The Communicative Approach Applied to ESP: Focus on the Pragmatic Competence for Specific Purposes in the Moroccan Tourism Context

The Communicative Approach Applied to ESP: Focus on the Pragmatic Competence for Specific Purposes in the Moroccan Tourism Context

Jalal Zalzouli¹, Dr. Rachid Agliz²

¹Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences Marrakesh, Morocco

²Ibn Zohr University, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Agadir Morocco

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.909000178

Received: 29 August 2025; Accepted: 03 September 2025; Published: 03 October 2025

ABSTRACT

The Communicative Approach as an FLT model stresses that the use of language among people is communication-oriented. This means that when people engage in social   interactions that need language use, they speak to perform some language communicative acts and functions. (Austin, 1962) and (Searle, 1979) termed them as speech acts. We can notify some Speech Acts like promising, warning, pledging and others as examples. From this functional perspective, language is perceived as a doing force that effectively leads to the performance of Speech Acts. So, when we speak, we carry out communicative functions, we argue, we persuade or advise the hearer. Another fundamental aim of the application of the Communicative Approach to FLT in general and ESP in particular is to provide students with communicative competences which would enable them to perform language successfully in communicative situations. The communicative competence as a term pertaining to the domain of language and sign use was constructed and introduced to the field by Dell Hymes (1967-1972). This eminent sociolinguist perceived Chomsky’s notion on language competence to be too limited. From this regard, communicative competence   makes it possible to rightly understand and interpret the intended meaning within specific contextual layers, whether on the sentence sphere or above the sentence stratum that reaches upon the interpersonal and situational contexts.

Keywords and Phrases: Communicative Approach, social interaction, speech act, communicative competences, ESP, situational context …

INTRODUCTION

It is methodologically required to start with pointing to the paradigm of foreign language teaching methodology that deals with the question of ‘How a foreign language is to be taught?’. And in brief, we see it necessary to remind ourselves of the seven main methods that stand as FLT models. These FLT teaching methods are the Grammar Translation Method (also termed the Classical Method), the Direct Method (based on communicative interactions), the audio-Lingual Method, the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning and the Total Physical Response method.

Technically speaking, the Grammar Translation Method functions as a transferring mechanism of the learned rules to other examples that require the same grammatical structures through sampling. This is one of the techniques applied in FLT methods along with translating a written piece of the target language into the native language of the learner or vice versa by means of writing; thus, making the student go through writings by using both their mother tongue and the target language (Bardos, 2005, p. 46 as cited in Sarosdy et. al., 2006).

The Direct Method when applied to foreign language learning and teaching, mainly aims at preparing students to communicate effectively and efficiently in the target language. So, this communicative method came to bridge the pedagogical gap in the Grammar Translation Method that concerns a communicative handicap (Sarosdy et. al, 2006).

The Audio-Lingual Method is based on the Cognitivist Approach to language teaching and this method “was developed in the United States during WW2. There was a great demand for people speaking foreign language for military purposes” (Sarosdy et. al. 2006, p. 13). So, this foreign language teaching method appeared as an immediate response to a strategic military need in the Second World War. People belonging to the military personnel had been prepared for their missions in short periods of time through intensive language classes. And, to ensure good results in foreign language mastery, this method was open to adopt not only principles applied in the Direct Method, but also the concepts in the Grammar Translation Method.

The Silent Way, as a language learning method, stresses upon the human cognition faculty and its implementation as a language teaching approach based on the paradigm of Cognitivism and Generative Linguistics. The aim of Caleb Gattegno’s Silent Way (1972) is to develop the learner’s independence and self-reliance so that he or she would be able to correct possible errors themselves. Similarly, “The goal of the method is to enable students to use the language for self-expression (…). In order to do this, they need to develop independence from the teacher” (Sarosdy et. al, p.15). Here, we have to point to a very useful and critical term related to language acquisition which is the learner’s own inner criteria for correctness (Gattegno, 1972). This innate linguistic criterion would enable the language user to perform his or her linguistic competence creatively.

Suggestopedia is an FLT method that belongs to the Natural Approach to learning. The pioneer of this psychologically based method, Lozanov, G. (2005) has collected his pedagogical articles (1995-2005) in a book entitled Suggestopaedia-Desuggestive Teaching Communicative Method on the Level of the Hidden Reserve of the Human Mind, advocates that people make the learning process harder by setting up psychological barriers. This eminent scholar explains that, “In every communication, in every thought, in every feeling, in every perception and in every mental activity there exists one central, clear complex of experiences and many peripheral, background experiences” (Lozanov, 2005, p.10). On the basic assumptions of Suggestopedia, the learner’s attention has to be freed from the restrictions of the language form and structure and his or her attention be directed towards communication fulfillments. The learning process, from this standing point, is going to be relaxed and become manageable. In this method, lengthy dialogues are used with translation in the native language of the learner and notes on linguistic forms are provided which help the students explore the target language confidently and comfortably in a relaxed learning atmosphere.

The Community-Language-Learning method is applied by language instructors to make the learner know how to use the target language successfully in communicating ideas about themselves and the world. By means of this pedagogical consolidation, students will get introspections about their own learning and be responsible about it. Thus, it is important to shed light on the major principles through which this method is practically conducted. The principles through which the Community Language Learning is performed rely on the consideration of the teacher as a ‘counselor’ whose mission is to facilitate the language acquisition process. “He understands and supports his students in their struggle to acquire the target language” (Sarosdy et. al., 2006, p.18). So, he or she can identify the threat imposed by a new learning situation and support the learner to overcome the imposed challenge. Therefore, a language counselor is someone with the psychological skills that he or she applies in understanding the students’ struggles as they acquire and internalize the target language technicalities in form and communication.

One major aim of this paper after the brief exploration of the seven FLT models is to contextualize ESP in English language teaching (ELT) aiming at the application of the Speech Acts Typology and theory to functional ESP teaching approach that is intended to be developed and ameliorated within a continual research based on the applied linguistics and pragmatics paradigm.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a well-established learning-teaching approach in English Language Teaching (ELT). This English language teaching method has got its essence through more than sixty years of academic practice and ongoing research which has made of it a very influential approach targeting specific and functional purposes in diverse academic contexts (Charles, 2013). A very standing feature in ESP is its openness to any theory or approach that could add value to it as an eclectic approach. According to (Anthony, 2018, p. 9), “ESP is an eclectic approach that takes the most useful, successful, and valid ideas from other theories and practices, combining them into a consistent whole”. This implies that ESP’ s philosophy is inclined to eclecticism deriving its core ingredients and elements from a variety of sources and incorporates them into pedagogical practices that target specific functional objectives. So, there is no wonder if ESP relies on approaches such as the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Project-Based Learning and Task-Based Teaching just to name a few among others (Richards & Rodgers, 2014).

