

overseas

education can

respond to the needs of the hotel industry by providing more practical English education.

Keywords: ESP

education, hotel business, needs analysis

1. Introduction
With the Tourism
government

Nationsurveyed

Basic Law

has aimed to increase the number

opening of the Japan Tourism
According

Promotion

Agencyto a report by the JNTO

enacted2007,

the Japaneseof overseas visitorsto 10 million by 2010, and thein 2008

seems

to encourage(Japan National Tourism

foreign individual tourists complained

information access through the medium

in Januaryofthe campaign

even

more.

Organization), about 60%of thethe difficulty ofof English in Japan (JNTO,

communication

and2009). In order to promote

tourism from foreign countries, it is essential to produce highly competentpeople with excellent

English ability.
Hotels play an important role to cater to such foreign tourists,yet there is an unmet
need to provide effectiveEnglish education for the hotel industry.
ESP

pedagogy

can be utilized for English education in a specific field.Dudley‑EvansJohn (1998) describe how

ESP

indispensable characteristics.ESP

courses are based on needs analysis, whichcourses should

be designed to meetlearners and learners' present or future "discourse communities"1
they promote

is oneSt.

of theirthe specific needs of(Swales, 1990, p. 21), so that

educational effectiveness and also learners' motivation. There are many
92&

studies inAnalysiswhich

of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in Japanteachers have conducted

Edwards,

needs analysis and made2000; Iwai, 2008). However,there is not muchuse of it for ESP

research on ESP

course design (e.g.,

for the hotel industry.

The only previous research focusing on English education for the Japanese hotel industry wasdone by Iwai (2005), which studied the English education in the industry by the triangulation ofquantitative and qualitative analyses: questionnaire research to the membersof the Japan Hotel

Association, and participant observation and learners' questionnaire research at two

participant

hotels. It can be evaluated as a basic research of ESP in thisfield,but the scope of the research waswithin the members
moreof the Japan hotel association. Therefore, this paper expands participants tothan 1,000 hotels registered according to the law of Improvement

Hotel Facilities.It also revises the questions in Iwai (2005) andof International Tourist

adds morequestions in thequestionnaire for hotels in order to study the education to a fuller extent. In addition, it extends
perspectives toward

the English education at universities,and also at technical schools with alonger history of education for the industry, whichstudy and makeenables the author to conduct

a comparative

concrete suggestions for effective English education for tourism at universities.

Therefore, the purposes of this paper are 1) to investigate the English needs andeducation in the Japanese hotel industry, 2) to examine

Englishand conduct a comparative study of English

education in the tourism‑related departments of universitiesand technical schools, and 3) to offer
suggestions for ESP

education for the hotel industry at universities.The

paper explores what theneeds for English and English education are in the Japanese hotel industry,how

the current English

education at universities and technical schools meets those needs, and what university English
education should do to supply more highly competent personnel to the tourism industry.

2. Survey: Hotels, universities, and technical schools
2.1 Objectives
Questionnaires were distributed to hotels registered according to the law of ImprovementofInternational Tourist Hotel Facilities,and also to universitiesand technical schools with tourism‑
related departments, such
related department. The

as a tourism department, hotel management

department,or airline‑

questionnaire research aims to investigate the needs for English andEnglish education in the hotel industry, and also the present situation of English education atuniversities and technical schools. The methodof distributionwas by mail.

2.2 ParticipantsParticipants of each questionnaire research are shown
Table

in table 1.

1: Outline of the questionnaire research

Time of distribution
N of distribution
N of responses
Response rate

HotelsJul & Aug in 2008
1,070
199
18.6%

Universities
Oct & Nov in 2008
177
58
32.8%

93

Technical Schools
Nov in 2008
112
17
15.2%

Chiharu

Iwai

2.2.1 Hotels
The hotels to survey

werethose registered according

International Tourist Hotel Facilities.The member
to foreign guests, such as room

to the lawof Improvementof

hotels have to observe certain standards to cater

facilities,
lobbies, and restaurants,and they are supposed

strong awareness of quality service to foreign guests. Moreover,to havescattered all over Japan, they aresuitable as informants for thisresearch to investigate the English education at hotels in Japan. The
membership

information was provided on the website of Japan Tourism

Association. The numberof questionnaires distributedwas 1,070, with 199 responses, a response rate of 18.6%.

