Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
THE NEEDS AND PROBLEMS ANALYSIS OF
ENGLISHCOMPETENCY FOR HOTEL EMPLOYEE
AT HORISON HOTEL LAMPUNG
Desti Nurdianti.
Sofie Aurelia Rachman dian@dcc.
ABA Dian Cipta Cendikia Abstract.
The objective of this study was to know the needs and problems analysis of English Competency for hotel employees at Horison Hotel Lampung.
The method of this study is mixed methods, with the Quantitative as the main Data collection was obtained by giving questionnaires and observation through English teaching classes.
The data was processed by using the sequential explanatory model, and was analyzed with descriptive statistics.
This study found that the most important skills that a hotelier must have are Speaking and Listening On the other hand.
Pronunciation is a skill that most of the hotelier faces difficulty with.
The least important and least difficult is the Reading and Writing Keywords: Hotel.
English Competency.
Learning.
English Communication.
INTRODUCTION
English is very important for people that works in tourism industry.
They might encounter people from all over the world which speak English.
Failing to have a proficiency in this language will be detrimental to their jobs.
The risk and outcomes of that includes and not limited to misunderstandings, failing to meet guestsAo or customersAo expectation, and difficulty in completing their orders.
Thus, the writers curiosities is piqued.
What are the must-have skills for people that works in the Hospitality industry? The fact that tourism plays a big role in IndonesiaAos economy also helps increased the writerAos curiosity.
Stynes .
states that tourism has a variety of economic impacts.
Tourists contribute to sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and income in an area.
The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors -- lodging, restaurants, transportation, amusements, and retail trade.
Through secondary effects, tourism affects most sectors of the economy.
One of the important sectors to play roles in the development of the tourism industry in Bandar Lampung is the hospitality Hospitality is identified as the act of giving genuine care and kindness to a stranger, friend, or whoever is in need.
It involves friendly treatment of guests or tourists from hospitality industries, for example, travel, accommodation, food service, conferences, leisure and recreation.
Horison Hotel Lampung is one of the examples of the hospitality industry that operated in Indonesia.
It is a three-star hotel which is located in Bandar Lampung.
The hotel has hopes for its employees to have excellent English in order to be more competitive in the future.
However.
Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
based on preliminary observation done, it seems that there are a number of employees who are still lacking in English communication skills.
As a part of the hospitality industry.
Horison Hotel Lampung needs to be professional to serve their guests.
Therefore, demand for having highly qualified employees with well-developed communication skills of English is significant.
is due to the fact that many employees have to meet and communicate in English with foreign guests in their jobs.
for example, in guests booking, briefing for hotel facilities, negotiating, and so on.
Communication itself is defined by Wardaugh .
as a process of transmitting information from the source to the receiver.
It is a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange information, news, ideas, and feelings, but also create and share In the case of hotel services, participants in the communication involve the hotel employees and guests.
Since best service is basic to all hotel activities, effective communication shown by the hotel employees when giving services must become an absolute need.
In line with this.
English as one of the tools for communication at work should not be a problem for the hotel employees.
Defects on this matter affect the quality of services.
From initial observation, the writers gathered that most of the employees are not very competent in English.
For example, in terms of fluency, the employees seem to have difficulty when required to practice their English.
Some of them can only speak a few words.
Another cannot pronounce the words acceptably.
This atmosphere must be contradictory with effective communication principles and it needs a solution soon.
Dealing with this issue, it is significant to do research on needs and problems on English use for the employees at Horison Hotel Lampung.
This research is to investigate needs and problems on English for the hospitality industry from the perspective of the hotel The findings can be used as a baseline for any related parties to conduct an English training program for the hotel employees based on needs and problems they encounter.
RESEARCH METHOD
The writers chose mixed method for this research.
The design that guides the analysis for this research is the sequential explanatory which uses Quantitative as the primary data, and Qualitative as the secondary.
In a nutshell, the data will be analysed separately and then combined into a matrix.
Before analysing those data, it is mandatory to know the definition of it first.
Cresswell .
explained the definition of Quantitative research method as a means for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables.
These variables, in turn, can be measured, typically on instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures.
Meanwhile, he defined Qualitative research as a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem.
The process of research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participantAos setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the meaning of the data.
Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
As a mix of both methods, it is expected that this method is supposed to have a more valid and deeper findings than its predecessor.
However, as mentioned before, it is more complicated and more time-consuming.
Before analysing the data, the writer arranges the data and compiles it carefully.
Brown and Rodger .
explain that compiling the data means organizing data into good order or outline, so it will be easier for the writer to analyze it.
There are two methods for the data analysis that the writer is going to use.
For the quantitative data, the writer used descriptive statistics analysis.
