Developing vocabulary of hospitality and tourism in university students: Subtitled videos for lexicon generation

Abstract

The present study was conducted in an Ecuadorian state University, with students majoring in Hospitality and Tourism. One subject that students must take in this major is English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is well noted that students do not have frequent opportunities to listen to English in professional contexts outside of class. Most of them have a low level of English proficiency since they are only required to pass two levels of English at any language institute. Consequently, this study aims to find the perceptions of students about the use of English subtitled videos or movies to develop tourism vocabulary and to explore the benefits of using these videos in a context where there is no practice of the target language outside the classroom.