2.2.2 Universities
The universitiesto survey were chosen based on the information of a web sitecalled Shingaku
net, which provides information about the universities for those who
The universities with departments

intend to enter a university.

related to the tourism industry were chosen for this research.

Since some universitieslisted more than one department where students could learn about tourism,
the numberof the questionnaire distribution waslarge. There

were

58 responses out of 177

departments, a response rate of 32.8%.

2.2.3 Technical schools
The technical schools to survey were chosen by the information of technical school guides,
which

are intended to show

departments
someprospective students their expertise. The

respondents

as hotel business, airline business, and tourism. As with the surveyed

were

such

universities,

technical schools had more than one such department. Out of 112 questionnaires sent out, 17

technical schools responded, a response rate of 15.2%.

This section describes the main resultsof the questionnaires filledout by hotels, universities,
and technical schools.

3.1 Hotels
3.1.1 Overall present situation of the responding

hotels

As for the awareness of the need for English education, many
that they needed

to conduct

education very much"acknowledged

English education to a certain extent by choosing "Needor "Need

English education" as their top two

English abilitylevel most employees(48.7%),

hotels (84.4%)

have was "SomecommandEnglishchoices out of five. The

of English with a limited range"

the third choice out of five.The top five hotel departments where English is needed were

"Front Desk""Concierge"(100%),(33.8%)"Restaurant" (70.7%), "Operator" (57.6%), "Bell Service" (33.8%), and(multiple answers). The difference amongby the organization of departments: Everythose items can be accounted forhotel has a front desk and a restaurant, while some

hotels do not have operators, bell service or concierge.

Analysis of HSP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in Japan

3.1.2 Skills required of hotel staff
Figure 1 shows

how

much

each English skill is thought to be neededat the hotels. The

research perspectives of thisquestion are two‑fold: employees

in managerial and non‑managerial

positions. Overall, oral communication

moreskills in English seemwriting skillsfor hotel employees. However,managerial and non‑managerial

there seems to be a difference between employees

positions. For oral communication

managerial positions tend to need them morewriting skills,however,skills,hotel employees

inin non‑than those in managerial positions. For reading andthe results arc reversed: employees

English literacyskillsmore than those in non‑managerial

in managerial

positions need thepositions,

Listening Rending

Speaking

important than reading andWrilingFig. I Required Fnglish skills
1

Holt! operation

Hospitality

Sale*

Fig. 2 Required

Mjrfcctms:] <*Kign politics&
Lvoiiomks

skills other lhan En^libh

Regarding skillsother than English required for hotel employees. Figure 2 shows the five mostfrequent answers. "Knowledge

and skills of the hotel operation" arid "Hospitality," fundamental

skills for the hotel business, are strongly needed
managerial and non‑managerial
and economics,"
more(about 90%

positions. Howeveror higher) for employees"Sales," "Marketing,*' and "Foreign politics

which arc related skillsand knowledge

for customer service, are required muchfor employees in managerial positions than those not in management.

employees

in managerial positions needmoreboth inrelated knowledge

The resultssuggest thatin addition to skills directly

associated with the hotel business.

3.1.3 Provision of English education
Table 2 shows
provided English

English education at the responding hotels: Only

education. Figure

education and the number

3

shows

of rooms. The

more

23.4%

the relationship between
rooms

reported that they

provision ofEnglisha hotel has, the greater likelihood it has ofproviding English education. As for the type of English education, the most popular way to provide
95

Chiharu

Iwai

English education was "Classroom teaching" (78.0%), while the least popular way was "e‑Learning" (4,9%).

