Development of an instructional English manual for hotel receptionists in Buriram province, Thailand

This study aimed to achieve three main objectives: 1) to investigate the needs of hotel receptionists in Buriram province, Thailand for learning English for hospitality, 2) to construct an instructional English manual tailored to meet the receptionists’ needs; and 3) to examine the satisfaction of the developed manual. The population of this study consisted of 200 hotel receptionists working in Buriram province, Thailand. The sample was 32 receptionists from hotels in Muang district, Buriram province, selected by purposive sampling. The research instruments included a questionnaire on the need for learning English for hospitality, a satisfaction questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview. The collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The findings revealed that: 1) the hotel receptionists expressed a high need for an instructional English manual, 2) the developed manual was in the form of a mini e-book comprised of five units: greeting and saying goodbye, making reservations, asking and offering help, writing emails for hotel business, and providing hotel and other relevant information; and 3) the satisfaction towards the manual was at the highest level.