Abstract:

At the outset of the 2020s, tourism evolved to become one of the most lucrative industries in the world. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly impacted this field by stifling many related businesses, tourism continues to grow and develop at an unprecedented pace. As the language of international communication, English emerged as the lingua franca of the travel industry on a global scale. An overwhelming majority of career applicants in this sector are required to demonstrate at least a basic command of English as a condition of their employment. Consequently, in order to meet the demand from a growing number of English learners wishing to pursue this line of work, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes have been designed to train potential specialists in the field.

Language instruction courses tailored to the needs of prospective employees in the travel industry are plentiful and may differ in many aspects. Language localization is a factor that can be attributed to this notion in that many EFL travel courses are adapted to a specific country or region. Gender is one of the facets affected by localization in that the methodology in a variety of educational courses presents gender disparities, which are often manifested in the form of distinct linguistic units and are frequently attributed to extralinguistic factors, such as accepted behavioural norms within a certain society. Those disparities, in turn, become the harbingers of inequality and discrimination in its various shapes and sizes, including but not limited to sexism, income gaps, and disproportionate distribution of the workforce.

This article aims to showcase gender inequality in travel-related discourse within the context of EFL teaching. Gender-based localization is analysed in educational materials intended for teaching English as a second or foreign language to potential or current workers in the travel industry. A special emphasis has been placed on the effect brought about by gender localization in the process. The significance of this research lies in the fact that international tourism continues to be an area of inequality to this day. Per the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, speakers’ world view and cognition are influenced by the languages they speak. Given that English is acquired through academic learning in this scenario, the possibility arises to generate equal opportunity through linguistic training.

The communicative approach, which is commonly applied in EFL training, is used in this article alongside the grammar translation and the audio-lingual methods.

In the making of this publication, a survey was conducted whereby 50% of the subjects identify as male and the other 50% identify as female. The subjects are all graduate students studying EFL as part of their program.

In the course of this study, the following has been concluded:
1. The localization of travel-related educational materials is widespread and continues to be in a state of constant development;
2. Travel-related educational discourse contains a substantial share of gender-marked linguistic units;
3. Inequality is an issue ingrained in EFL teaching materials connected with the area of tourism;
4. A thorough review and modification of teaching materials through a lens of gender-marked language has the potential to provide equal opportunity in the travel industry.

Keywords:

Tourism, English, gender, localization, language instruction, EFL.