Abstract
This study aims to examine the specific English language needs and challenges faced by tourism professionals in Uzbekistan's travel agencies. Uzbekistan's tourism sector's rapid development earned it a place among the top five nations globally, with the most dynamically evolving tourism industry, as acknowledged by the UNWTO. The Guardian (2019) regarded Uzbekistan as the world's premier tourist destination. In Uzbekistan a travel sector has witnessed rapid growth and increased interaction with inbound tourists and multinational companies. Foreign tourist arrivals increased from 2 million in 2016 to 6.7 million in 2019. In this study four employees of travel agencies in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara were interviewed to identify English language needs and challenges in 2023. Interview data was analyzed based on the Grounded Theory Approach. Through GTA approach, five core-categories were identified: (1) past and current experience, (2) actual needs for English, (3) realization of problems of English use, (4) problem-solving situations in English use, and (5) future hopes for English use. According to the interview data, all the participants learned the professional English in higher education. Their actual needs of English such as emailing and communicating with tourists were identified. As a problem of English use, diverse accents and slangs were described. To solve the problem, participants engaged with English media and seeked coworker’s assistance. The present study underscores the critical role of English proficiency in the tourism sector, advocating the importance of understanding World English and curriculum development to enhance the competencies of travel agents in developing countries.
Author Information
Klichev Botir, Toyo University, Japan
Paper Information
Conference: PCE2024
Stream: Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
This paper is part of the PCE2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Botir K. (2024) The Needs Analysis of Using English in Travel Agencies in Urban Cities in Uzbekistan: Focusing on the Language Use Difficulties ISSN: 2758-0962 The Paris Conference on Education 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 453-467) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2024.35
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2024.35
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