Needs Analysis of ESP Courses for Pre-service Flight Attendants

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the practical needs of pre-service flight attendant students, identify any problems, and give suggestions on developing English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for them. For data collection, the researcher conducted an online survey on the respective needs of 144 university students majoring in airline services and three professors in the department of airline services at G University in Korea and interviewed five students. The questionnaire given to the students was composed of 23 items, and its responses were descriptively analyzed. As for the responses to the interview and open-ended survey questions, the responses were analyzed by coding and were grouped into the guestionnaire categories. Consequently, most students felt that English is an important part of their work. Among the four main English skills, the needs for speaking skills were emphasized. In terms of ESP courses, they wanted a greater variety of English courses and preferred team teaching with an aviation expert and an English education expert. The results of the interview indicated that some of the current English courses were not designed for a specific purpose. Accordingly, this study identified some challenges to designing and implementing an appropriate ESP program matched with future job-related needs.