Ensino de línguas no contexto da hotelaria: problematizando o conceito de análise de necessidades

Abstract

This study resulted from a problem detected as a teacher of EFL in a Hotel Administration course at a public university in the State of Goiás. Although the course started in 2000, the EFL class seemed not to meet the marketplace needs of the students. It seemed logical that a new plan for specific areas would further aid them in their professional preparation. The need to investigate to what degree a course in English for Specific Purposes would meet the needs of the students and the job market seemed important. English for Specific Purposes raised certain questions, since the principal characteristic of EFL with specific goals is the so called Needs Analysis. What are the principal needs of hotel workers in the region? It was questioned whether the subjectivity underlying the instrumental approach, and therefore of the Need Analysis instrument as its starting point, would take into account other influences such as those at the unconscious level, for example, the processes of identification with the target language. These reflections arise from the fact that the ESP Approach exists solely because it presupposes the existence of a self-aware, centered, knowing subject, with complete control of self and of conscience. The desire to learn English can be manifested as a possibility of insertion in the globalized world. This need, however, is not sufficient to guarantee successful learning. The tourism sector, principally the hotel trade, is highly representative of the global market. With its multiple representations and symbols, the hotel trade promotes its universe with various languages, among which English is ever the more present. To aid in the understanding of the context, the theoretical fundamentation presents definitions of concepts such as: ESP Approach; Needs Analysis; subject; subjectivity; identity and identification. Since the object of the study is the point of view of those researched, an interpretative research method was utilized among fourth year students in Hotel Administration as well as with hotel workers in the tourist resort of Caldas Novas, Goiás.