Need Analysis Survey of Designing and Developing a Mobile Augmented Reality Application for Tourism English Learning in Higher Vocational Education, China

Abstract

The English proficiency of Tourism Management students is underneath the average of college level. Providentially, the progression in technology has opened another possibility for researchers to explore the full potential of technology by integrating it into teaching and learning process in English. The combination of mobile learning and Augmented Reality (AR) is a creative and effective way for Tourism English learning, because AR presents virtual 3D content on the basis of real world and brings students directly to the real scene and working environment of Tourism, and mobile learning enables students to learn without time or space constraints. Although AR and Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) are believed to benefit education, so far, there is limited published research that addresses MAR’s benefits in higher vocational education, especially for Tourism English learning. Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the need to develop a MAR application, namely Mobile Augmented Reality Tourism English Learning (MARTEL), for Tourism Management students in Higher Vocational College (HVC). This study surveyed the needs from 169 students from 1st and 2nd grades of Tourism Management program and data were analysed by descriptive statistics. In addition, 6 Tourism English teachers were interviewed and the text of the conversations was transcribed thematically. Findings revealed that both teachers and students expressed the lack of English proficiency, the insufficient effect of existing technological teaching tools, and feedback quite positively on MAR technology and MARTEL, indicating that the demand of MARTEL is considerable. It is foreseeable that as an advanced and interesting teaching tool, MARTEL application will be able to improve teaching and learning efficiency, make Tourism English an innovative and high-quality course, and even to a certain extent, change the teaching ecology of domestic Tourism English courses.