International Guests Research Articles

Effective Communication Skills for Housekeeping Staff: Improving Guest Interaction in English

Practical language skills are essential in the hospitality industry, especially for housekeeping staff interacting directly with international guests. This study aims to identify and evaluate effective English training strategies to improve the communication skills of housekeeping staff at Duta Syariah Hotel Palembang. This study uses a mixed-methods approach involving ten housekeeping staff selected through purposive sampling. The quantitative method was conducted with pre-tests and post-tests to measure the improvement of English proficiency. In contrast, the qualitative method involved in-depth interviews and questionnaire analysis to gain insight into the staff's perception of the training received. 77.4. This indicates that, in general, housekeeping staff is at a moderate level of ability. However, there is considerable variation among them. The highest score obtained was 89 (SH), while the lowest score was 58 (RR). The average score of all staff was 77.4, which indicates that overall, the staff's speaking ability was at a moderate level. The English training program developed and implemented in this study effectively improves the English skills of housekeeping staff, improving professional competence and guest satisfaction. The study recommends implementing similar training strategies in other hospitality industry sectors to improve the quality of global service and communication.

Factors Influencing the Location of Hotel Businesses Catering to International Travelers in Bangkok

Abstract: This study investigates what makes international travelers pick hotel locations in Bangkok Thailand. The research tries to answer questions about location factors for international hotels and how these factors shape their decisions when choosing spots to serve international guests. The survey targeted select three to five-star hotels in Thailand's capital gathering just over 250 valid responses for analysis. Seven key factors came to light for international guests staying in Bangkok hotels: nearness to shopping centers, eateries, and tourist spots; ease of access; area wealth and appeal; rival hotels; hotel room size; and market focus. This study's results give us a deeper grasp of hotel placement in Bangkok. Looking at where top-tier hotels are, this paper points out some services that hotels in city centers should offer.

Italian urban tourism predictions using the holiday Climate Index

The tourism sector is a source of sustenance for local communities, a driver of fiscal revenues and a way to connect local sites to international guests. Its dependence on climate change exposes it to chronic risks such as slowly varying climate patterns. In this paper, we predicted tourism intensity (as the number of beds per square kilometres) according to three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) at the municipal level in Italy: 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5. We first estimated a statistical model of tourism intensity using the Holiday Climate Index (HCI) and other drivers. Then, we used the prediction of beds per Km2 to infer changes between 2004 and 2050 according to each RCP scenario of the HCI. We find complex heterogeneous patterns in exposure and a moderate positive effect in the RCP2.6 scenario. However, delayed (RCP4.5) or no climate policy at all (RCP8.5) scenarios present dire consequences for the tourism sector.

English Needs by Hotel Receptionists in Sikka: An Analysis of English for Hospitality

The urgency of this research is to improve the quality of hotel services in the Sikka district by identifying hotel receptionist’s needs and challenges in using English. In addition, understanding the English communication needs of hotel receptionists may provide beneficial insight into the industry of hotels and hospitality. This research aims to analyze the English needs of hotel receptionists and identify the importance of using English and the challenges often faced in communicating using English. This research was conducted in several hotels in the Sikka district using qualitative methods. This research employs in-depth interviews with 4 hotel receptionists to gain comprehensive data. The results showed that good English skills are indispensable for receptionists to serve guests more effectively, provide accurate information, handle complaints or special requests from foreign guests, create positive experiences, and support the growth of the hotel business. In addition, this research found that the main challenges faced by receptionists in communicating using English include a lack of technical vocabulary, difficulty understanding different accents and dialects, and constraints in responding quickly and appropriately in emergencies. Solutions to overcome the challenges are continuous and focused English training is essential to overcome these challenges and improve the communication skills of hotel receptionists. In addition, the use of technology such as translator apps can help language obstacles in real-time. In this case, receptionists can be more confident and competent in using English, thus providing better service to international guests.

