Language Instruction in Tourism Education: Beyond the Vocational Field

Abstract

The paper reports on the quantitative data resulting from the questionnaires designed by the authors (language for specific purposes instructors) addressing both graduate students’ range of abilities, skills and competences and tourism employers’ expectations. Language proficiency and communicative competence (understood as specific purpose language ability) are discussed as indicative of graduate students’ rate of employment in their field of studies. The authors choose tourism graduate students as the focus group in their investigation of the possible factors impacting market employability and influencing the degree of socio-professional integration in Cluj county.