English for Tour Guide: A Need Analysis of a Contextual-Based Language Teaching

Abstract

This paper reports the results of need analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for local tour guides in two villages in Buleleng regency. This research is a descriptive qualitative study involving 56 tour guides, in which 30 were based in Ambengan village and 26 others were posted in Sambangan village. There were three instruments applied to obtain the research data such as observation sheet, questionnaire, and interview guide. Findings from the observation showed that the two villages had waterfalls and terraced rice fields as the main potencies. Additionally, the questionnaire specifying the target need showed that both groups had low speaking skill (56.05%) even the rest of them (43.95%) understood English, but was not able to speak English at all. Furthermore, they all required oral English, speaking (69%) and listening (24.5%). Seen from learning need, they demanded conversation (90.5%) as the most important learning experience. The results from interview proved that 92.5% local guides had no academic background in English. From those findings, it can be summed up that they need contextual-based English learning to accomplish their jobs in a more professional way through non formal education.