Needs Analysis About Intercultural Communicative Competence Among Undergraduate Tourism Students

Abstract

With both the quantitative and qualitative data from 628 responses to a set of questionnaire collected from the undergraduates of three educational institutions in central Vietnam, this study analyzed learners’ needs of intercultural communication competence (ICC) related to their studying of English for tourism purposes and future occupations. The methodology used for data analysis including semi-structured interviews, and the questionnaire. The findings showed that the students preferred intercultural language learning activities referring to authentic materials and real-life experience. The results also revealed the participants’ great needs of various ICC attitudes and regular tasks in tourism workplaces. Particularly, they had positive attitudes in intercultural communication, and higher needs of tasks for improving discourse and behavioural competences more than other ICC dimensions. The study has implications for tourism learners, educators and related stakeholders to raise their awareness in learning, teaching and developing this long-lasting competence.