درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The hotel industry in Qeshm Island is rapidly expanding. An important component in the hotel industry is the human resource. Tourists do not just come for the facilities and attractions, they want to be treated right and well and that is why a good command of the English language is always regarded as an asset for personnel in the tourism industry. This study was conducted to study and analyze the impact of one of the English skills, i.e., speaking of staff in hotels on attracting tourist in Qeshm Island. In order to so, data was collected from 25 foreign tourists in a hotel as Marina Hotel, regarding their expectations and perceptions of their stay about personal qualities of the hotels’ staff in different positions. The results obtained from the expectations of the guests indicated that the role and importance of the ‘English language proficiency’ in the tourism industry is relative to job function. ‘English language proficiency’ is more expected from those who often come into direct face-to-face contact with hotel guests such as the reception staff and it is more expected for the hotel management personnel as well. For other hotel staff, such as food & beverage and housekeeping staff, other qualities are expected more than ‘English language proficiency’ by hotel guests.

Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, online education was given little importance in the educational system of different countries, including Iran and Turkey. Actually, previously there was no need for online education. However, in pandemic situation the need for online classes and its significance in language learning became more ubiquitous. Thus, in view of the paucity of research on perceptions toward the efficacy of virtual learning, particularly the sheer dearth of comparative work on the issue, the researchers in the current study intended to investigate the practicality of commonly used online platforms in Iran and Turkey, i.e. Adobe Connect and Zoom. To this end, a total of 10 EFL professors (5 Iranian and 5 Turkish) participated in the interview session to deeply investigate their attitudes on the platforms of Zoom and Adobe Connect as regards issues related to materials and resources, instruction, and assessment. As the results of the interview showed, both Turkish and Iranian university professors had similar ideas towards the online platforms and they listed some merits such as easy access, attractiveness, and applicability for teaching and learning in Covid-19. Also, the demerits were low interaction and communication, being demotivating for non-disciplined learners, and so on. In general, based on the participants’ points of view, both online platforms were useful in terms of materials and resources as well as instruction; however, they had less control on cheating of tests, in terms of assessment. Different parties such as teachers, syllabus designers and materials developers will benefit from the outcomes study.