The integration of language tourists in the city of Barcelona

Authors

  • Eva Alcázar Independent researcher
  • Coral Gámiz CETT-UB Campus de Turisme, Hoteleria i Gastronomia
  • Montserrat Iglesias Campus CETT-UB Turisme, Hoteleria i Gastronomia, Universitat de Barcelona http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2948-6441
  • Aina Padró Independent researcher

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/THJ.2019.1.6

Keywords:

Educational travel, Language tourism, International students, Sociocultural integration

Abstract

Language tourism has been scarcely explored and constitutes an interesting field of study due to its idiosyncrasy. Even though the cultural exchange associated to this tourist activity provides significant gains to all the stakeholders involved, it also entails many difficulties which must be taken into consideration and managed properly. The general objective of the project reported in this article has been to investigate how language tourists’ integration in the local community occurs in Barcelona (Spain). Bearing this aim in mind, the difficulties that interfere with such immersion have been identified in order so as to offer measures that can contribute to overcome them in the future. Three research techniques have been used following a qualitative approach to obtain information from language tourism providers and the researchers’ own experiences: in-depth interviews, participant observation and online search. After the data analysis, an action plan has been designed with practical proposals in order to enhance the international students’ integration. Further research could focus on the application of such measures and analyse if the proposals eventually achieve the expected results.

Author Biographies

Coral Gámiz, CETT-UB Campus de Turisme, Hoteleria i Gastronomia

Coordinadora pedagógica de l'Escola d'Idiomes CETT

Montserrat Iglesias, Campus CETT-UB Turisme, Hoteleria i Gastronomia, Universitat de Barcelona

Coordinadora. Escola d'Idiomes CETT

References

Aliaga, B., Corno, V., Iglesias, M., Luengo, C., y Puigneró, J. (2018). Trips of the Tongue: Language Tourism in Barcelona. Ara Journal of Tourism Research, 8(1), 7-20.

Berry, J.W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied psychology, 46(1), 5-34.

Berry, J.W., Phinney, J.S., Sam, D.L., y Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation. Applied psychology, 55(3), 303-332.

Goldoni, F. (2015). Preparing students for studying abroad. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(4), 1-20.

Iglesias, M. (2017). The role of travel-related aspects in the language tourism experience. Enlightening Tourism. A Pathmaking Journal, 7(2), 125-153.

Iglesias, M. (2018). Turismo idiomático en España. Marco teórico. International Journal of Scientific Management and Tourism, 4(1), 29-59.

Iglesias, M., Aliaga, B., Corno, V., Luengo, C., y Puigneró, J. (2019). The Sociocultural Impacts of Language Tourism in Barcelona. Ottoman: Journal of Tourism and Management Research, 4(1), 348-364.

Iglesias, M., y Feng, Y. (2017). Language Travel Supply: the Case of Idealog. International Journal of Scientific Management and Tourism, 3(3), 91-110.

Isabelli-García, C. (2017). Key concepts in applied lingüístics. Estudios de lingüística inglesa aplicada, 17, 273-282.

Isabelli-García, C., Bown, J., Plews, J.L., y Dewey, D.P. (2018). Language learning and study abroad. Language Teaching, 51(4), 439-484.

Mansilla López, J.A. (2018). Vecinos en peligro de extinción. Turismo urbano, movimientos sociales y exclusión socioespacial en Barcelona. Pasos: Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 16(2), 279-296.

Plews, J.L., y Misfeldt, K. (2018). Introduction: Shifting Attention to Second Language Study Abroad Programming, Pedagogy, and Participant Engagement. En J.L. Plews y K. Misfeldt (ed.), Second Language Study Abroad (pp. 1-21). Cham, Suiza: Palgrave Macmillan.

Redfield, R., Linton, R., y Herskovits, M.J. (1936). Memorandum for the study of acculturation. American anthropologist, 38(1), 149-152.

Sam, D.L., y Berry, J.W. (2010). Acculturation: When individuals and groups of different cultural backgrounds meet. Perspectives on psychological science, 5(4), 472-481.

Schumann, J.H. (1976). Social distance as a factor in second language acquisition. Language learning, 26(1), 135-143.

Taguchi, N., y Collentine, J. (2018). Language learning in a study-abroad context: Research agenda. Language Teaching, 51(4), 553-566.

Published

2019-07-22

How to Cite

Alcázar, E., Gámiz, C., Iglesias, M., & Padró, A. (2019). The integration of language tourists in the city of Barcelona. Tourism and Heritage Journal, 1, 90–112. https://doi.org/10.1344/THJ.2019.1.6

Issue

Section

Articles