ESP is not only a multi-stranded approach that makes a pragmatic use of a diverse teaching methodology, “but also has its own unique features, including a commitment to learner-centeredness, a close connection with specialist subjects, and a focus on collaboration in both planning and teaching” (Anthony, 2018, p. 9). In this context, it is worth mentioning that the role of an ESP instructor is highly valued because he or she is performing a vital mediating function between the specialist contents in both the targeted academic setting or the occupational setting where ‘English’ is the medium of acquiring or transmitting content and data.

Highlighting the concept of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) based on the literature provided by Hyland (2002), Kenny et. al (2020), Swales (1988), Belcher (2009) and Johns (2013), we can infer some core elements that construct the ESP concept and essence; thus of course will guide us to critically approach a core question which is what is English for Specific Purposes? And this will certainly guide us to gain some more clear insights about the ESP aims that target specificity in English language teaching and the specific instructional parameters that govern ESP. So, as regards ESP, we can come to an assumption that English for Specific Purposes is characterized by the teaching and learning of English which is governed by the special needs in a given field or profession so as to enable the targeted learner to use specific linguistic structures and communicative competences required in such fields or professions. The teaching and learning of English, in this light, is purpose-guided and ESP instruction is built upon the uncovering of the discursive specifity of the targeted academic domain or profession. Işık-Taş & Kenny (2020, p. 2) quoted (Johns, 2013, p. 6) to provide some insightful clarity about English for Specific Purposes: “ESP has been, at its core, a practitioners’ movement, devoted to establishing, through careful research, the needs and relevant discourse features for a targeted group of students”.

We can deduce from the mentioned literature on ESP that the concept of specifity is fundamental to language teaching for specific aims through the identification of the needs of the English language learners in a specific domain. Also important is the continual evaluation of the applied ESP methods. Therefore, identifying and covering the needs of a particular group of learners in a targeted profession or specific path line in academic fields is the pedagogical essence of ESP that encompasses the ultimate objective aiming at equipping the learner with the necessary language skills and providing the most suitable English teaching pedagogy that will facilitate and consolidate the process of content and linguistic knowledge reinforcement.

The literature on the ESP pedagogical essence has paved the way for language instruction and educational institutions to take advantage from the ESP paradigm providing convincing pedagogical reasons about the urgent implementation of effective ESP methods in instructional domains where English is absolutely needed for specific aims as in the case of English for Tourism. From this standing point, we can say that touristic countries where foreign visitors, whether they are native English speakers or EFL users, speak English for communication with the locals and for daily linguistic needs, have to prioritize ESP in their educational policy mainly in higher and tertiary institutions where English for specific aims and objectives is highly recommended. The Kingdom of Morocco stands as a vivid example of the mentioned situation.

THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH APPLIED TO FLT CLASSES

The Communicative Approach as an FLT model stresses that the use of language among people is communication-oriented. This means that when people engage in social interactions that need language use, they speak to perform some language communicative acts and functions. (Austin 1962) and (Searle 1979) termed them as speech acts. We can notify some Speech Acts like promising, warning, pledging and others as examples. From this functional perspective, language is perceived as a doing force that effectively leads to the performance of speech acts. So, when we speak, we carry out communicative functions, we argue, we persuade or advise the hearer.

In relation with the Communicative Approach in language acquisition and teaching, the notion of communication and its dimensions has been clarified by (Johnson & Morrow, 1981) who have focused on the notion of communication as a triangle structure composed of -1- an information gap supposed to be filled by the speaker or writer, -2- the option of choice that the speaker or writer has beforehand and -3- the feedback provided and supplemented by the receiver (the hearer). So, Johnson and Morrow (1981) saw the communicative activities to be triple-dimensioned and every dimension has its role in their fulfillment. The information gap results because the message emitter or let us say the speaker or writer has some knowledge that the receiver or let us say the listener or reader does not possess. Choice is a communicative option that the emitter has at hand and this option make it possible to alter the message form by means of -1- addition, -2- omission or -3- the reconstruction of the message so as to make it comprehensible. So, the emitter can choose the components of the message and how these components might be composed. As far as the feedback’s consideration in communicative activities, “the receiver of the message, who is the listener or the reader, is supposed to react, to give feedback to the piece of information got from the speaker or the writer” (Sarosdy et. al., 2006, p. 22). So, the feedback dimension in communicative activities is provided by the receiver of the message to reinsure that the aim of the communicative activity has been fulfilled successfully.

2.1 Five Governing Parameters in the Application of the Communicative Approach

The application of the Communicative Approach to FLT classes is characterized by some pedagogical features used as governing parameters in the process of foreign language teaching and acquisition. Five of these governing features and parameters were set forth by Sarosdy et. al. (2006) as standing pillars in communicative language classes.

The first feature in a communicative language class is stressing and prioritizing content over form (form: concrete linguistic structure) which makes of such a class content-based rather than form-based. The focus on content during the process of language teaching helps the learner get data about the World based on the fact that language is a medium factor between the world and human mind. In this regard, the Communicative Approach to FLT favors cross-curricular methodologies through which authentic materials are introduced to FLT classes. The integration of authentic texts derived from diverse sources such as novellas, short stories, poems, newspapers and guidebooks will provide diversity in topics and this functions as a good mental stimulus for the learner’s mind as well as the broadening of his or her lexical competence.

The second feature in a communicative FLT (Foreign Language Teaching) setting is that the communicative language teaching stresses the intercultural aspect of foreign language acquisition and the exploration of the target culture through the targeted language. Sarosdy et. al. (2006, p. 23) shed light on this idea: “Foreign language learning is often foreign culture learning. In order to understand what foreign culture learning is, one needs to understand the nature of acculturation and culture shock”. On the basis of this idea, FLT can be of great utility in accelerating acculturation and smoothening and overcoming cultural shock. Such a shock and cultural inconvenience results from the fact that “a person’s world view, self-identity, and systems of thinking, acting, feeling and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another” (Sarosdy et. al., 2006, p.23). This statement means that culture imposes a governing force on its adherents through a steady constant process of socialization, culture plantation and behavioral constructs guiding people in their ways of living and thinking.