Promoting Cultural Heritage Preservation through Agrotourism in Saint Lucia

Summary Since Saint Lucia became an accessible and consolidated destination in the 1990s, the domestic agricultural industry suffered a sharp decline. Many communities abandoned their fields and aimed for better-paid jobs in the tourism sector. Over time, the nation’s tourism sector reached a point of stagnation, lacking innovation and differentiation from neighbouring islands. The increase in tourism favoured the importation of foreign products rather than the use of local products to cater to international guests. The identity of local cuisine and traditional farming practices have been gradually lost. Through a series of interviews with local tourism entrepreneurs, this case study analyses the initiatives, challenges, and opportunities for integrating elements of traditional agricultural heritage into the tourism industry as an element of differentiation and cultural preservation. Information © The Authors 2024

Visions of the Earth: Colombian Indigenous Women Learning English from a Gender-Based and Multilingual Perspective

This case study is the result of a pedagogical intervention within the project Visions of the Earth in which 18 Colombian Indigenous women participated. Participants came from diverse Indigenous communities across different regions of Colombia. The project, Visions of the Earth, emerged as an initiative in collaboration with the Colombian Network of Indigenous Women in the Academia (RedColmia) and Universidad de Caldas. The project aimed to strengthen participants’ academic English through a year-long online program. Bi-monthly sessions were conducted by university professors and international guests, exploring visions of the Earth through texts by Indigenous writers who addressed historical exclusion and discrimination faced by Indigenous women in academia. Data were collected through two semi-structured surveys and participants’ artifacts. Despite debates on language erosion, participant perceptions underscore the importance of learning English as an empowering tool. Findings reveal that learning English under an Indigenous women gender-based perspective and multilingual approach is a medium for cultural appreciation, identity redefinition, and a means to share their unique perspectives on the Earth. This study provides insights into the intersection of language development, cultural identity, and academic empowerment for Indigenous communities.

Highlighting Community and Identity through an Online Interior Architecture Studio Project: Ambassador’s Residence Project

Within the confines of the COVID-19 pandemic, design educators were required to revisit tried and true ways of teaching and create original ways to connect with their students. In this paper, the aim is to achieve the sense of global interiors community in online teaching regarding teaching methods as well as project topics. Moreover, various means by which an enhanced studio experience may be provided is investigated. The year-long project with a focus on “concept building”, benefited from a variety of approaches and resources that is believed to enrich the overall experience. One of the first aims was to enable a sense of connection and community at a time of detachment. This was achieved in a number of ways; the first step was through requiring students to work in teams of two. The second step was to use the opportunities of online education to the full extent. In this sense, both national and international guests were invited to the studio for lectures and critiques. Lastly, on special days such as the IFI (International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers) World Interiors Day and juries, both national and international guests were invited to the studio to share experiences with students that were shared on international platforms. Through an ambassador’s residence project, second-year interior architecture students were able to experience aspects of their profession in an international environment. An enriched experience both in terms of structure and content was aimed to be achieved and the projects reflected these aims. The selected projects portrayed in the paper answer the requirements in full, are parallel to the context, and reflect the key criteria of the project. A questionnaire was applied to the participating students to gather deeper insight into their studio experience. Limitations include the number of participant students, and thus, further studies may include larger groups of students, national and international comparisons of experiences as well as studio output. Despite the large-scale catastrophe, findings show the benefits of increased online interiors community activity in the experience of the students as well as being reflected positively to their projects. These events have also benefited the instructors’ connection to the studio. Overall, the interior design studio is a dynamic environment that needs constant research into its pedagogy, content, and overall experience, as the educational environment moves swiftly to online direction.

Pre-service English Teachers’ Voices Toward The Use of Quizizz in Learning Tourism

Tourism courses assist pre-service English teachers in developing their English abilities in the appropriate contexts. The pre-service English teachers learn particular terminology and the application of English in the tourism business, such as identifying tourist sights and culture and communicating with international guests. Quizizz is one of the exciting learning evaluation media which is commonly used in a learning process. This study aims to explore the pre-service English teachers’ voices toward the use of Quizizz in learning Tourism. In collecting the data, the researchers used a questionnaire. The questionnaire was adopted from the previous study, which was conducted by Basuki (2019). The participants were 30 pre-service English teachers of an Islamic state university in Central Java, Indonesia. Based on the analyzed data, it was found that the pre-service English teachers who participated in this study favoured incorporating Quizizz as a website and app into their tourism studies. Furthermore, most of them agreed to use Quizizz in their future lectures

