April 2008 Volume 4 Issue 2
Article 5.
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Article Title
The Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
of an English Tour Guide Project

Author
Ya-fen Lo & Chuen-maan Sheu
National Kaohsiung University of Applid Sciences,
Taiwan

Bio Data
Ya-fen Lois an assistant professor of the Applied Foreign Languages Department at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Taiwan. Her research interests include EFL reading and evaluation, content-based instruction and autonomous learning.

Chuen-maan Sheu is an English instructor of Applied Foreign Languages Department at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Taiwan. She has had sixteen-year experience of teaching EFL Reading Skills, Listening and Speaking, English Writing and Project. Her research interests include attitudes and learning strategies in ability-grouping settings, effects of remedial courses, and ESP.

This paper reports on the development of an English tour guide project, which took place in a culture-tourism context in Taiwan. This ESP project, embedded in the theoretical frameworks of content-based instruction and hospitality language, covered four stages: planning, executing the tour guide training courses, implementing the on-site tour guide service, and evaluation. The paper provides detailed descriptions of the tasks involved in each stage. The findings from the evaluation indicate that in real situations multifunctional language skills are needed on the side of the project’s student tour guides . Such skills include imparting knowledge, interpretation, proper guiding, answering questions, and practicing hospitality etiquette. Furthermore , nonverbal skills, such as understanding gestures, are also critical in enhancing cross-cultural communication. It is hoped that the findings of the present work will contribute to the development of effective training for English tour guides.

Keywords: content-based instruction, needs analysis, course design, evaluation, tourism

Introduction

The revenue brought by international tourism and business travel has become an important source of income for many parts of the world. As cities are the entrances to a region or a country, they are often at the frontline of the competition to attract more international travelers. Among the strategies of urban marketing, culture tourism has gained more popularity because of the increasingly aging population and a growing interest in culture (Ark & Richards, 2006). Tourists find culture-tourism appealing because it offers a cultural experience, including local history, lifestyle, and environment. In successful culture-tourism tour guides play an essential role because an effective guide can act as a “culture broker” who interprets the given culture for tourists (Cohen, Ifergan & Cohen, 2002). Thus, t he role of tour guides has gained research attention . Researchers have found that the quality of guides is vital to touristic success (Ap & Wong, 2001; Cohen, Ifergan & Cohen, 2002).

Recognizing the value of culture tourism for the growth of the urban economy and the importance of tour guides for enhancing tourists’ experiences, Kaohsiung City, the second largest city in Taiwan, has launched a tour guide project to promote tourism at the time of the Lantern Festival. The Festival, taking place along the banks of the renowned Love River of the City, have attracted more than four million visitors a year since 2000; the colorful celebrations include fireworks, lantern exhibitions, and tasting traditional food and snack. However, despite of the attractions the festival attracted few international visitors . Thus, a tour guide project was established, with the aim of providing better tourist services and in-depth explanations of the Festival and the City for international visitors. The department of foreign languages of a local university was commissioned by the city government to train tour guides, as well as interpreters and receptionists. Students for this program were chosen from the department through interviews, in which they were evaluated mainly by their English oral skills. Sixteen students were selected in December 2006. The whole project expanded from December 2006 to April 2007, covering the four stages of planning, executing the training courses, implementing the tour guide service, and evaluation (Table 1).

Table 1 The f our stages of the English tour guide project

As a matter fact, there are many complex prescriptions for professional tour guides (Ap & Wong, 2001; Cohen, 1985). Therefore, it was unlikely from the beginning of the project that the students could be trained in such a short period of time to meet the demands of professional tour guides. Hence, they were trained with the goal in mind that they should reach a level necessary to act as “specialized” guides for the Lantern Festival and Kaohsiung City only. For the purpose of this study, we selected a student tour guide as an informator who was equipped with knowledge of the Festival and the City, and was able to introduce the local culture in English . The principle of person choice was language skill, which refers here to situated linguistic skills, such as imparting knowledge, interpretation, guiding, answering questions, and practicing hospitality etiquette. Besides linguistic skills, nonverbal abilities, such as understanding gestures, were also crucial in the selection of informants.