The third feature or parameter in the Communicative Approach to FLT is that language acquisition and teaching is to be regarded as holistic. Holistic in this pedagogical perspective means that learning a foreign language is to be conducted in ways that develop all the personality constructs of the learner which automatically affects the development of the students’ critical thinking.

The fourth and fifth parameters that characterize an FLT class applying the Communicative Approach are the experiential and learner-centered parameters which means that the students are encouraged to experience the target language usage in a very useful way to their lives whether on the personal or professional layers. The learners in this regard will practically see the target language utility in their actual lives and its advantages while reading authentic materials and in real communicative situations.

And the fifth feature respectively stresses the vitality and centeredness of the learner in the learning process; so, the communicative FLT classes are learner-centered. This pedagogical perspective prioritizes the communication competence over the mastery of the structural patterns of language, though the latter is also vital. Therefore, the main objective of a communicative language course is to level up students to become communicatively competent.

2.2 The Aims of an FLT Communicative Class

The major aim of the communicative FLT classes is to equip students with communicative competence by focusing on students’ needs and the teaching activities are to be modeled correspondingly with the various learning styles so as to be manageable by the language learner. Another primordial characteristic in such an FLT class is the relevance of the material taught in class. This implies that the materials and the course design are to provide students with the opportunity to use their learned language communicatively. The communicative competence as a term pertaining to the domain of language and sign use was constructed and introduced to the field by Dell Hymes (1967-1972). This eminent sociolinguist perceived Chomsky’s notion on language competence to be too limited. From this regard, the communicative competence makes it possible to rightly understand and interpret the intended meaning with specific contextual layers, whether on the sentence sphere or above the sentence stratum that reaches upon the interpersonal and situational contexts.

The Communicative Competence is Four-dimensioned and its first layer is termed the grammatical competence: It is a layer of the communicative competence related to knowledge of linguistic units upgrading from knowledge of phonemes and phonological rules, morphemes and morphological rules, lexicon, semantics, phrase and sentence formation rules termed as syntax in linguistics. This grammatical competence enables the speaker to master the linguistic governed code.

The discourse competence is the second layer in the spectrum of the communicative competence. This spherical component builds upon the linguistic and grammatical competence as a complement that make it possible for us to connect sentences into meaningful textual units spoken or written that can be stretched infinitely. This implies that “While grammatical competence focuses on sentence-level grammar, discourse competence is concerned with inter-sentential relationships” (Sarosdy et. al., 2006, p. 24).

The Sociolinguistic competence: This third layer in the communicative competence is primarily functional as it aims at making language use successful between the participants in a standing context. (Savignon, 1983) made it clear that the sociolinguistic competence is based on the understanding of the social context in which language is performed. In this light, we have to stress the importance of -1- the participants, -2- the knowledge they have as a share, and -3- the aim of the conversational engagement. Therefore, judgments about the appropriateness of a particular linguistic structure to a given context is governed by the three mentioned discursive parameters: The participants, their shred knowledge and the aim of the conversation. In this regard, we point to the fact that language use is socio-culturally governed by socio-cultural factors that are above the sentence level deriving their force from social and cultural scripts agreed upon among a social group or particular participants; thus, the sociolinguistic essence is a vital factor in the accomplishment of successful communication.

The fourth layer of the communicative competence is the strategic competence: Yule and Tarone (1990, p. 181) regarded strategic competence as “an ability to select an effective means of performing a communicative act that enables the listener/reader to identify the intended referent”. This can be achieved as (Canal & Swain, 1980, p. 30) stated by the application of “the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient competence”. So, such a competence is a working factor that is called by language user “to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules-or limiting factors in their application such as fatigue, distraction, and inattention” (Savignon, 1983, p. 40). Strategic competence is a very useful and functional key that the speaker relies on to repair his or her speech performance, to overcome some failures due to lack of adequate knowledge and to keep the communication stream flowing in the right way by means of “paraphrase, circumlocution, repetition, hesitation, avoidance, and guessing, as well as shifts in register and style” (Savignon, 1983, pp.40-41).

We conclude that the four mentioned layers that construct the spectrum of the communicative competence which are the grammatical, discursive, sociolinguistic and strategic competencies are fundamental pillars in communication and work intrinsically, cooperatively and mutually to serve the aims of speakers in communicative situations. The first layer is governed by the linguistic code, the second by discursive rules governing the inter-sentential relationships, and the third by socio-cultural factors that stand in a given context and the fourth by the intentions of the speaker towards the fulfillment of the aims of communication.

THE UTILITY OF PRAGMATICS FOR ESP IN THE MOROCCAN CONTEXT: FOCUS ON THE PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

As a brief introduction to this section, we see it very recommended to review the pedagogical importance and utility of implementing the very rich paradigm of pragmatics into ESP. In parallel with this perspective, the pedagogical aims of ESP can be enhanced to be more effective in ways that assist the learners engaged in ESP programs; and through this pragmatic approach, learners will be assisted and scaffolded to fully understand the variety of the linguistic and communicative mechanisms employed for specific purposes and aims in order to reach accuracy in language use for specific aims and purposes. Thus, of course is going to improve their communicative skills and pave the way to establishing the targeted pragmatic competences in their enthusiastic encounter and active engagement with real-life situations where ESP is really needed.

From the above perception about the interconnection between pragmatics and ESP, this paper is going to focus on the Speech Acts Theory as a revolutionary approach (Austin, 1962 and Searle, 1969-1976) that has uncovered the very essence of language performative use through the speaker’s utterances and the latters’ effects on the hearer’s communicative responses. We see, from this standing point, that mentioning the specific communicative function of speech acts as categorized by Searle into five main classes having three functional layers or let us say categories. The first layer is fundamentally structural and it provides the very literal meaning of the speaker’s utterance; thus, it is labelled ‘locutionary’. The second goes beyond the surface structure to convey the intended speaker’s act on the hearer; thus, it is presented in the pragmatics literature as ‘illocutionary’. And, the third layered dimension of a speech act is regarded delicately through the reflected effect of the speaker’s act as a perlocutionary force that directs one hearer or more hearers’ response to the performed act. thus, in the pragmatics literature, we come across the term ‘perlocutionary’. For now, some examples of different speech acts along with their usage on basis of Searle’ s classification are going to be explored and highlighted.

