A Study of English Listening and Speaking Problems of Tourist Assistants at Phuket International Airport

Abstract

English communication skills are crucial for Thai tourism staff since they need to assist foreign tourists. At present, the Tourist Assistance Center (TAC) was established by the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports to help local and international tourists in certain major tourist provinces. However, they seem to face problems in English listening-speaking skills, which affect their conversation in facilitating foreign tourists. Thus, this research aimed to study their problems in English listening-speaking skills and to present their views on solutions to the problems. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews. The results showed that these Thai officers had various dimensions of English listening-speaking problems. Further, they used different strategies in solving those emerging problems while they were working with the foreigners. Overall, this study reflects Thai tourist assistants’ attempt to improve their English use for oral communication.

Keywords

• listening-speaking problems
• english communication problems
• tourist assistants
• phuket