OVERVIEW

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the linguistic skills necessary to express themselves in the world of Tourism and Business. The instructor will give the theoretical backround the students need to grasp the underpinnings of the work. This will be linked to a series of practical exercises to hone these skills. 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students will:

• have a command of the specific ways in which the Laguage of Tourism and the Language of Business differ from standard English;
• be able to interpret and create texts using the Language of Tourism and the Language of Business;
• be able to usee correct grammar and vocabulary at the B2+ level.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the student will:

- have acquired analytical skills with respect to the varieties of tourism and business English.

- know how to understand and process texts at a specialized level in the area of tourism and business English.

PREREQUISITES

Students who take this exam must have already passed the exam for the Lingua Inglese I course.

TEACHING METHODS

Face-to-face classes. 

The syllabus for nonattending students is the same as for attending students.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course provides an in-depth study of the distinctive features of the English language in tourism and business. It aims to develop and enhance various language skills that enable students to interact effectively in communicative and professional situations within the tourism and economic sectors. The selection of topics covered during the course contributes to strengthening students’ cultural awareness, sparking their interest in the cultural and historical heritage of the target language. Moreover, the course equips students with the necessary tools to understand and translate a range of practical and specialised texts related to tourism and business from English into Italian.

Course Topics

Tourism:

• Specialised vocabulary related to functional exchanges between hosts and guests in hotels and travel companies

• Strategic descriptions of destinations and attractions, with a focus on informative and promotional written texts

• Identification of tourist types and tourism texts from the perspective of tourism discourse (authenticity, strangeness, playfulness, contrast)

Business:

Specific Language Content

Phonetics: Pronunciation of specialised vocabulary
Morphology: Inflection (regular/irregular English plurals), word formation (derivatives, compounds, acronyms, and other abbreviations)
Grammar/Syntax: Verb tenses (present simple, present continuous, present perfect/perfect continuous, past perfect, past simple, future forms); first/second/third conditional; modal verbs; phrasal verbs; active vs. passive voice; nouns (countable vs. uncountable); adjectives (comparative, superlative); adverbs; articles; relative clauses (defining vs. non-defining); direct vs. indirect speech
Semantics: Semantic fields, collocations, semantic relations (synonymy, antonymy)
Lexicon: Specialised vocabulary (commercial, economic, technical): acquisition and usage; lexical collocations with specialised terminology
Text: Cohesion and coherence (logical connectors)

Functional and Communicative Content

• Making and receiving phone calls; negotiating with clients; scheduling appointments

• Introducing oneself and socialising; handling a job interview

• Presenting graphical information; giving a formal presentation

• Writing a CV, a cover letter, and an email message

• Managing conversations on the following topics: employment and jobs; companies and businesses; travel; orders and deliveries; sales and advertising; online shopping; ambitions and career; money and forms of investment; globalisation; the Internet and social networks. 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Oxford English for Careers, Tourism 2, Student’s Book, OUP (978-0-19-455103-8) 

Mattiello, Elisa. (2015). The Popularisation of Business and Economic English in Online Newspapers. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [ISBN Hardback 978-1-4438-6167-0, ISBN Paperback 978-1-4438-8000-8]

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 2026

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The final exam will consist of two parts: Tourism and Business. The part on tourism will be to write a brochure for a vacation that I choose or to write a response to a tourist's complaint.  The part on Business will be based on the Use of English highlighted in the units covered in Business Partner B2+

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students will be evaluated on two criteria:

1) their ability to write using the strategies for the Language of Tourism and the Language of Business discussed in class, contained in the textbook and outlined on Aulaweb

2) Their ability to express themselves at a B2+ level of English.

The final mark will be based (50%/50%) on the two writing tasks of the exam:  one on Tourism and one on Business.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have duly filed a certification of disability, DSA or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the contact person Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it) and the lecturer at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and examination modalities that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning patterns and provide suitable compensatory tools.