3.1 A Conceptual Perspective on the Five Main Classes of Speech Acts

According to this classification, the speech acts fall into five main classes. The first category termed ‘Assertives’ and these are representative propositions about the world. And this representative speech acts’ function is to provide descriptions about the world or notify about some information that is considered and believed by the speaker to be true. An example of an assertive that asserts a fact is ‘water has no taste, though it is very refreshing’. This type can be used to state a fact, express a belief and it is the medium through which we inform about ourselves and other entities in the world.

The second category is the Directive Speech Acts (Directives) whose function is to get the hearer to do something; they work as a redirecting force upon the listener. ‘Could you open the window for me?’ is a request performed by a directive. Asking and commanding pertain to this category as for example: ‘I just want to know if you could help me with some guidelines?’ and ‘do not delay an urgent work’. The first question is intended to convey a gentle request above the literal meaning of a direct question and the second statement is a command.

The Commissives are also a type of speech acts that have the function of commitment on the part of the speaker concerning a future action. Promising and assuring are samples of Commissives like for instance saying: ‘I will keep it well preserved’ and ‘we guarantee the quality of our service’. These two utterances stand as a promise and assurance respectively. Later on, Commissives will be explored for specific usage in tourism contexts.

The speech acts essence and paradigm in communicative situations is very rich and effective whether in their use to express the speaker’s feelings and emotional states through Expressives or declare a brought about change in the world that affects entities and states of affairs by means of Declaratives. ‘Dear Professor, thank you for your insightful guidance and supervision’ is an expressive utterance for      gratitude. ‘I am sorry for that’ expresses an apology and ‘I congratulate you for this very special accomplishment’ expresses a congratulation. On the part of Declaratives that affects the world and states of affairs, there are some stances as declaring marriage when the priest says: ‘You are now husband and wife as long as you shall live’ or declaring the validity of a law as in ‘this act is now valid as it has been passed by legislation’.

3.2 Speech Acts Theory at Work: Towards more Specific and Pragmatic Competences

As seen previously, the Literature explored on the Speech Acts Theory and its implications to language learning in general and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as a specific teaching approach that targets the most required communicative and content competences for an occupational or academic domain, we can say that the general approaches and theories have contributed to and developed the language pedagogies applied in English teaching and learning. But, there is still a gap to bridge in order to equip the learners with the very required pragmatic competences for applications in specific situations. Therefore, to achieve effectiveness in foreign language teaching methodology and to address the question of how to teach foreign languages? And how to apply the communicative approach as an FLT model aiming at the acquisition of communicative competences.

The major pedagogical aim of the ESP application in a specialized context is not only getting the resolutions from general approaches, but also by applying the utility of pragmatics to ESP in order to achieve specific and pragmatic competences in contexts where ESP is highly recommended. In this lighted spot that pertains to the very essence of applied linguistics and language teaching pedagogy, learning English is going to be more specific in content and communication, leading the way to rewarding pragmatic competences applicable to very specific situations where English is specifically and functionally required.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPEECH ACTS THEORY IN ENGLISH FOR TOURISM IN MOROCCO

An ESP class is designed to cover some specific needs related to the linguistic and communicative requirements in a specific domain. The aim of this section is to look at the pedagogical possibilities of implementing the paradigm of speech acts into the design of an ESP course for Tourism. Fiorito. L (2005) pointed to a very essential framework that is considered in the pragmatics literature as a corner stone. He said, “John L. Austin is the creator of the Speech Act theory. In How to do things with words, he aims at developing a theory of language, where a major role is played by the performative uses of language” (p.50). So, the utility of pragmatics to ESP can be observed and applied to English for Tourism with aims at achieving specific and pragmatic competences as recommended in the Moroccan tourism contexts.

Pragmatically speaking, when speakers use language, they accomplish actions, and they do not just make informative statements. “Austin recognizes various sorts of ‘speech acts’. His ‘performative analysis’ identifies particular verbs and sentences which we use to accomplish particular acts with social and interactional consequences” (Fiorito. L, 2005, p. 50). Austin’s main claim about language is that we use it not only to express ideas and talk about entities, but language has a performative and active essence targeted towards the accomplishments of actions and aims that tangibly have effects on hearers and the World.

4.1 The Delicate Value of Tourism in The Kingdom of Morocco

It is worth mentioning tourism in The Kingdom of Morocco has a delicate value for the country’s economy and also the Moroccan citizens who are active in the tourism sector. Morocco has developed the Tourism industry based on the country’s long coasts, special cultural traits and its very rich history. The Moroccan policy, in this regard, has been a co-factor and a Ministry of Tourism was created in 1985 (Hudman & Jackson, 2003).

It is a fact today that Tourism in the Kingdom of Morocco has become a cultural channel through which cross-cultural exchange comes to a meeting point where diverse human backgrounds find common universal shares and cooperate to take advantages from the world cultures. From this lighted spot, we cannot skip mentioning the fact that Morocco has scored, since 2013, the number-one position in tourists’ arrivals to an African country (worldatlas.com). Morocco has become a favored destination in Africa and in 2018, 12.3 million tourists were declared to have chosen Morocco as a vacation place for entertainment, cultural and business meetings. We see that providing a brief account about the history of tourism in Morocco is necessary for contextualizing ESP in tourism. So, we will use a flashback perspective to trace back the evolution of tourism in ‘Dar-Assalam’ which is Morocco’s name during Mid-ages denoting a geographical sphere where piece and Man’s tranquility is prioritized over conflict and the seeking of troubles and war.

The number of tourists, who choose Morocco to visit, have been increasing since the second half of the 1980s through the start of the 1990s. During this period between 1 and 1.5 million Europeans came and visited Morocco. Visitors from France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands were attracted by the coastal beauty of Morocco with its long Atlantic beaches and resorts. And, Agadir stands as a noticeable destination with its very warm and attractive beaches and rich culture. It is during 2017 that Morocco knew a record number in the tourists’ arrivals reaching upon 10.3 million (Lahsini, 2018).

