A CURRICULUM DESIGN FOR ENGLISH FOR TOURISM AT SEKOLAH TINGGI PARIWISATA TRISAKTI (STPT)

Abstract Curriculum is a written document containing a framework of teaching activities that helps students to learn as effectively and efficiently as possible in the given situation. Curriculum design is based on the important elements: goals and objectives, need analysis, environment, materials, methods and approach, monitoring and assessment, evaluation. Those elements are interrelated to each other. Goals are general statements relating to program purposes based on need analysis that can be used as a guideline to develop objectives. Objectives are specific statements that the learners are expected to know and to become competent. Objectives can be developed to create the teaching materials in order to reach the goals. At the end of the course, through monitoring, assessing, and evaluating, it will be found out whether the material of the course is effective to achieve the goals or not. This paper is written to describe the process of designing a curriculum based on the elements of curriculum which are designed for English for Tourism course. The course is given for the first semester students of Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Trisakti/STPT, Jakarta. Hopefully this paper can give benefits for teachers especially in teaching English for Tourism. I. INTRODUCTION

Curriculum is a written document containing a framework of teaching activities that helps students to learn as effectively and efficiently as possible in the given situation. In the wider sense, it refers to all aspects of the planning, implementation and evaluation of an educational program in the teaching-learning process. According to A.V. Kelly (Richards, 2002: 70) curriculum is the overall rationale for the educational program of an institution that must include, among others, the intentions of the planners, the procedures adopted for the implementation of those intentions, the actual experiences of the pupils resulting from the teachers direct attempt to carry out the planners intentions, etc . . Before designing a curriculum, curriculum planners which consist of relevant Institutions, employers, societies, teachers, students and stake-holders, should gather various information from individuals/prospective as well as graduate students through questionnaires or interviews, informal consultations with other teachers, observation on students performances, and assessments for evaluation. Curriculum design is based on the following important elements, that is, situational/environment analysis, needs analysis, as well as goals and objectives of the study.

In order to design the curriculum for Tourism Department of Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Trisakti, our group initially focuses on the Goals and Objectives of the said Institute. The Goals are general statements relating to program purposes based on need analysis that can be used as a guideline to develop objectives. While Objectives are specific statements that the learner is expected to know and to become competent. Objectives can be analyzed and assessed to create a coherent teaching or learning experience. Objectives can also be used to develop into some parts of activities to reach the goals. At the end of the course, it will be evident whether the course is effective or not. II. Goals At STP Trisakti, the Goals of learning English language, among others are to give new knowledge relevant to the students future careers and to motivate them so that : 1). Students are able to communicate with foreigners related to tourism aspects in Indonesia. 2). Students are able to correspond with relevant parties such as hotels, travel agencies, tourists of different nationalities. 3). Students are able to understand the differences among cultures (cross cultural knowledge). 4). Students are able to answer questions and give explanations about their local culture (Indonesian traditions, customs, habits, places of interest, dances). 5). Students have a thorough knowledge about the tourism business. Objectives Based on the said-goals, the planners develop the Objectives containing specific statements which the students are expected to know and master well at the end of their study; 1). Students understand the proper language and are able to use the correct English terms in tourism. 2). Students understand the different ways to treat foreigners based on their cultures. 3). Students have the abilities to give explanations on Indonesian cultures to tourists. 4). Students posses a comprehensive knowledge on tourism business. 5). Students have the abilities and proficiencies to correspond in English. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

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SITUATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENT NEEDS Situational/environment analysis which come from the learners, the teachers and the teaching and learning situation, have a strong influence on the goals of the study, on what to include, how to teach and asses it. From the learners side these include their attitudes and interests, specific language skills that they wish to focus on, preferences (styles, strategies) about their learning, and purposes for studying English. On the teachers part, it includes their educational background, language proficiency, professional attitude in teaching English, techniques and classroom management, as well as time availability to prepare materials and make corrections on the students class assignments and homework. While in the learning and teaching situation, the size of the class, facilities from the school for example library, text books and teaching aids: tape-recorders, over-head projectors, and computers are influencing factors on the goals of the study.

In situational/ environment analysis, there are a number of nature constraints, such as the students different levels of competency, age, large number of students/class, insufficient allocated time for learning, various ethnic backgrounds, different intentions and needs to study, should also be taken into consideration. The situation of English class of STP Trisakti: y y y y y y Class size : large number of students (30-40 students/class) Motivation: the learners motivation are not the same Time available: time allocation is insufficient to cover the course subject (between 2-3 hours/week) Cultural background : referring to special characteristics of the people of a certain nation (Indonesians : shy,etc) Effects of the first language on language learning : strong effect on weak learners, but disappear gradually when they become more proficient. Special purposes: intention of the learners to study English ( work in a hotel, tourist guide, businessman, etc). NEED ANALYSIS

IV.

Needs analysis is a kind of assessment that involves looking at what is important and relevant to the learners. Needs analysis contain two important factors, targets needs i.e. what the learner needs to do in the target situation and learning needs, i.e. what the learner needs to do in order to learn. The target needs are based on 1) necessities, 2) lacks, and 3) wants. Target needs can be acquired through interviews, data collection, observations on the students abilities, informal consultation with teachers and placement tests.

