“Can You Make the Turn on Bravo?” An Airport Simulation in An English for Travel and Tourism Classroom

“Can You Make the Turn on Bravo?” An Airport Simulation in An English for Travel and Tourism Classroom

This paper explains in some detail a simulation, which was employed in a university level “English for Travel and Tourism” class. During a module on air traffic control, it was observed that the students lacked a clear understanding of the pragmatic understanding of the language that traffic controllers use. To ameliorate this lacuna, 20 female Japanese university students participated in the simulation activities, with the expressed intent of providing them with more conceptually-based knowledge of airport traffic control. Students who participated in the class were assigned the roles of either pilots or airport controllers. The objective of controllers was to direct planes successfully from the gates to the runways, so they could take-off as well as to land planes and subsequently direct them to the appropriate gates. A questionnaire was given to students to see if their conceptual understanding of the terminology had improved through participating in the simulation. Responses from a posttest questionnaire revealed that the simulation achieved its intended purpose. Based upon the success of the activity and the flexible nature of simulations in general, it is suggested that any aspect of the travel and tourism industry is amenable to the creation and application of simulations irrespective of the specific discipline.