Table % English education at hotels (the most common answer for each item is shown)
Provision of Englisheducation"Yes" (23.4%, n = 197)
Type of Englisheducation^Classroom teaching"(78.0%, n = 41, multipleanswers)
Class division"No standard"(40.0%, n = 45)
Selectionof learners"By learner'srequest"(65.2%, n = 46, multipleanswers)
Content of lessons"Hotel conversation"(783%, n ‑ 46, multipleanswers)
Purpose of Englisheducation"To learn Basic English" (78.7%, n = 47, multipleanswers)
Problems of Englisheducation"Scheduling lessons"(63.0%, 11= 46. multipleanswers)
so

100
KO
60
40

‑)(J

2d

20
0

iJ

0 ‑ w

100‑299

I

numberFig̲3 RoomRegardingthe placement

standard. Moreover,answer"By

400

300 ‑ ̲W
number of rowns
of

holds

■rate

of

provisionofEnglish700 and moteeducation

soaks and rate of provision of English cducatiun ( n = 197)of learners into classes, manyas for selecting the learners, "By(65.2%), with the next most commonof the hotels (40.0%) do not have any

learner's request" was the mostanswers "By request from the company"

job sections''(37.0%). This result suggests that many

those who‑mcommon(37.0%) andof the English classes were formed

wanted to study English from different job sections and with varied English abilities.

Hold
cun

versa Lion

Elutcl reader^ &Generalwriting

cnnvcrcniLun

Fig. 4 Content

OeuerjL& untmj:

t3ll5IJWSS

f! itsLite.i>reading

conversation& wrumj;of English lesson { n ‑ 46, multiple answers

J

101)
SiO
ftO
40
2U
I)
Eiusic ["ngli^hHayh

3cvcl tngli*h Inpronrmcml

inserviceFig. 5 Purpose

C'ultLiTC

Atquibilum

Oilier">t･^LuliEiLJtminof t‑nglisl:
lesson ( n ‑ 46, multiple answers

96)

ymlillciitum
IUS1S

by

Analysis of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in JapanAs for the content of the English education, the top three answers were "Hotel conversation"(78.3%),"General conversation" (54.3%), and "Business conversation" (23.9%), all of which focus

on oral communication.

Those

results suggest how

the purposes for the English education, 84.8%
80.4%

chose "Improvement

in service." Theimportant oral communicationof the respondents answered
results show

is at hotels. As"Basic English," andthat they aim to focus on useful skills

most closely related to the hotel business.
Turning to problems"Scheduling

Englisheducation

lessons" (63.0%). This problem

being "Classroom

teaching," as mentioned

faces at hotels, the mostcommonanswerwascan be attributed to the type of English education

above. Hotels operate on a 24‑hour‑a‑day, 365‑day‑a‑year system, and it is very difficultfor learners to get together to take an English course. This
means

that they cannot expect a good attendance rate,nor can they achieve effectiveness in theirEnglish education. The

second mostcollected in July and August

frequent answer was"Highcost" (43.5%). Theof 2008, just before the so‑called "Lehman

data wereshock," and it is highly

likely that the percentage citing the costs of trainingwould be higher now, as companies

are forced

to be more conscious of costs.

SchedulingclassesHigh

costLow

Fig. 6 Problems

effectivenessNo
problemLowof English educaion

attendanceTroublesome( n = 46, multiple answers

Low

motivation)

Judging from the information obtained by the question about problems in providing English
education, they could benefit from a teaching methodologythat transcends time and place. In thatcase, e‑Learning could fitinto situationslike the hotel business. Figure 7 shows the provision of e‑
Learning

education at hotels, universities, andimplemented

e‑Learning education were only 2.1%, with universities34.5%

11.8%. As for the reasons why
sometechnical schools. The

hotels which

already

and technical schools

the hotels did not utilizee‑Learning for their English education,

salientreasons were "Not sure of itseffectiveness" (39.5%), "No budget for it" (36.8%), and"Don't know

e‑Learning at all"(35.5%) (n = 76).

Already

introduced

Underconsideration

Don'tknow Don't wantto useWon
it verymuch

Fig. 7 Introduction of e‑Learning

97

Chiharu

Iwai

In cases where hotels did riotprovide English education, the questionnaire tried to elicitthereasons. The most frequent answer was that the "Hotel is busy" (40,0%). This means That there are
not enough hotel employees

available to send someof them to regular English lessons. As in theabove question about the problems of English education. "Cost" (30.3%) was the third mostfrequent answer why they did not provide such training at all (See Fig. 8).

Hoicl isbusy SlitITwilli
high Cost
No
need for Nil
Erelish ability hniilish education[uiichcr
Knglishsectionattend tduciidim is
Fig. 8 Reasonsfor not providing

busv
Englisheducation ( n = ] 97. mullipk' answers)

3.2 Universities & technical schools
This section describes the comparative analysis of the resultsof questionnaire research for theparticipating universities andtechnical schools, because

they

are bothhighereducational

institutionssupposed to cultivate personnel for the hotel industry.