In order to formulate the present project, which was centered on linguistic and nonverbal skills, we adopted the concept of content-based instruction (CBI) and hospitality language as a theoretical basis. CBI provides a framework for developing the content course, in which students were expected to learn content knowledge related with their role as tour guides. Hospitality language, on the other hand, provided ground for establishing students’ language and non-language skills needed for the job. The connection between the theoretical framework and the project is described in detail in section two.

This paper attempts to portray the process the project’s development, including design , implementation and evaluation. The present work will provide detailed descriptions of needs analysis, course syllabus, materials, teaching and methods, and then the results of four types of evaluation—formative, summative, informal and media exposure—used to assess the students’ performance the effectiveness of the project will also be presented. The findings of this paper may be particularly useful to those who intend to use this study as a reference work, in order to develop effective training for English tour guides.

2. Theoretical frameworks for designing the project—content-based instruction and hospitality language
Content-based instruction (CBI) was the theoretical basis for designing and executing the workshop, covering the tasks of needs assessment, materials development, instruction, and evaluation. CBI is “the integration of a particular content with second language aims,” in which learners acquire knowledge of the content area and increase their language skills naturally (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1987, p.2). Meaning, rather the grammatical form, should be at the center of learning.

Both ESP and CBI emphasize that language lessons should be contextualized to connect students’ language learning with meaningful content, and thus fulfill their practical needs. The theme-based instruction model, the most widespread type of CBI, puts particular emphasis on contextualization, in which authentic materials and tasks are often adopted to maximize the teaching of function areas in order to attain real-life goals. From this perspective it is a pivotal task to provide authentic vocabulary, forms, and registers for the students . The main strategy for teaching is to employ a variety of tasks, in order to help students in the acquisition of words and forms by calling on their prior knowledge and schema. Thus, schema can be built through content learning (Pally, 2000).

In addition, the teachers produce their own materials or, at least, they use certain sources in a modified form, in order to integrate the content into the teaching plan (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1982). For the present project, two types of materials were selected —a) works on Kaohsiung City, and b) works on hospitality language.
           
Hospitality language was the other theoretical framework in which the study was embedded. Hospitality language can be regarded as part of English for Occupational Purpose (EOP), a branch of English for Specific Purpose (ESP). Hospitality-related writings are generally classified into three types: prescriptive, descriptive and analytical (Blue & Harun 2003). “Prescriptive works” refer to manuals and instructional materials of the hospitality industry. “Descriptive works” , including documents, personal accounts, novels and films, deal with cultural and historical aspects of hospitality industry. “Analytical writings” explain the structural, operational and behavioral aspects of hospitality industry. Materials for the present project were selected from the bulk of prescriptive writings on hospitality language, in order to equip students with proper language skills for tour guides, interpreters, and receptionists.

Another aspect of hospitality language, structure, was also considered in the formulating of the project. Structure includes actors, physical settings, status protocols, and role expectations (Blue & Harun 2003). These elements of the structure affect the effectiveness of both verbal and nonverbal communication . Thus, making students aware of the structure and developing skills to successfully communicate with visitors was critical. Based on Blue and Harun’s proposition (2003), student skills were divided into two groups: verbal and nonverbal skills. The former include, among other skills, the necessary English vocabulary of terms of address , the abilities of 1) providing information and proper response to questions/requests, 2) dealing with problematic customers, and 3) alleviating complaints. N on-language skills include the use of gestures in practice, the understanding of body language, and etiquette.

3. Needs analysis and the aims of the training courses
The course aims and objects were determined by needs analysis of the four parties: the City Government, the university, the students, and the visitors. The needs analysis was based on the observation and discussion of the instructors of the training course with the university administrators, the government event planner and the students, the instructors’ actual visits to the Festival, assumptions on visitors’ needs, and reports from the local newspapers and magazines. The detailed description of the needs analysis of each party is introduced in the following sections.

3.1 Needs of the Kaohsiung City Government
The needs analysis of the City Government was based on contact with the event planner. The planner from the City Government emphasized that students should be qualified with the ability to offer in-depth introduction of the Festival-related activities to foreign tourists.