Figure 1 Number of Tourists Arrivals to Morocco between 1995 and 2022

Note.  An informative chart that highlights the upgrading line of visitors to The Kingdom of Morocco between 1995 and 2019, then the fall down in 2020 pandemic period. The tourists’ numbers have started raising from 2022. Adapted from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/international-tourist-trips?tab=chart&country=~MAR

Tourism industry in Morocco has benefited from the geographically strategic location as it is regarded to be a near gate to Africa almost touching the southern sphere of Europe; there are just fourteen Kilometers between Morocco and Spain cross the Mediterranean. Culture in Morocco is very rich and multi-stranded because of the cultural effect of the sub-cultures that Morocco has received and interacted with along its history; thus, making it a melting pot of diverse cultures. The Moroccan very special heritage has been attracting many writers. In this regard, writers like William S. Burroughs, Edith Wharton, Paul Bowles, Edith Wharton and Jack Kerouac Burroughs were fascinated by Tangier; and a large number of tourists choose Morocco to explore ancient Roman and Islamic sites standing as a convincing testimony for the richness of the Moroccan cultural heritage (Shackley, 2006: 43-44).

Figure 2 Bou Inania Madrasa in Fes

Note: The Bou Inania Madrasa built by the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1351 and it operated as a religious institution. This historic monument stands as a masterpiece showing the beauty of Moroccan traditional architecture and the Moroccan craftsman’s high skills.

Adaptez from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Morocco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Morocco#/media/File:Bou_Inania_Madrasa_2011.jpg/2

Tourism in Morocco has been contributing positively to the Kingdom’s development on many economic and social layers. In this light, Morocco has taken advantages of the huge capitals brought by international investors; and this, of course, has reflected on the improvement of industry, traditional crafts, commerce and also agriculture. In addition, the Moroccan Tourism industry’s revenue minimizes the negative effects of the imposed inflation and this produces balance and economic equilibrium.

It is known that Tourism is solidly attached with the global economy through the international transport and communication pioneers which results in high ratios of consumption and national and international economic production. From this effective position, we can regard tourism as an economic promoter and elevator that keeps extending due to the high demand of people with high personal income who are increasing worldwide. Within the core aim of this paper, it is primordial to highlight and examine the importance and functional utility of the English language in tourism where it stands as an international lingua franca.

THE REWARDING EFFECTS OF ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LINGUA FRANCA ON THE MOROCCAN TOURISM

It has become evident for any country that aims at the development of its tourism industry to opt for the adoption of the English language that stands as the dominant language in the global tourism industry. Nowadays and as (Vukovic-Vojnovic & Nicin, 2012, p. 3) stated it in a crystal-clear statement “There had never been a time in human history when different nations had a need to communicate to each other so much for the purposes of travel, business, entertainment, etc. The existence of a global language was a logical consequence”.

We are not going to raise the historical and political reasons behind the emergence of English as a very powerful language in the international commerce and business, in scientific research and as a global language in politics which are not the only spheres where English plays a determining role of successful achievements as it is not the main aim of this chapter. And instead, I am going to examine the rewarding effects of English as a lingua franca on the national tourism in the Kingdom of Morocco. I will highlight that, in our country, we can take very rewarding advantages from the use of English in tourism and that this experience will lead to the growth of the Moroccan economy.

Straightforward and based on the powerful and functional position of English in today’s globalized world where no country can keep sustainable development if not willingly engaged in win-win international relations and cooperations. From this crystal-clear perspective, tourism in the Kingdom of Morocco is no exception; so now, it is a very wise and strategic choice to take advantage of the very promising gains of the official integration of English as a lingua franca in the national tourism. This very strategic step will overcome language barriers which ultimately will lead to the establishment of successful communication between international visitors and locals. “Compared to other foreign languages, English has been recognized as a dominant language in both tourism and hospitality sector. Being recognized as a global language, English strongly influences the entire work flow in the field of tourism” ibid, p.16). Following the same stream, international visitors often use English as a means of communication in hotels, in their interaction with tour guides, in restaurants and to get the needed information while touring the visited places.

International visitors use English for daily common interactions so that they could express their preferences and engage in culturally meaningful exchanges with the local people. Thus of course, promotes productive mutual understanding among the visitors and the visited people. We can say that, today, it is a fact that English functions as an efficient medium to access a multistranded spectrum of information needed by travelers. And, this is very noticeable in the direction and assisting signs provided in English, booking for accommodations and transport among other activities which means that speaking and listening skills are of paramount importance for tourism professionals and visitors. The ability to access to the needed information provided through the English usage stand as a facilitator factor that makes the tourists’ experience more comfortable, memorable and significantly enjoyable.

The rewarding effects of English as an international Lingua Franca on the Moroccan tourism can go beyond the improvement of communication and service accessibility to reach upon tangible contributions to the economic development and growth of the county’s tourism. Here, it is worth notifying that when tourism professionals and practitioners have the capability of communicating effectively with tourists using the English language, the latters become more enthusiastic about the visited country and this reflects on their engagement in various rewarding activities in the benefit of the locals such as the shopping they satisfactorily do, having lunch and dinner at restaurants, going on organized tours with professional guides. Moreover, tourists who are entrepreneurs think of business investments in a such secured and very welcoming environment that they first visit for entertainment and then come back to it as investors. Of course, this spending activities and future tourists’ investments enriches the local economy by creating more job opportunities which is also considered as a forwarding stimulation for the national business and commerce development.

Opting for English as an international lingua franca in the tourism sector has other very promising rewards. First, it promotes and stimulates the development of the tourism industry through the creation of job opportunities. Second, the satisfied English-speaking visitors leave positive opinion and advise others to head for the country that has become a wished destination based on its enhanced reputation in the global tourism market.

To conclude, all the above communicative and business characteristics, that English as an international language provides tremendously, urge the tourism practitioners and professionals along with decision makers to make all the necessary language policies, more specifically during the tertiary education and specialized trainings for tourism designed for current and future employees who belong to this very sensitive socioeconomic domain. So, no way but to embrace English as an official language for tourism in Morocco which is going to attract a hugely growing number of international tourists and which is also going to make the travel experience for the visitors more enjoyable and mostly satisfying and of course solidify the industries related to the national tourism.

In today’s globalized world, English has become an international language connecting nations and people from around all spheres in business, science, education, culture and the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are provided mainly in English. The consequent evidence is that the tourism sector cannot make a difference as the international travel market keeps growing, the strategic utility of the English language is to be highly regarded and valued in the all-tourism related sectors.         

THE UTILITY OF SPEECH ACTS TYPOLOGY IN ENGLISH FOR TOURISM: TOWARDS SPECIFICITY IN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

As the above title of this section suggests and from a pragmatic perspective, we are going now to focus on the core element of this paper which is the possible applications of the speech acts typology to English for Specific Purposes in the Moroccan tourism contexts aiming at the elaboration of a learning-teaching approach that fills the raising gaps in the general approached language teaching methods already explored and discussed. Here and now, the Speech Acts Theory and typology will be discussed and analyzed to serve as governing parameters towards the achievement of specific and pragmatic competences for tourism students and current professionals in the tourism sector.