3.2.1 Jobs for the students
In order to anticipate the needs of students in view of theirlikelyfuture discourse communities,
it is important to investigate what kinds of jobs the students tend to obtain after theirgraduation.
As for the jobs of the students in a tourism‑related department, most

universities answered"Hotel" (91,7%) as, a field of business to which they send their students after their graduation (n '36, multiple answers). The next most frequent choices were "Travel" (86.1%), "Retailer" (66.7%),"Airlines" (36.1%), and "Financial services" (36.1%). Similarly, all of the responding technicalschools chose "Hotel" (100%)as the mostpopular field of business to which

they send

theirstudents after their graduation (n = 17, multiple answers). The next most frequent choices were
"Travel" (82.4%)v "Airlines'1(58.8%), "Rvokan"(Japanese style inns) (41.2%), and the "Restaurant

business" (41.2%). It is very probable that the hotel industry is one of the majorjobs that thestudents of such universitiesand technical schools tend to choose.

3.2.2 EGP

education

Regardingthe most

the content of EGP

frequent answer(English for General Purposes) education at these universities,was "English conversation" (76.5%), and the second most frequent was'Integrated skills" (72.5%), while 2,0%of universitiesanswered

answers). Similarly, the technical schools' most(64.7%),and the second most frequent wasschool answering "No

EGP"

frequent answer

"No

EGP"

(n ‑■51, multiple

was"Englishconversation"'"Integratedskills" (58.8%), with only one technical(5.9%) (n = 17, multiple answers). These resultsshow
98

that most of theAnalysis of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in Japan

universitiesand technical schools provide someform of EGP, with an emphasis on oral

communication in English.

3.2.3 ESP

education

As shown

in Table 3, 64.3%

in general, whereas
ESP

94.1%

of the university respondents provided ESP education for tourismof the technical school respondents did. In addition, as for provision of

for the hotel business, about 60%

general did that,while 81.2%

provided ESP

for tourism inof allsuch technical schools did. These resultssuggest that technicalschools tend to provide more ESP
universities.Regardingof allthe universities which

education for the hotel business along with ESP

for tourism thanthe duration of ESP courses for the hotel business, it was for one year at

most of the technical schools (72.4%), whereas it was half a year at most of the universities (83.7%).
In addition, as for the type of the ESP

courses for the hotel business, they were required subjects at

most of the technical schools (93.1%), but they were

elective subjects at about half of theuniversities.These results suggest that technical schools place more
for the hotel business than universities do. Many
schools answered

universities (72.2%)that one of the purposes of their ESP

their students could utilizethose English abilitieswhen
Regarding(62.1%)

the teachers'job experience at a hotel, many

chose "Noimportanceandon ESP

all of the technicaleducation for the hotel business was thatthey worked

at a hotel in the future.

universities(67.4%) and technical schools

experience." The result parallels what Garcia (2002) observed, namely, mostteachers of English for business purposes do not have related job experience. At many
(61.9%),

education

universities

the English teachers for the hotel business were full‑time teachers, while their counterpartsat the technical schools tended to be part‑time teachers. Japanese was the native language of an
average of 72.1% of the teachers at the universitiesand 75.9% at the technical schools.

Table 3: Comparisonof ESP education at universitiesand technicalschools(the most common

answer for each item is shown)Technical Schools
Universities"Yes" (94.1%, n= 17)
Provision of ESP for tourism
Yes" (64.3%, n = 56)
in general"Yes" (81.2% of allthe "Yes"
Provision of ESP for the hotel "Yes" (60.0% of allthe "Yes"technicalschools above, n = 16)business
universitiesabove, n = 35)
One year (72.4%, n = 29)
Half a year (83.7%, n = 43)
Duration
Required (93.1%, n = 29)
TypeElective (51.2%, n = 41)
To work at a hotel
To work at a hotel
Purpose(100%, n= 12)(72.2%, n = 18)
English teacher in charge
No experience(67.4%, n = 43) No experience(62.1%, n = 29)
Hotel business experience
Part‑time (75.9%, n = 29)
Working conditions
Full‑time (61.9%, n = 42)
Japanese (75.9%, n = 29)
Japanese (72.1%, n = 43)
Native language99