It is used to present quantitative descriptions in a manageable form.
Descriptive Statistics help to simplify large amounts of data in a sensible way.
Each descriptive statistic reduces lots of data into a simpler summary.
In simple words it means what is or what the data shows by describing the basis features of the content in a study.
All descriptive statistics represent measure of variability or measure of central tendency to help understanding the meaning of analyzed data to people through means of tables, general discussion and graphs.
There are two purposes which are useful when performing descriptive statistics.
One is to be highlighting the potential relationship between variables and the second one is basic information about variables in a dataset.
Descriptive Statistics explains a simple summary about various samples, data set, etc.
including their measures.
After gathering the questionnaires, the data were analyzed and explained through charts and figures in the form of median, percentage, and frequencies.
For the level of measurement, the writer used nominal measure for the demographic information, and ordinal scale for the rest of it.
Answers for question 5-7 are created using the Likert Scale.
The measurements were as follow:
Table 1.
Likert Scale Ratings Meaning Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree On the other hand, for the qualitative data, the first thing the writer do is data In this step, the writer tries to code the data.
This is already part of the analysis, because in this part, the writer also has tried to select which data is necessary or which data can be eliminated.
After that, the writer displays the data by creating a matrix.
This can make the writer and the reader easy to read the The next step is conclusion drawing and verification.
The writer makes some conclusions and then gives some verification and suggestions.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
From the gathered questionnaire that has been given to the random samples, hereAos what the writer got:
Demographic Information Gender Picture 1.
Gender Based on the questionnaire that has been gathered from the 10 participants, 80% of the employees are males and the rest 20% are females.
Education Picture 2.
Education According to the data from the questionnaire, 70% of the employees are high school graduates, while the rest 30% possesses either a diploma 1.
Associate Degree, or a Bachelor degree Work Experience WORK EXPERIENCE < 1 year < 3 year > 5 year Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
Picture 3.
Work Experience According to the questionnaire that has been shared to 10 same employees, most of them have worked for less than 3 years.
5 people has worked for less than 3 years, 4 has worked for more than 5 years, while 1 has worked for less than a English Usage in Daily Jobs Picture 4.
English Usage For this question, 6 of the employees answered that they indeed use English to communicate with guests, 3 of them answered no, while 1 of them only use English to communicate with their colleague.
English Training Experience Picture 5.
English Training Experience Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
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1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
From the chart above, most of them have not been trained in English previously.
Specifically, 6 answered no, while the other 4 answered yes.
Most of the employees in Horison hotel are males.
They mostly have worked for 35 years.
While a few of them had graduated from campus or university, most of them are a high school graduate.
Most of the employees that havenAot been trained in English by the hotel before has only worked for less than 3 years.
This implies that the hotel held an English course for their staff around 3-5 years ago.
According to the data gathered, both from the questionnaire and observation, the most important skills that a hotelier must have is speaking and Listening.
This is what they need to focus on improving.
The least of that is Writing and Grammar.
Their needs to use English mostly happens when they have to interact with foreign Even though written communication like Reading and Writing skills still falls on the important category, they deemed it less important than its verbal The hoteliers have frequently face difficulty more often when having to use these verbal skills, especially the Pronounciation skill.
Discussion From the English class, it is clear that the employees have a high intention to learn.
However, not all of them are from the front office department, making them have less chance of meeting foreign guests.
This is the reason why they have less use for English, and in being so, they also have less competency in English.
From the data analysis, the writers got the answers for the studyAo problems as follow:
AuWhat is the needs analysis in English competency for hotel employees in Horison Hotel?Ay Most employees agree that English is very important for their job.
The communication in English is an integral process that every employee should have be competent in.
The reason is because every process of communication with foreign guests have to use English.
Most of machineAos manuals, websites, and informations that the employees need are in English.
English could help for the advancement of their careers.
For example, almost all of the Head of Department in Horison Hotel are competent in English.
They have better wages and better treatment than a regular employee.
Specifically, the speaking and listening skills are the most needed skills that they have to master.
AuWhat is the problems analysis in English competency for hotel employees in Horison Hotel?Ay Even though most of them agreed upon the importance of English, there are several problems that hindered them from being competent in it.
Those reasons vary, they are:
There are no English lesson or English for Specific Purposes courses specifically aimed towards each employee in different department in the minimum of the last Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
3 years.
Employees from the Back Office donAot meet foreigners very often.
This means, they have less use of English, and in doing so, less understanding of English.
Having to work forty hours a week meant that the employees donAot have enough time to study English on their own.
Several older employees shows less intention to learn compared to the younger Specifically, the most frequent skills that the employees have difficulty in is the Pronounciation skills followed by Listening and Speaking skills.