6.1 The Speaker’s Intentions and the Speech Acts Taxonomy

We see that it is pedagogically required to revisit the speech acts taxonomy so that we can look at the raising possibilities of integrating the five types of speech acts into the language education for tourism students and professionals which is going to reflect positively on the pragmatic competence of the learner and enable him or her to use English as specifically required and needed during their professional interactions. Therefore, there will be also some clarifications about the pragmatic principles that govern the speech acts usage as targeted by the speaker’s intentions so as to achieve the aims of conversations and communicate successfully.

The aim of this section is to point to the utility of the speech acts taxonomy (Searle 1976) and the pedagogical possibility of its implementation into English for tourism as an introductory frame which shall be elaborated more thoroughly during future research frames on practical basis. Accordingly, the Speech Acts Theory has enriched the discourse and pragmatics paradigm and this has been clear through Searle ‘s taxonomy that has classified the speaker’s utterances regarded as communicative acts and termed in the pragmatics literature as speech acts. Elhaloui (2016, p. 29) highlighted a very significant fact about the illocutionary act:

An illocutionary act is an act- a social act. It is described as an ‘act’ because it has act-like characteristics that we should not fail to see. Specifically, just like social actions we perform in our daily life, illocutionary acts rely on elaborate non-linguistic social arrangements.

The above fact on speech acts, that carry on the illocutionary force (illocutionary acts), is fundamental in people’s daily interactions; and if directed correctly by non-native speakers of English; thus, of course will lead to the acquisition of an effective performative competence serving the learner of English in their language usage and practice.

The range of speech acts with the illocutionary force is very rich though it works within the five main stems: The Assertives, Directives, Commissives, Expressives and Declaratives; these taxonomic stems work within utterances to serve specific functions in communication. Ehaloui (2016, p. 40) stressed that the scope of illocutionary acts (speech acts with illocutionary force) is very rich and varied and through the illocutionary force, the speakers are enabled to do and perform actions rather than just mere inactive sayings. From this active perspective on language usage, we can confidently say that an utterance has the power to affect the world and even change states of affaires. Subsequently, the utterances bearing the illocutionary force will serve the speakers’ intentions to influence the beliefs of the hearer, get the hearer do something, commit the speaker himself or herself to do things and also express feelings and attitudes. Another very powerful illocutionary feature is the ability of an utterance to declare a new state of affair which becomes socially and judicially active as for example the declaring of marriage engagement by the priest. In this conceptual stream on the power of utterance and based on the literature on speech acts, it is primordial to remind and bring to the surface the types and utility of the speech acts taxonomy which has five types and those can be applied to English for tourism through a well-designed course.

6.2 The Application of The Five Types of Speech Acts to English for Tourism

English for Tourism as an ESP subfield primarily aims at equipping students and professionals specialized and working in the tourism domain with specific language skills to communicate in effective ways with tourists who can be native speakers of English or EFL speakers (speakers of English as a foreign language). In this linguistically applied layer of ESP and in order to develop the communicative skills required for tourists’ special customer service, it is pedagogically fundamental to understand the speech acts essence and how to apply it in tourism settings.

Based on the above concept and as the language philosopher J. L. Austin defined speech acts, in his very influential book ‘How to Do Things with Words’ (1962), as actions performed by speakers while using language. And as J. Searle (1976) later on classified them into five main categories, we are going to speak about these five types in terms of how they can be applied to English for Tourism.

Let us begin with the Assertives and the possibility of their applications to communicative interactions between service providers and tourists. During such interactions, Assertives that act to convey pieces of information or making judgements about entities can functionally serve the service provider to state some required facts about touristic sites, accommodation facilities and the transportation available services. In this scope and as an example, a travel agent will be trained to use the assertive feature of language usage to talk about the available entertainment services provided by his or her travel agency. Or, when a tourist guide describes historical features of a monument stating facts about its peripheric geography that constitutes a layer of the monument’s identity. So, we can say that the assertive feature of language usage expressed in the assertive speech acts has a communicative force that can be directed effectively by the tourism service providers in situations where English for specific purposes is highly required and profoundly esteemed.

Directives, on the other hand, that act to get the hearer do something can be of great utility in the English designed for tourism. These speech acts with their directive illocutionary force can serve in interactions where instructions about specific directions and locations are given to tourists and also for some activity recommendation that is not familiar to the visitors. To illustrate a vivid picture of using a directive communicative act, we can point to a situation where a hotel receptionist directs the guests by instructions such as how to access the hotel different amenities and the booking procedures for the available activities.

Tourism professionals often find themselves in situations where they are required to commit to a future act such as making promises or guaranties to their tourist customers. In such a context where the speaker’s commitment to a future action in favor of the hearer is intended, the service seller, if well trained to use commissives, he or she will use this type of speech acts very efficiently to establish saint assurance and make the customers feel trust about the very professional travel services. Thus, commissive speech acts are a very useful communicative tool at the hands of tourism practitioners.

Whenever people meet either in friendly situations or professional settings, they look for linguistic ways and tools to express themselves and this is part of their human nature. Expressives are speech acts that well serve the speakers to communicate their attitudes and what they sense towards other entities. And, in the ESP designed for tourism or let us term it English for Tourism, tourism students and professionals in this domain can be instructed and trained to express gratitude, adequate apologies and their positive and respectful feelings towards tourists’ diverse cultural backgrounds. For example, and as an illustration of an expressive situation, a tour guide can perform an expressive speech act to thank a group of tourists for their collaboration and cooperation; and sometimes he or she would express their apology for some unintentional mistakes and compensate for them through well elaborated and contextually accurate Expressives.

One of the most powerful speech acts that deliver a very effective illocutionary force is one that brings about changes to the external world entities. The type of these illocutionary acts is termed in the pragmatics literature as Declaratives because when they are spoken, they act to perform the action itself; and, this often happens within formal and institutional contexts which ultimately reflects the speaker’s authority within the operating context. Here, the operating context is vital to the       effect of Declaratives because the utterance relies on the context’s official or conventional attributes to act as a changing power. English for Tourism, as a stemmed branch of ESP, samples a lot of situational utterances that stand as Declaratives and which can be subject of study and analysis in English for Tourism contexts designed for students and active employees. Such a special language training is situation-specific and can be performed to officially welcome tourists who have accomplished all the administrative and payment requirement to their desired destination. In the mentioned context, the welcoming of tourists declares that they have accomplished and done all the required payment and procedural prerequisites.

