Integrating Multicultural Literacy into Curriculum of Tourism Industry

Abstract

Integrating Multicultural Literacy into Curriculum of Tourism Industry Brenda Hui-Lin Hsieh, Ching-Jung Hsieh Abstract Globalization is the main stream of 21st century (Bruthiaux, 2002; Kim, 1998; Pieterse, 2003; Hsieh, 2010). People have to move to other countries in need of education, work, and business. As tourism is commonly associated with trans-national travel, global tourism market becomes prosperous and diversified. According to World Trade Organization, “International tourist arrivals reached 1.035 billion in 2012, up from over 983 million in 2011, and 940 million in 2010”(WTO, 2013). The tourism industry has become one of the prior boosters for global economy. Owing to employees of tourism industry need to communicate with customers from different countries all over the world, they are required to cultivate better language skills and to develop flexible communication skills. In order to train the employees to provide best services to multicultural tourists, multicultural literacy turns to be a crucial subject in developing cultural understanding of employees in tourism industry. Integrating multicultural literacy into curriculum is significant for universities to discipline potential workers (the students major in tourism) of tourism industry in facing multicultural tourists. In this case, this study intends to figure out the strategies of integrating multicultural literacy into curriculum of tourism industry. This study conducted the method of content analysis to explore the strategies of integrating multicultural literacy into curriculum of tourism industry to develop students’ multicultural literacy. After reviewing and analyzing relevant documents and related literatures, this study elucidates five elements of multicultural literacy and tries to propose strategies to integrate these elements into curriculum to elevate students’ multicultural literacy. The strategies contributing to reinforce students’ multicultural literacy encompasses reading multicultural books and stories, watching multicultural movies and TV programs, providing authentic cultural environment and situational episodes for students to experience the vivid situations in facing multicultural tourists, enhancing tips and customs of different cultures and strengthen cultural understanding of the students, redesign teaching materials inclusive multicultural literacy, and creating thematic activities for students to understand the difference of different cultures. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jthm.v3n2a5