The correlation between Cultural awareness and blended learning in ESP courses: a case study of a tourism class

Abstract

The awareness of cultural beliefs and customs seems not to have attracted adequate attention during the phase of teaching and learning in ESP courses. The requirements of effective and appropriate interaction and communication with other cultures (Wiseman, Hammer, & Nishida, 1989) bring this matter to ESP teachers and learners. That studying merely from the course book and completing the given tasks discourages students from exploring the world, which expects a more efficient way to include language acquisition and cultural awareness. This paper explores the correlation of cultural awareness and blended learning in which educator in charge of a tourism class can raise students’ cultural communicative competence together with their understanding of global culture. Some of the key issues of this pedagogical methodology also can be discussed regarding language learning, cultural awareness and self-studying in an ESP course. Keywords-Cultural awareness, blended learning, ESP, cultural communicative competence, language acquisition, Vietnam