THE EL KNOWLEDGE AS A MEANS OF ENHANCING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY Students’ Perceptions
Abstract
Due to its importance for both service provision and tourism products promotion, a good command of English has become one of the main prerequisites of tourism and hospitality professionals. Examining the perceived needs and performance of tourism and hotel management students in Serbia would give a useful insight into areas seeking for improvement, contributing thus to the curriculum development and language knowledge improvement that would eventually influence the quality of in-service activities. This paper looks into tertiary education as a driving force of increased business performance and positions English language course at this educational level. Its aim is to examine the students' perceptions of their language knowledge and to find out the students’ language needs and skills seeking for improvement. The subjects of the study are the students of the Faculty of Hotel Management and Tourism in Vrnjačka Banja who have taken part in professional practice, while the data are driven by means of a questionnaire survey. The findings of the study provide significant insights into the ways of improving the language teaching process that would lead to effective mastery of the identified language skills, and ultimately enhancing students' future professional contribution.
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