ABSTRACT

Tourism professionals need to be proficient in the English language and mindful when interacting with tourists and business partners from different cultural and social backgrounds. The latter, which will be described as “cultural languaging” (Alexander, 2004, p. 330), is taught/learned in the English for tourism (EfT) classroom through (inter)active and student-centered methodologies by using real-world problem-based learning (PBL) tasks and promoting critical dialogue. students' “cultural awareness and expression,” one of the key competencies for lifelong learning (European Parliament and the Council, 2006), goes beyond language communication skills and entails, for instance, paralinguistic aspects, vague language, existing cultural representations and stereotypes, ways of greeting and maintaining eye contact, as well as cultural habits and customs. Therefore, the integrated learning of language and intercultural skills should be developed in tourism education, following a humanistic and holistic approach that contributes to more welcoming professionals and communities and to foster good quality customer service. This chapter will analyze a specific case study in Portuguese polytechnic higher education where this integrated learning of language and intercultural competence in EfT is implemented, by looking at specific examples from curricula and some of the methodologies used in the English language classroom to develop students' cultural languaging.