Chiharu Iwai

3.2,4 Overseas

education

This section presents the results on overseas education. The
responding

universities havea systemthat 72.2%of thefor their students to study abroad, while 13.4%

fewer

technical schools do (See Table 4). However,results show

as for the internships,the situation is reversed: Only

18.2%

of the universities provide opportunities for overseas internship, whereas close to twice as

manytechnical schools do. It is suggested that technical schools value practical training more thanclassroom

study. As for the field of business of the overseas internships, 40%= 10) and 100%of the technical schools (nof the universities(n6) answered "Hotel," which was the most common

atboth institutions.

Table

4: Comparisonof overseas education at universities and technical schools

abroadUniversities
72.2%, n = 55

Technical Schools
58,8%, n= 17Internships

18.2%, n = 55

35.3%, n = 17

Overseas education: Study

3.2.5 Qualification tests
Regardingthe application ofqualification tests to English

education, many

responding

universities (55.7%, n = 52) and technical schools (71.6%, n = 17) utilizequalification tests forevaluation or placement. The(76.0%,n"TOEIC"most

popular English qualification test at universitiesis "TOEIC"25), while technical schools' mostsccond

at 75.0%.

frequent answer

was'LEikcn" (83.3%), withThis goes along with the technical schools' relatively high rate ofprovision of a preparatory course for "Eiken" (70.6%), while that of universitiesis 27,3%
9). Mostof the responding

implemented
seems(See Fig.

universities (83.2%, n = 55) and technical schools (94.1%, n = 17)

preparatory courses for English qualification tests.As shownin Figure 9, "TOEIC"

to be the most popular English qualification test at both universities(69.1%)

schools (88,2%). Furthermore, as for the Tourism

English Proficiency Test (TEPT),

and technicalthe only ESP

qualification test in this field,the higher rate of providing preparatory courses at technical schools(64.7%)

suggests that they place greater importanceon it than universities (18.2%). Overall,technical schools provide preparatory courses for English qualification tests at higher rates thanuniversitiesdo.

%

TQEIC TEPT EIKEN
Fig. 9 Provisionof preparatory

courses for qualification tests

4. Discussion
The above resultsof three questionnairestudiescontributeseveralperspectivesto discuss
100Analysis of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in Japan

university

Englisheducation.

many

universities

With
graduation,

it is quiteComparedwithshouldBasedreasonable

to teachhotel

answeredonthethat they

analysisoforal communication

readingskills are needed

writing

moreskills as wellreadingmore

ESPcoursesWeb

sites to collect information

for customer

service are also needed(TEPT),

education

TEPT.

qualification test is intended

service in the tourism

although

and

range

few

diversepeopleUniversities

for learners who

Many

need

to haveandreadinga job withon skills suchas writingin general,andto deala preparatory

withwill use their English

about

cultures andgeography

basic knowledge

about

of knowledge

to pass the first grade

examination

skills for basic business
Englishtypes

offor suchknowledge

preparatory

coursesfor TEPT

in connection

university

can provide

education

learn throughas their jobs. Therefore,

internships, sucha workplacee‑Learning,

only

meets

of the hotels did not seem

legitimate

if students can have
could

a few

the needs
to know

prove

percent
of

most
of

about
101

with suchthat ofa working

have

and
be

effective

technical

forschools.

ESP.

Lave

&

Iwai

Wengerin their "communitiesofat a hotel throughlearning.
it. However,difficulty ofthe effectivenessthere arerelated courses.

at work.

experience

providedkinds ofexperience.

for students to learn

effective for ESP

hotels which

the second

variousit would

participation

the hotels

neededucation,

their colleagues

peripheral

while

and

tourism.

properly, because

is far behind

fromof Japan
globalof TEPT,anda practical opportunity

in the tourism

interactions in this field, which

nationality, culture,

courses

internships,

situations

for tourism. Peopleof

for theability for customer

also has questions

countries, andEnglishcourseexamination

relationships amongthat learners can often learn English

e‑Learning

utilize the Tourism

businessinternships

state that peoplebystudents

variousmany(1991)

education

providedbackgrounds

overseas

Regardingwritingondifferent

claimsoverseas

Englishpositions,in order, for example,

withprovide

such

oral

skills in oral communicationin order to attend to guests or customers(2006)

practice"2

also focus

Higherpositions

Englishas at the front desk.