Based on necessities, the curriculum planners decide at the beginning stage of the study, what the learners need to know . For example, the students of Tourism Institute need to have an in depth understanding on topics about what tourism is all about, world destinations, the jobs of tour operators, tourist motivations, information about the functions of travel agencies, transport in tourism, accommodation, marketing and promotion, transportation, the airline/shipping industries, types of holidays, reservations and sales, and procedures at the airport/harbor for arrivals and departures. On lacks i.e. what the students do not know , a set of materials is provided which relates to information that tourism as one of the biggest business in the world, facts and statistics about tourist industry in Indonesia, description on job skills and routines. On world destinations and tourist motivations, the students have to understand the different destinations and cultures especially in Indonesia, reasons for travel, destinations for old and young tourists, the changing face of tourism, tourists favorite places and where they come from, the biggest spenders and earners and descriptions about destinations. Relating to tour operators, tour agencies, marketing and promotion, the students need information on the roles of tour operators, how to design a package tour, local tours, promotions/sales, passengers survey, etc. On accommodation, reservations and sales, there should be information and exercises on how to handle/make reservation by telephone, the availability of local accommodation (average good quality hotels), explanation/confirmation on bookings and knowledge on computer reservation systems. While study on airline/shipping industry and airport/ship arrivals and departures which include high and low-cost airlines, the air/ship travel route map, the check-in and information-desks and other relevant information. On wants , i.e. what the students want/need to learn , the curriculum should focus on the four components of learning English i.e. listening, reading, speaking and writing skills with addition on vocabulary and pronunciation and other specific knowledge according to their levels of study. In general, materials on listening skill relating to tourism can be in the form of listening to conversations between two or more foreigners planning to take a holiday, their favorite destinations, dialogues between tour operators, story about a cruise-ship worker, taking a reservation by telephone, promotion in tourism, interview with a tourist on why he/she chooses a particular holiday, dialogues between airport/cruise -ship workers and people working in the tourist industry. Acquiring the Target Needs To get information as a basis for the curriculum design, it is necessary to collect data. The data are gained from questionnaires and interviews, informal consultation with other teachers, and observation on students class performance. A. Questionnaires and interviews on prospective students and graduate students. 1. Question on prospective students: o What specific subjects would the students like to learn and why? o What are their weaknesses in languages skills ?

o What kinds of reading materials/text books would they prefer to study ? o What kinds of learning method is preferable to them? (through tape recorders, computers, Over Head Projectors, etc.) o What kind of jobs would they choose after graduation? o What do they expect from the school aside from studying and gaining knowledge in tourism business? 2. Questions to graduate students which include general and specific questions: a. General questions 1. How long have you worked in the company? 2. What skills do you need to work in the company? 3. Is the knowledge learnt from the Institute applicable in your job? Yes/No. What are the advantages/disadvantages? 4. What kind of assistance do you expect from Institute after you graduate from the school? 5. What specific lessons help you much in your job? Why? 6. What subjects/activities you learned at school should be given more attention and what subjects should be reviewed or deleted? b. Specific questions 1. Communication skill o Is presentation skill in pairs or groups required ? o Is professional skill such as handling telephone calls or customers complaints required? o Is it necessary to communicate using polite expressions? o What about other skills in guiding, promoting or recommending? 2. Writing skill o What important writing skill do you need? (business correspondence, taking messages, memos, letters of enquiries, e-mails, making schedules, advertisements, reports, response on letters ) 3. Listening skill o What should listening skill focus on? (dialogues, news, weather forecast, reservation, announcement, giving instructions, making suggestions, bookings) 4. Reading skill o What kinds of reading skill should be given more attention? (leaflets, stories, articles from various media, biographies, text books, news)

5. Other skills o Is it necessary to learn other cultures by going on a study tour abroad (Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand) ? Yes/No. Give your reasons. o Is it worthwhile to have practical guiding skill to be organized outside Jakarta such as in Bandung, Bali, Lombok, etc.

B. Informal Consultation with other Teachers Another means to collect information is by informal consultation with other teachers posing specific questions such as follows: o What are teachers common problems in teaching English language? o What kinds of approaches and teaching methods should be applied to motivate the students? o Aside from the given text books, what other materials and topics on tourism should be useful to the students? o How do teachers cover the syllabus on time ? o How many times should teachers give trial tests to the students ? o Is there a specific method for teaching English which will bring about better results? o Is there enough time or is it necessary to repeat all the materials covered during the study before Mid-Term and Final Exams? C. Observation on Students Class Performance Besides interviews and questionnaires to the prospective and graduate students as well as informal consultation with other teachers, it is also necessary to observe students competence and performance in class to see whether the curriculum is in line with goals and objectives of the Institute. According to general observation : o Some students have low proficiency in English and need to be given special attention o Due to the long session (once/3 hours/week), students should be given different types of activities to attract their attention o Writing short essays in class before the start of every session in the form of journals has become a stimulating exercise in improving their writing skill o Presentation or role play in pairs or groups of 3 to 4 students has increased their confidence and speaking skill o Listening to dialogues/stories through tape-recorders and watching short movies are also effective for their listening skill

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CONTENT AND SEQUENCING