Preface

Preface The Meeting of Physics is an event initiated by a group of Peruvian scientists, some of whom work abroad. It aims to motivate and promote physics in Peru, presenting the scientific contributions of researchers and students from different Peruvian universities and scientific organizations. This event is also a great opportunity to meet and initiate or continue scientific collaborations with local and international guests some of these are renowned scientists.Unfortunately, during 2020 and 2021 the global pandemic that affected us all also drastically slowed research activities. Despite all these, we managed to continue organizing our Meetings of Physics using online technologies. It took a while for researchers and students to complete their articles for the proceedings and for us to get the corresponding funding, but finally these Joined Proceedings of the XIX and XX Meetings of Physics were produced.In these Proceedings we present a selection of works that were exhibited in the plenary and parallel lectures, as well as in online “poster” sessions.The editors wish to thank the Faculty of Sciences of the National University of Engineering (UNI) in Lima, Peru, and all those who made it possible the XIX and XX Meetings of Physics.The editorial Committee:Carmen Eyzaguirre (UNI, Peru)Ener Salinas (Hitachi Energy Research, Sweden)Rosendo Ochoa (UNI, Peru)Javier Solano (UNMSM, Peru)

A Critical Analysis of How Central European Spas Create Health Tourism Experiencescapes

ABSTRACT This research examines the ways in which Central European spas create health tourism experiencescapes. A two-round Delphi study was undertaken in the so-called Visegrád countries: Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia using a questionnaire which was sent to 28 carefully chosen experts. Empirical results showed that five main components within health tourism experiencescapes need to be addressed: (1) infrastructural improvements and quality services for new, often self-paying or international guests, (2) creating physical health restoration and wellness treatments which are growing in popularity, especially among younger and foreign guests, (3) the importance of recognizing the needs of different user groups, separating spaces and targeting specific segments, (4) constant monitoring of customer experience quality, (5) creating a hygienic environment for guests (especially during and post-COVID). The findings help to provide recommendations for therapeutic health facilities and balneology spas that are shifting from state-subsidized health tourism to wellness experience development for paying guests.

Positive Politeness Strategies Performed by International Guest Speakers in Mata Najwa Exclusive Interview

It is necessary to recognize particular communication strategies in order to construct a decent conversation and social relationship amongst interlocutors from diverse cultures and norms. Politeness is one of the communication strategies used to maintain the interlocutors’ feeling so the conversation flows in harmony. In society, interview and talk show becomes popular programs in acquiring information. This study aims to examine the positive politeness strategies performed by international guest speakers in Mata Najwa Exclusive Interview. As the primary source, the data were taken from the interview’s transcript. A descriptive qualitative method was used to analyze the positive politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson. The findings show that there are 13 types of positive politeness sub-strategies performed by four international guest speakers. Those are noticing (attending to the hearer), exaggerating, intensifying, using in-group identity markers, seeking agreement, avoiding disagreement, presupposing/asserting/raising common ground, joking, asserting/presupposing speaker knowledge, offering/promising, include both speaker and hearer in the activity, give/ask for a reason, give gifts (sympathy, good, understanding). The highest number of sub-strategy was presupposing/asserting/raising common ground which occurred 19 times. This study is expected to contribute in English language teaching specifically in comprehending cross-cultural understanding (CCU) in relation to Indonesian context.

Lester Packer and Vitamin E: Editorial.