letters for the industry

life experiencefor overseas

However,needtest focuses

universities to implement
As

employees

interactions suchfor marketing.

can be suitable content for students first studying
anduniversity

skills if they wish

business

low, although

for the hotel industry.

positions. Therefore,

universities haveand the third grade are to test English

knowledge

Therefore,

industry. The

first gradeinternational

It requires a wide
grade

at hotels wasin this field at universities could

Test

the world,

education

guests.

possible ESP

industry. Theon

the staff in non‑managerial

in managerial

Proficiency
This

for theat universities should

understanding

Anotherschools.

education

educationcommunication

for hotel reservations

fromtechnical

ESP

education.

by the staff in managerial

after theirandat hotels, hotelbyto hotels

importancein the face to facee‑mails

complaints

Englishtheir students

at universities

moreof English

usage

as oral English

greater responsibilities. The

Englishpractical ESPEnglishis needed

sending

place

neededfor their job, especially

While

and

schools

fillthe gap, by providing

communicationandschools

In addition, the rate of provisionof the hotels

educationtechnical

universities, technicalhotel business.
most

and

schedulingof e‑Learning,andEnglishclasses.
therefore,Chiharu

Iwai

future research should develop investigate the effectiveness of e‑Learning for the staff training andthe resultsof the research should be shared with hotels.

5. Conclusion
This paper investigated the present situation of ESP
universities,technical schools, andindustry in Japan more
perspective to ESP

education for the hotel industry at

hotels. It attempted to analyze ESP

education for the hotel

thoroughly than Iwai (2005) did. This paper also expanded

the researcheducation at universitiesand technical schools, and thus it offered more concretesuggestions about university education to meet the needs of the hotel industry. Hotels seemedhave difficulty in providing English education because
universities should focus on moretoof the cost and scheduling. Therefore,

practical education such as ESP

for the hotel business andoverseas internships at hotels,and in addition, they should provide education to equip their students
with a wide range of knowledge

to meet the needs of allguests with various backgrounds.

There are several limitations in this research. First of all,the number
questionnaire by technical schools is small. To obtain a moreof responses to theaccurate picture of the present

situation of tourism‑related English education at technical schools, further effortsare needed to get
more responses from them. Secondly, this research conducted quantitative research only, and toinvestigate English education thoroughly, qualitativeanalysis is definitely needed as well.
Someof the main goals for the future research should be to investigate how English education
at universities,and technical schools, and hotels is actually conducted, and to evaluate it by theactual performanceof learners working

in English at hotels. Further

research on qualitativein the field by using English
learners perform professionally
The evaluation should not be based on just English proficiency, but itshould be based on their total
performance: how they work as a professional and how they function for the purposes of theiranalysis on ESP

would investigate how"discourse communities."
In order to meet the needs of the industrial world, such further research will enable ESP
education at universitiesto be more effective.It is important to obtain wider perspectives toward
the improvementof ESP education based on continual studies of needs analysis, investigations ofactual conditions in practice,and evaluations of the effectiveness of ESP education.

Acknowledgment
This research was supported by Grant‑in‑Aid for Scientific Research (C) (20520539)
of an ESP

methodology"Development

for tourism based on e‑Learning and investigation of itseffectiveness."

1 Swales (1990) defines a discourse community

as having six characteristics:an agreed set of common

publicinitsmembers, participatorymechanisms, one or more genres
thea threshold level of members.
communicative furtherance of itsaims, specific lexis,and
2 The
in ESP and that of communities of practicein therelationshipbetween the notion of a discourse community
goals,

mechanisms

of intercommunication among102

Analysis of ESP education for the hotel industry at universities,technicalschools, and hotels in Japansocial theory of learning are discussed in Flowerdew(2001). Discourse communities

and communities

social groups of people with common(2000), Iwai (2006), Johns (1997), and Mavor

goals.

3 This paper is a modified version of a paper presented at the JACET
GakuenUniversity on September& Traynerof practice are deeply interrelatedbecause both of them are

48th Annual

Convention

held at Hokkai

5, 2009.

References
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