To sum up about the application of the Five Types of Speech Acts to a course designed to English for Tourism, we see, based on the literature (Austin, 1962) and (Searle, 1976) that a well-designed course for tourism-oriented objectives will tremendously benefit from the speech acts’ essence and taxonomy represented in the five layers of speech acts with their illocutionary effects already discussed and explored. And for the applied methods through which this typology can be designed for performance, we think that the methods that have proven their efficacity in ELT (English Language Teaching) and FLT (Foreign Language Teaching) are of great utility and can be incorporated as role-playing scenarios, active dialogues, and real-life communications modelled for classroom tasks, group activities and simulated interactions derived from the tourism sector.

Methodologically speaking and at this phase of the paper, it is fundamentally required to uncover some speech acts concepts aiming at possible ways of integrating the mentioned concepts and their pedagogical implications into English for Tourism which represents a branched stem of ESP. In consequence, understanding speech acts and their implications and possible applications to tourism contexts as already discussed through Searle’s typology will guide us to the needed and more suitable pedagogy of teaching English for specific aims in the tourism sector.

From the above standing position, we are going to shed light on the main concepts that make up and construct the speech acts essence. These working concepts if adequately explained to tourism students and the professionals in this very sensitive socio-economic domain, the communicative outcomes will be the mastering of good and more effective language tools which will not only deepens the learner’s appreciation of language use, but also equips them with applicable strategies to navigate and improve their communicative performance effectively as it is required in the situational contexts and settings of their professional activities.

6.3 Four Constitutive Rules for the Successful Performance of a Speech Act

The key assumptions and fundamental principles of the Speech Acts Theory, on which J. L. Austin’s referential work How to Do Things with Words (1962) has been based and which has represented the speech acts      essence, explain how language works and operates in ways above what was traditionally assumed about language functioning only to convey information. From this revolutionary position, Austin’s views have stepped forward as regards the language functionalities that go beyond the ability of language to provide descriptions about entities. So, language has other functions than just describing the world; and, Austin uncovered the factual truth that language could also be actively performative which means that an utterance can do something rather than just stating true or false propositions about entities.

This very influential scholar with his very insightful assumptions on language also sees that there is a distinction between constative and performative utterances. The Constatives are representatives of reality in the form of propositions that can be true or false as for example: The sun is shining. On the other hand, the performative utterances, and which bear the speech acts force, perform an act when they are uttered like the act of thanking that can be enacted by saying: Thank you. Regarding language as a doing force is the fundamental principle upon which the speech acts theory has been founded.

The other influential language philosopher who has contributed to the upraising of The Speech Acts Theory is John Searle (1969) who argued that for a speech act to operate successfully, it must meet the required felicity conditions. Following Searle’s legacy, there are four constitutive rules for the successful performance of a speech act and these rules are not regulative, but rather constitutive which means that they create, govern and define the performing of speech acts. Stated in other words for more clarity, we can say that these rules that stand as felicity conditions are not simply structural requirements, but they constitute a speech act and make it what it is, operating as a meaningful act done by the speaker and having impact on the hearer and-or the world.

Subsequently, we can note that the speech acts performance is rule governed through four constitutive and parametric rules that stand in the position of conditions assuring the felicitous fulfilment of acts through language usage. These governing conditions are categorized into four layers that work interconnectedly and constitute the true essence of speech acts.

6.3.1 The Propositional Content Condition

Let us now consider the first constitutive rule which stand as a condition for a speech act bearing the illocutionary force to be felicitous. This rule is about the content embedded in the illocutionary act and we can point to this content as the object of the illocutionary act presented or inferred in the speaker’s utterance. Elhaloui (2016, p. 43) clarified that illocutionary acts (speech acts with illocutionary force) are analogically like mental acts. Abdellah Elhaloui pointed to believing and loving as mental acts that must have an object which implies that when I believe, I must believe in something and when I love, there must be an object for my loving act. The same applies to illocutionary acts which implies that the illocutionary act must contain a proposition standing as the object of this speech act; thus, the propositional content condition must be fulfilled in order to bring about the pragmatic force through the intended act by the utterance. This constitutive rule, as (Elhaloui, 2016, p. 45) explicated its pragmatic function, is:

The rule that specifies the object of an illocutionary act is called the Propositional Content Condition (the PCC, in short). We can formulate the PCC of an apology more succinctly in the following way, where A past stands for “a past act” and S for “the speaker”: APOLOGYPCC= Apast by S.

Based on the above technical quote that has successfully explained the Propositional Content Condition of an apology, we can say that the propositional content embedded in apologizing is about a (past) act done by the speaker. What about advising? When we try to figure out the ADVICE-PCC, it is technically recommended to state the propositional content of advice which is a future action intended for the hearer to do; so, the proposition contained in advice must describe a feasible action that the hearer can do. Therefore, the PCC for advising is: ADVICE-PCC= A future by H (H= Hearer). In addition to the PCC for apology, (Elhaloui, 2016) provided the PCC of promising, thanking and complementing to assist language learners and researchers so as to have clear insights about the PCC function in the fulfillment of the felicity conditions governing the illocutionary acts performance.

The PCC of promising, thanking and complementing shows that the agent that contributes to the speech act’s object differs from one speech act to another. So now, let us explicate this functional mechanism that works within the speech acts performance and upon which the PCC is fulfilled. The PCC of apology as already shown in the previous quote is about a past (offensive) act by the speaker against the hearer; here, it is the speaker who is the agent of the speech act’s object.

What about promising? When S (speaker) promises H (hearer) by saying “I will lend you 100 dollars, S commits herself to an act in the future, namely that of landing H 100 dollars” (ibid, p.45). So, the PCC for promising is: PROMISE-PCC= A future by S; and here, the speech act’s object is a committed future action by S in favor of H where the agent of the act’s object is the speaker. Within this PCC functional mechanism that governs and explicates content and agency within a speech act successful performance, let us explore the thanking PCC which is about the acknowledgement of a good act by H in favor of S. By means of comparison between PROMISE-PCC and THANK-PCC, we can observe clearly that the Propositional Content Condition in thanking (THANK-PCC= Apast by H) and that in promising is PROMISE-PCC= A future by S. From this comparison, we see that content and agency in the two PCCs differ and this what makes of the two compared speech acts performance have different doing forces. This pragmatic mechanism that works within the different speech acts PCCs is going to be the subject of methodological applications in the practical section along with the PCC of other useful speech acts for tourism; and, that is why I am introducing this functional mechanism now so as to find ways to integrate it into an ESP course designed for tourism students and professionals in the Moroccan context.