3.2 Needs of the university
The foreign languages department of the university involved was commissioned to carry out the project . The university could use this public relations opportunity to increase its visibility and enhance its image as a center for foreign languages . Besides, this task helped the university to build up a long-term cooperation with the City Government.

3.3 Needs of the students
The sixteen students have been studying English for more than eight years. However, none of them has ever received training as tour guides. In this training course, they needed to acquire t he ability of offering an in-depth introduction of Festival-related celebrations and activities as well as local culture to visitors. Besides, these students needed training in hospitality language( in addition to verbal and nonverbal communication skills) in order to properly attract visitors.

3.4 Needs of the visitors
Although the primary objective of the project was to attract more international visitors, domestic visitors from different parts of Taiwan were also considered as potential customers. It was assumed that independent of origin every visitors wants to obtain an in-depth understanding of the event and its relationship with local culture, due to her/his unfamiliarity with the local scenic spots, legends, traditional snacks, and arts. By means of proper guiding, visitors, can have a closer contact with local culture and, will have a better understanding about the city.This will hopefully result in that later they will either return for another visit or recommend Kaohsiung and Taiwan to others.

3.5 Course aims
Considering the needs of the aforementioned four parties, the aims of this project were multi-folded: 

1. To equip the student volunteers with hospitality language skills and verbal and nonverbal communication skills;
2. To train the student volunteers in offering detailed introduction of the Lantern Festival and local culture;
3. To raise students’ awareness that they have to treat the walking tour service as a promotion of Kaohsiung City tourism and the 2009 World Games;
4. To raise students’awareness that they not only represent themselves but also represent the university and the Kaohsiung City Government.

These objectives determined the scope of the present project. That is, the training project focused on tour guide techniques, the introduction of the Festival-related activities and local culture .

4. Description of the course syllabus, materials and teaching methods
4.1 Course syllabus
Based on the needs analysis and course aims, four courses, an assignment and a three-hour practicum were prepared for the students. These were as follows :
1. Principles and Basic Techniques
2. Walking Tour on Kaohsiung Lantern Festival
3. Introduction of Kaohsiung Local Culture
4. Introduction of Urban Marketing
5. Assignment
6. Practicum

“Principles and Basic Techniques for Escort Interpreting” was a training course of tour guide techniques. It covered the teaching of verbal and nonverbal communication skills, as well as techniques of hospitality language from arrival, through familiarization and engagement to departure, in summation known as the “guest cycle” (Kasavana, 1993, p. 424). Table 2 shows the adapted arrival-departure cycle, beginning with the arrival of the guests, followed by familiarization and engagement, and ending with bidding farewell.

Table 2 The adapted guest cycle

(Adapted from Blue & Harun, 2003)
The content-based course of “Walking Tour on Kaohsiung Lantern Festival” was spot-oriented. Various spots by the Love River banks were introduced through a certain route designed by the teacher, which, however, could be adjusted by the students if necessary. This route covered the theme lantern of 2007, the Lantern exhibitions, the so-called “Legend of Lantern Festival”, certain historical buildings and museums, and snacking areas. Guides were also expected to provide information for the tourists on the history and culture of Kaohsiung, and tell some stories of the Love River.

“Introduction of Kaohsiung Local Culture” aimed to train students to offer in-depth introduction on traditional snacks, Liu-Ho Night Market, traditional artwork, the temples in Kaohsiung , Taiwanese Opera and Taiwanese Puppet Show. “Introduction to Urban Marketing” over viewed Kaohsiung ’s software and hardware infrastructure, as well as future plans for developing culture, economy, transportation, and recreation in the city.

Assignments were given to students after the in-class training course was done. The students, grouped in pairs, were assigned to hand in written papers and VCD disks that recorded their practicing . Since we expected to have both local and foreign visitors, the students were expected to prepare everything in both Chinese and English . By means of this assignment the students developed the contents of their own tour guiding. They prepared greeting and self-introduction, designed their own routes for walking tours, compiled the content or story for each stop, provide an in-depth introduction to the event and the nearby scenic spots, and prepared for possible questions from the guests. Furthermore, by means of this assignment the students acquired the ability to compile and synthesize the materials prepared by the teachers, as well as to search for extra information and to make themselves familiar with the techniques of escort interpreting and hospitality language. Through this practice, students were expected to become more independent learners and independently prepare for the three-hour practicum.