The death of Professor Lester Packer leaves a big hole in the investigation and understanding of biological systems. One of the most important contributions of Lester is the role of vitamin E in biological membranes. Lester started early in the 1970s with the development and use of a preparatory technique for an electron microscopy of biological membranes, the "freeze fracture". This made it possible to detect inner and outer membranes of mitochondria as well as associated compounds in other biological organelles. Lester also considered the effect of tocols on entire animals and thereby initiated the field of exercise biology. An important finding was the loss of vitamin E and of muscle mitochondria after exhaustive exercise. In the 1990s, he and his group worked on the intermembrane exchange and membrane stabilization by tocols. They also determined the specific activities of various tocols including tocotrienols. In the later years they embarked on the role of vitamin E in redox signaling and gene expression, topics fundamental to our understanding of the role of vitamin E in membranes and in general. Lester, his group and international guests tried to answer the still open question how vitamin E protects biomembranes. The numerous possibilities they offered will help to find a final solution. Lester Packer always engaged himself at the forefront of science and, thus, substantially advanced our understanding the action of vitamin E.

Moving beyond a figurative psychedelic literacy: Metaphors of psychiatric symptoms in ayahuasca narratives

Metaphors, analogies, and similes commonly appear in narratives of drinking the potent psychedelic “ayahuasca”, presenting an intriguing transcultural pattern. Based upon survey and field research at an ayahuasca healing center in Pucallpa, Peru, the article investigates conceptual metaphors in narratives of ayahuasca experiences made by the visiting international guests. Bodily metaphors and visionary analogies frequently appear in narrative plots where they can express the reappraisal, overcoming, and sometimes emboldening of symptoms diagnosed by psychiatry. Moving beyond the literal-figurative divide, the article explores the intrinsic “metaphoricity” of psychedelic experiences and advocates for a literacy of conceptual metaphors regarding both clinical and non-clinical psychedelic narratives. Developing this literacy can broaden approaches in psychedelic psychiatry that analyze and treat syndromes and disorders, while also being applicable to social science and humanities research that examine psychoactive drug use beyond medical frameworks.

Diffractive Rendezvous

Abstract This article is an open-ended discussion of five events from the LASER series hosted at Hexagram in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, between 2014 and 2021. LASERs at Hexagram interweave the research-creations of its members in dialogue with local and international guests. Emerging from the audio-to-text transcriptions of previous documentation of these LASERs, the word “movement” becomes a novel lens of analysis for this text, according to a “diffractive” approach. Thoughts and actions afforded by this word produce a surprisingly gentle yet compelling interdisciplinary weave, to inspire future editions.

720 Transcultural Collaboration in Burn Mass Casualty Response Under Austere Conditions

Abstract Introduction Burn mass-casualty incidents (BMCI) overwhelm local resources challenging communication, triage, basic care provision and education of non-burn specialist personnel. This is more acute in austere conditions such as the recent international BMCI in November, 2021, in an extremely resource-limited developing country. Greater than 250 severely burned survivors overwhelmed local resources requiring an international response. Effective burn care dictated adapting to austere conditions, educating local providers and cultural competence, vital to teaching and obtaining feedback in ways meaningful to host providers and building burn care capacity. Methods Needs assessment showed local healthcare providers needed burn care education focused on wound care, fluid management, pain management and assessment. Cultural competence/cultural humility were integral in avoiding ethnocentrism and collaboration barriers. Understanding local language and communication styles (including nonverbal cues) was prioritized. Pre-test/post-test measured baseline burn care knowledge vs. education efficacy. Lecture/discussion, case study, clinical application and class participation were used to disseminate content. Attention was paid to pace of content discussion and nonverbal indications of understanding as English was not the learners first language. Pacing/terminology was adjusted to optimize understanding. Meaningful recognition was accomplished by public congratulations and formal completion certificates. Results Pre-test: Number of students-57; high score-80%; low score-27.5%; average score-53.9%. Content was presented as described in methods section and supplemented with bedside instruction. Post-test: Number of students-38; high score-95%; low score-55%; average score-79.3%. Almost immediately, many participants framed and posted their completion certificates and quickly utilized education content when delivering care. Conclusions Optimal interdisciplinary/international collaboration for burn care and education in austere conditions mandates cultural humility and a spirit of inquiry on the part of international guest providers to best understand cultural norms in host countries. A spirit of inquiry on local communication and cultural nuances is integral to optimal collaboration, education and building effective local burn care capacity. Applicability of Research to Practice When providing care internationally in austere settings, proactive cultural humility, understanding local cultural and communications nuances and developing education/content delivery that can be readily utilized in addressing critical needs is essential. Meaningful recognition for healthcare team members in host countries develops good will and helps build capacity to continue providing health care upon conclusion of the immediate crisis.