6.3.2 The Preparatory Condition

The second functional rule that a speech act with the illocutionary force relies on to operate successfully and be felicitous is the Preparatory Condition. This rule qualifies the speaker (S) and the hearer (H) by means of displaying the required beliefs about the performed speech act and the social position to enact the speech act. Jhon Searle (1969, p. 65) as cited by (Abdellah Elhaloui, 2016, p. 49) was very relevant in exemplifying the fulfillment of the Preparatory Condition (abbreviated as PC):

When I make a statement, I imply that I can back it up, when I make a promise, I imply that the thing promised is in the hearer’s interest. When I thank someone, I imply that the thing I am thanking him for has benefited me (or at least intended to benefit me; etc.

The quote mentioned above is very relevant because it explicates the PC for a promise pointing to the vitality of the speaker’s belief that the thing promised is for the good interest of the hearer. And, this technically means that we cannot promise something bad to someone as this is pragmatically illogical. In the light of the PC parameter, let us consider the PCs of apology and promise respectively as explicated in Elhaloui (2016) through some technical symbols aiming at the assistance and guidance of language learners and researchers in the pragmatics field. As for the PC for apology, it comprises two requirements to fulfill and it is technically symbolized as follows: APOLOGY-PC= (1) B (S) [B (H) [A is not to the benefit of H]] (2) B (S) [S is responsible for A]. These two PCs requirements must be fulfilled for an apology speech act to be felicitous and these two conditions must not be violated. This apology PC means that (S) the speaker believes that (H) the hearer believes that (A) the act is not to the benefit of the hearer and also the speaker believes that he or she is responsible for the act.

For the promise PC, it is methodologically required to know what the speaker believes about his or her performance of the of promising act and its effect on the hearer and also how the hearer regards the act. The implication of a promise is that when I, the speaker, promise someone saying, “I will offer you this piano”, I must believe that H (the hearer) regards the offered piano as something valuable for his or her interest. The Preparatory Condition, as a functional mechanism in speech acts performance, uncover the beliefs of the participants in the conversational process as regards the act performed and the two mentioned examples of apology and promise have provided clear evidence and insights about the pragmatic function of the Preparatory Condition as the second constitutive rule allowing for a speech act to be performative.

6.3.3 The Sincerity Condition

When we mean what we say, this means that we are speaking sincerely and this psychological state of being truthful about what we intend to express or do is the third constitutive rule that guarantees the successful performance of a speech act. This key aspect of speech acts points to a pragmatic parameter that must be satisfied by conveying the speaker’s intentions, beliefs and his or her commitments in a sincere and genuine way. Just in other words, we can say that the utterance must be truthfully paralleled with the inner intentions.

It is fundamentally important to understand the role of Sincerity Condition in speech acts performance because it is this constitutive rule that assures the effective impact of an utterance in communicative processes. As an illustration, when a person (S: Speaker) apologizes to another person (H: Hearer), S sincerely take the responsibility of his or her Action (A: Action) in order to sincerely satisfy the sincerity condition rule. And, for a promise to be felicitous, S must sincerely intend to do A and work for it.

6.3.4 The Essential Condition

In addition to the Propositional Content Condition, the Preparatory Condition and the Sincerity Condition, there is another rule that a speech act must obey during its performance. This rule is the Essential Condition and it is about what the speech act is intended for. Elhaloui (2016, p.  57) explained the similarity between a social act and a speech act in terms of their shared intended meaning aimed at the fulfillment of an act. Elhaloui illustrated this through the stance of visiting a friend which would be interpreted to mean a friendly visit only when the visitor shows signals aligning with the purpose of visit like “offering a gift, raising only safe topics, choosing an appropriate time for the visit; or simply saying explicitly that the visit is intended to be friendly” (Elhaloui (2016, p. 57).

The same is true for an illocutionary act (speech act with illocutionary force) to be performed successfully. And, this signifies that the speaker must indicate what their utterance is intended for. Is the utterance intended to perform an apology, a promise or advice? The rule governing the intended meaning in the performance of a speech act is the Essential Condition rule.

For a piece of advice to satisfy the rule mentioned above, the speaker’s intended meaning must get the hearer to understand that the advised action is beneficially valuable for the hearer. The essential condition for advising can be represented as: ADVICE EC= S intends to get H understand that A is beneficial for H.

CONCLUSIONS

As a conclusion on the importance of knowing the four discussed constitutive rules that assure the successful performance of speech acts, we can say, that for a language learner in general and more specifically a learner of language for specific purposes, it is crucial to be equipped with a good understanding of the speech acts typology and the felicity conditions rules because this pragmatic knowledge really helps communicators achieve their intended effect on the receivers of their message. Hence, the pedagogical utility and the implications of implementing the speech acts essence into English for Tourism in the Moroccan context has been highlighted in this paper and we can say that equipping language learners with communicative competences is a prerequisite for a good professional performance, especially in the tourism domain where accurate language use is highly recommended.

It is also worth mentioning that ELT (English Language Teaching), ESL (English as Second Language), and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) have benefited from all FLT (Foreign Language Teaching) methods and methodology as we have pointed to in the introduction of this paper, but we think that the communicative approach is very rewarding whether when it is incorporated into English for general communication and aims or to English for Specific Purposes abbreviated in the literature as (ESP). Accordingly, focus has to be put on the pragmatic competence as a fundamental layer of the communicative approach to language acquisition in order to assure the communicative aims of linguistic usages in specific situational settings as it is the case in the tourism contexts.

We think that teaching English for special aims has become a pedagogical urgency in today’s globalized world and ESP as a layer in applied linguistics and language teaching has to take great advantage of the pragmatics paradigm more specifically the Speech Acts Typology and Theory. Therefore, domains such as tourism where English is required for professional and interpersonal communication have to opt for ESP training for their working staff; and tourism educational institutions also have to promote their ESP training programs for their specialized students in order to meet the professional workplace needs; thus, assuring high-quality service provision in settings where English performance is purpose guided. And, of course, this will fortify reliability, trust and constructive collaboration and cooperation among students and their language instructors; and, also amongst language institutions and content specialists.

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