The content-based and task-based “Practicum” was conducted one day before the Festival. The students took turns to act out as tour guides for different spots. Feedback from the peers and the instructors enhanced their guiding techniques.

4.2 Materials
Since there were no specific books or textbooks available for this walking tour service, the teaching materials were collected and compiled by the teachers. Thus, a great variety of sources were referred to.
   “Principles & Basic Techniques for Escort Interpreting” referred to several textbooks on presentation skills including Presenting in English (Powell, 2003) and High Season: English for the hotel and Tourism Industry (Harding & Henderson, 2002), which formed a framework for the course.
   “Walking Tour on Kaohsiung Lantern Festival” and “Introduction to Kaohsiung Local Culture” referred to publications by Information Office of Kaohsiung City Government, including Legendary Kaohsiung (Lin, 2004), An In-Depth guide to Twenty Four Hours of Kaohsiung (Chung, 2004), Kaohsiung’s Old Professions (Lin, 2002), official websites of Kaohsiung City Government, and reports from newspaper and magazines.
Three books formed the framework for the course of “Introduction to Urban Marketing”. They are Hospitality and Travel Marketing (Morrison, 2001), Tourism Marketing (Tsao, 2001), and Blooming Kaohsiung (Chang, 2005).

4.3 Teaching methods
CBI and hospitality language were the theoretical basis for designing and executing the program.

The overall teaching approach to the courses was essentially “task-based” and “top-down” . It focused more on meanings than on forms, on communicating and articulating ideas in meaningful contexts, and retrieving background knowledge and content schemata, rather than the simple decoding of basic grammatical rules and vocabulary teaching.

In treating the reading materials, the top-down skills, such as scanning for information, guessing the meaning from the context, and summarizing the article, were employed. For the instruction of guide service and escort interpreting skills, task-based skills and role play techniques were employed, in order to rehearse the communication between the students and the visitors.

Besides, as mentioned in course syllabus, students had three different occasions to rehearse their tour skills: in-class, homework assignment and practicum. First, in class, students role-played tour guides and visitors. Pictures of the scenic spots and undergoing infrastructure and city plans were presented i n Power point. After students became familiar with the content, they were assigned the task to introduce the scenic spot in front of class one by one. Immediate response and suggestions were given in class. Second, the teachers assigned the students to record their simulated tour on VCD disks and write on papers in both English and Chinese version after the in-class teaching. The instructors gave them feedback days before the practicum. Third, in the three-hour “Practicum”, students were taken to the Love River where the Festival was held. The students took turns to act as tour guides. Immediate feedbacks on their weaknesses and strengths were given by their peers and the instructors. .

5. On-site service and adjustment

Four modes of evaluation were applied to assess whether the program met the needs of the different parties. They were formative evaluation, summative evaluation, informal evaluation, and media exposures. Formative evaluation was used to measure the students’ language and content learning. Summative evaluation was used to measure the students’ perceptions of the project and their on-site service. Informal evaluation was used to understand the various customers’ satisfaction with students’ performance. Media exposure was used to measure the publicity of the service.

6.1 Formative evaluation
The students were evaluated by their role play in class, their written assignments, video and audio recordings, and practicum. In class, the students engaged in their roles as tour guides and visitors. They took notes on the simulated situations and discussed the possible solutions for the situations. For the assignment, the students showed their competence in applying the content materials in their required homework. All of them had put together comprehensive scripts for their guided walking tours covering most important information. They were able to introduce the spots clearly and used the technique of hospitality language from arrival, familiarization, engagement, taking questions and departure. In the practicum, the students were also able to incorporate the nonverbal techniques into their in-class tasks and assignments. They observed their peers and offered comments on their performance.

6.2 Summative evaluation
The data of summative evaluation were collected from a survey given after the ten-day service. The survey included five close-ended and five open-ended questions. All the sixteen students participated in the survey. The results of the survey were divided into two parts—students’ perceptions for the training course and their reflections on their on-site service.