English Learning Factors 1 Intention to Learn Table 2.
Intention to Learn
Very Very Interested Moderate interested Uninterest
Skills Interested Me Level F % % F % F
Intenti
on to Learn
Very 5 Interest
20 0 0
Listenin 7 4 ed Very 10 1 10 0 5 Interest Speakin 8 Readin Writing Total 4 Interes 1 Interes 2 Interes 8 ted From the data above, the highest level for the samplesAo intention to learn is for the Listening skills with mean 4.
and median 5.
Following that is Speaking with 5 and median 5.
Next are Writing with mean 4.
1 and median 4, and last is Reading with mean 4 and median 4.
Overall, the samplesAo intention to learn has a mean of 4.
28, meaning that they are interested to learn all of the basic English skills, especially Listening and Speaking skills.
Degree of Importance Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
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1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
Table 3.
Degree of Importance Skills Very Very Important Moderate Unimport
Important
Unimpor Me Degree of an Importanc
% F
% F
% F
9 Important 1 Important Listening Speaking Reading Writing Pronounciati Grammar 6 Important 6 Important 7 Important Important Important Vocabulary 7 Important Total From the data, the most important skills for hoteliers to have are Speaking and Listening with mean 4.
1, 3.
9 respectively, and a median of 4.
Followed after that is Reading with mean 3.
8 and Vocabulary with mean 3.
Both have 4 as the The rest of the skills which are Pronounciation.
Writing, and Grammar has the same mean which is 3.
6 with the median of 4.
Overall, the degree of importance that the samplesAo ranked totaled to 3.
75, which falls under the important category.
3 Frequency of Difficulty Table 4.
Frequency of Difficulty Always Often Sometime Rarely Skills Listening Speaking Never
Me Frequen
an cy of Difficult
% F
% F
% F
F %
4 Sometim Often Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
Reading Writing Pronounciation Grammar
Vocabulary Total
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
Sometim 1 Sometim Often Often Often Often From the table above, the most frequent times that the students face difficulty is when they have to pronounce words in English.
It has a mean of 4 and median of They also face difficulty with Speaking and Grammar skills that have a mean of 7 and 3.
6 with a median of 4.
They also often face difficulty with Vocabulary.
has a mean of 3.
5 and median of 4.
Sometimes, they encounter problems when faced with the Listening.
Writing, and Reading skills.
These skills have a mean of 4, 3.
1, and 3, with a median of 3, respectively.
In short, the value of the subjectsAo frequency of difficulty was ranked on 3.
5, with a median of 4.
This means that they have often encountered difficulty when having to use English Based on the questionnaire and observation, this is the matrix that the writer created to summarize the findings of this study:
Table 5.
Matrix for The Conclusion of The Research Categories Findings Gender Male 8 Female 2 Education 7 are a high school graduate 1 is Diploma 1 graduate, another 1 has an Associate Degree, while the other has a Bachelor Degree 5 has work for less than 3 4 has worked for more than 5 Work Experience years, another has work for less than a year English in 6 answered yes .
hat they 3 answered no, the other 1 uses daily routines uses English dail.
English with their colleague English 6 answered that they 4 answered that they have Trainings havenAot ever been trained in English previously Intention to Most of them express a high The least they want to learn is intention to learn.
The most Writing and reading.
skills they want to learn are Speaking and Listening Jurnal Lingua Cendikia VOL.
I8 No.
1 Juni 2022
P-ISSN: 0216-9398
Degree of Importance The most important skill for Following that is reading and hotelier to have are The least they want Speaking and Listening.
to learn are Writing.
Grammar, and Pronounciation.
Frequency of The most frequent times The least times they faces Difficulty that the students faces difficulty is when they have to difficulty is when they have deal with Reading.
Writing, to pronounce words in Vocabulary, and Grammar.
English.
They also Speaking and Listening CONCLUSIONS Conclusion After collecting the data and analysing the data, this is what the writer concluded that most of the employees in Horison Hotel are high-school graduate men who has worked for less than 3 years in Horison.
Although most of them have to use English daily, however, they have not received proper English for Specific Purposes courses in more than 3 years.
Most of the employees express a high intention to learn.
The most wanted skills they want to learn is the Speaking and Listening skills.
The most important skills for a hotelier are also the Speaking and Listening skills.
The least important are the Writing and Grammar.
Most of the employees encountered difficulty when having to use the Pronunciation skill.
They also face a highly frequent difficulty during the usage of Speaking and Listening skills.
They face less difficulty while using the Writing and Reading Suggestion The employees in Horison Hotel should learn more on Speaking Skill and Listenng Skills.
REFERENCES