English Hotel Terminology Equivalence in Other Language

Numerous studies have been conducted on the interpretation and translation of English terms into other languages. The purpose of this study was to identify the adequate Indonesian equivalent terminology for hotel amenities, services, and facilities applied in English and the strategies utilized by both domestic and international hotel guests in understanding the equivalent terms in their native language. Qualitative research methodology was used. The subjects included 10 domestic guests from a 5-star hotel, 10 domestic guests from a 4-star hotel, 5 international guests from a 3-star hotel, and 2 hotel staff from a 5-star hotel, 3 staff from a 4-star hotel, and 1 staff from a 3-star hotel. The findings demonstrated that some of the English terms commonly used in hotels had Indonesian equivalents, and some did not. The international guests strategies were: 1) searching in an online dictionary or a Google search; 2) asking people they met nearby immediately; and 3) guessing the meaning. Domestic guests’ strategies included: (a) asking other guests or hotel staff for clarification; and (b) guessing the meaning. Future research should overcome the limitations of this study, considering translations and linguistic norms training strategies.

Channel Youtube Al-Fikrah Dalam Membangun Relasi Santri Alumni Pesantren Mambaus Sholihin Manyar gresik


 
 New media media Youtube channel which broadcasts several pesantren shows. The media is an alternative media for alumni who are not domiciled in the pesantren environment, to treat the longing for alumni and caregivers, the media is a bridge between caregivers and alumni. The media broadcasts book studies and tausiyah, which are two media programs to carry out the mandate of caregivers, namely tafaquh fiddin. The problems in this research are: (1) What is the process for showing Al-fikrah Youtube channel? (2) What are the weaknesses and strengths in building Santri alumni relations? This study used the triagulation method, namely data analysis before going to the field, data analysis while in the field (miles and Huberman method), data reduction. In this method, the author was able to find the results of the research, which is a process of silaturrahmi alumni with caregivers through the Al-fikrah YouTube media. From these results, the writer can find data in the form of facts about the alumni's relationship with caregivers through the media intermediary. This channel is to continue the relay of Al-fikrah magazine which is stagnant and considered inefficient. Through this broadcast, alumni from various regions have a great opportunity to continue participating in book studies and tausyiah. The results of this study indicate that building alumni relations from the Al-fikrah Youtube channel is very necessary considering the alumni areas that are far apart and busy with activities. The media is Islamic boarding school education and also tausyiah caregivers as well as international guests who wish to share knowledge with the Islamic boarding school regarding this phenomenon. It is hoped that the relationship between alumni and pesantren is maintained.
 
 
 
 
 
 

On the Politics of Viruses and Visibility

On the Politics of Viruses and Visibility

2nd Workshop in Microbial Molecular Biology

2nd Workshop in Microbial Molecular Biology

“Doing Explicit” in hospitality and tourism service encounters in English as a lingua franca

In many highly heterogenous hospitality and tourism (HT) settings around the world, English is used to mediate hospitality service encounters. However, little is known about how front-desk staff are able to effectively communicate with international guests of diverse linguacultural backgrounds to deliver quality service. This study investigates the use of communications strategies by Thai front-desk staff that is characterized by increased explicitness in their interactions in English as a lingua franca (ELF) with international tourists. The data comprise 15 h of authentic interactions recorded at three sites: a tour service counter, an airport information counter, and a hotel front office. Using conversation analytic procedures, the analysis reveals the staff's orientation to explicitness: they repeat key information multiple times to increase its prominence, use explication, circumlocution, and self-reformulation to clarify keywords and repair ongoing utterances to address potential ambiguity. In the absence of overt displays of non/misunderstanding, the staff's use of multiple explicitness strategies in these short, routine exchanges points to explicitness as a defining feature of ELF HT service encounters. The findings of this study have implications for ESP course development in HT where awareness raising and practice in the use of explicitness strategies should be incorporated.