6.2.1 The students’ perceptions of the training courses
In the five close-ended questions, the students were asked whether they agree that the course meets the demands of their job. In general, t he students’ evaluations were considerably positive (Table 3): they found the training course appropriate and useful to improve their understanding of the Festival and the city of Kaohsiung. According to their opinion, the materials of the course were especially useful for their work. The hospitality English and the tour guide techniques helped them developing their linguistic and non-verbal skills.

In fact, the students’ feedback was asked in order to improve the course, and their critical remarks were quite insightful, as well . For instance, four students mentioned that the three-hour practicum i s not enough: having a longer practicum , in which they could learn from fellow students and got a sense of the surrounding areas, would be more effective for preparation. A couple of students also mentioned that the real situations on site did not allow them to fully display their knowledge and skills to the visitors. For example, the firework shows often interrupted the tour. The crowd and noise made the students’explanation difficult to be heard. Therefore, they would like to learn more practical techniques to manage the situation.

Table 3  The students’ perceptions of the training courses

6.2.2 The students’ perceptions of their on-site service
In the five open-ended questions, the students were asked to report their difficult and enjoyable experiences, the difference of their expectations for the job before and after their service, what they would do if they had the opportunity to do it again, and their suggestions for future student guides. The results were grouped into six categories: language-related difficulties, non-language difficulties, language-related benefits, problems with situation management, cultural learning, and personal growth. 

Language-related difficulties. Almost every student mentioned certain language difficulties: the most typical problem was the accent of visitors . Since the students were trained with standard American accent, they experienced difficulties in understanding different accents different from this. They also needed more English prompts to encourage conversation with visitors to avoid the tour turning “dry.”Besides, when touching on more critical issues, such as politics and government policies, the students had difficulties in finding accurate vocabulary and expressions to explain their views.

Non-language-difficulties.Whle some students attributed their difficulties in answering politics-related question to their insufficient vocabulary , some others attributed their difficulties to their lack of related knowledge. Furthermore, two students mentioned that they encountered the problem of understanding nonverbal cues. They said they did not know how to react to the visitors’ friendly hugs.

Language-related benefits.In spite of the language-related difficulties, the students gained several language-related benefits from their work. Most of them stated that they gained more confidence in using English as they actively looked for opportunities to use the language in the ten-day service. Some of them became more aware of the weakness of their certain language skills: some students reflected that they need to improve their oral skills, while others felt the need of expanding their vocabularies . A couple of students said that they realized the need for learning a second foreign language, which may become useful when they have non-native English guests .

Problems with situation management. The students realized that real situations are very different from what they had expected. They found they were constantly interrupted by the crowd and noise during the tour. If the group was large , the students had difficulties in controlling the flow of the group. 

Cultural learning. Most of the students said that they enjoyed having the opportunity of cultural exchange with visitors from different countries . Not only they learnt new cultural elements from the visitors, but the interactions also reaffirmed their own cultural identities . From the preparation of the tour, the students gained more in-depth knowledge of the city, the Festival and local folklore in general . Their experience created a sense of pride for their own cultural heritage and motivated them to work on its introduction to foreign visitors.

Personal growth. Every student reflected on her/his personal growth. Obtaining international connections was the most regularly mentioned point: some students exchanged E- mail addresses with the visitors and continued to correspond with them later on . Expanding world view was the second most regularly mentioned personal advantage, which was the result of that they had opportunity to join the ceremonial cultural activities, held by the City Government, in the company of their foreign guest. Gaining self-confidence in using English was another kind of growth. During the ten days, the students “forced” themselves to speak English with foreign visitors and gained positive feedback. They found themselves “encouraged ” to speak English . They also became more independent in the search of tour-related information, the compilation of content materials, and the formation of their own performances. Some of them found they were actually good at being tour guides and wished to explore the possibility of becoming professional guides in the future.

6.3  Informal evaluation
The third mode of evaluation was the informal evaluation, which served the understanding of the various participants’ satisfaction with students’ performance. The participants included visitors, teachers, delegates of the City Government, and university administrators. During the ten-day period, the visitor logs showed that about two hundred and fifty visitors took up the tour service. However, the exact number of the visitors who accepted the service was bigger than the number recorded in the logs, due to the fact that some of the students, dispatched in a hurry,forgot to record their rounds. The students received seventy-two written comments from the visitors; the comments were written on a blank piece of paper and the visitors were encouraged to write any sort of comment .

6.4 Media exposure
The fourth mode of evaluation, which helped measuring the publicity of the service and the visibility of the Festival, was media exposure. The students and their service generated two newspaper articles, three reports on Internet media, and coverage from six television stations. The officials of the City Government and the administrators of the university had expressed their satisfaction for the large quantity of the appearance of students in media .

7. Conclusions

This report, applying the theoretical frameworks of content-based instruction and hospitality language, has portrayed the development of an English tour guide project. Based on the outcomes of the evaluation, the following conclusions can be drawn.

The CBI and hospitality language are appropriate models to develop a project of this kind. While CBI provides the framework for needs assessment, materials development, instruction, and evaluation, the hospitality language can be employed to build up the students’ linguistic and non-verbal skills.

Task-oriented instructional activities were beneficial. Activities, such as assignments, role-play in class, and on-site practicum, allowed students to simulate real-life situations. The activities also provided opportunities for peer learning. Most of the students developed a sense of readiness after completing the tasks.
Understanding different accents were instrumental for students. Among the language difficulties, the visitors’ accents were cited as the major concern by most of the students (with longer training in standard American accent ). In line with the fact that scholars tend to accept the importance of the concept of World English (WE) , more efforts should be done to familiarize students with the major English accents.  

Verbal and non-verbal skills were crucial in guided tours. Judging from the students’ reflections, the students found language difficulties, such as understanding different accents, using correct vocabulary to explain ideas, the most challenging tasks. Nevertheless, non-verbal skills were equally important. Situation management, mentioned frequently by the students, weakened the effectiveness of their work. The organizers and students needed to develop techniques to tackle the situations for future projects. The overall perceptions from the participants of the project indicated that the tour guide service was beneficial for every party.

8.  Recommendations for future projects
Based on the results of students’ evaluations, the following suggestions can be made for organizers of future projects of this kind, include university project developers, governmental agencies, and volunteering students.

8.1 Project developers
Task-oriented activities, role play and practicum should be the major instructional strategies for the content-based training course: practicing these provides opportunity for students to integrate content and real life situations. Special emphasis should be put on situated practicum, which aids students in gaining a practical experience in the surrounding environment. The practicum also provides an opportunity for peer critique and learning. Self-made audio or video recordings as homework should also be applied : this helps students to synthesize the course materials and develop the content of their tours. In addition, the students should be encouraged to read information with regards to local affairs, politics, and governmental policies, in order to keep abreast of current issues.

As to language-related skills, an introduction into the major accents of the world should be included into the course. Providing conversation prompts in English for the students makes the tour more interactive with the visitors. Although the students were able to practice etiquette in the course of their tours, they seemed to be baffled by the visitors’ politeness. The person in charge of the development of the project should discuss inter cultural differences of polite behavior .

8.2 Governmental agencies
The walking tour service seemed not to be very visible to both local and foreign visitors in the report. Since the program was commissioned by the government, the event planners from the governmental agencies should publicize the tour service using various media, such as newspapers, radio, Internet, as well as event brochures, to local and foreign visitors. Therefore, visitors can be aware of the service and use it. In addition, the location of the service booth and the signboard should be large enough to attract visitors’attention. Directional signposts of the tour service at different entrances of the Festival site are recommended, in order to increase the visibility. 

8.3 Students 
The students should extend their local knowledge with regards to local social affairs, politics, and governmental policies, in order to keep abreast of current issues. The foreign visitors in this Festival showed that they were not only interested in the lantern festival but the society as well. This paper has provided detailed descriptions of the development of an English tour guide project, an ESP project embedded in the theoretical frameworks of content-based instruction and hospitality language. It is hoped that the present paper will contribute to the research of ESP in various contexts and the facilitating of training courses for cultural tourism.

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