Using English-Learning Apps Inside Tourism and Business Classes: Analysis and Critical Review

Abstract

In this chapter several mobile apps designed for Business English and Tourism students are reviewed, analysed and compared. Attention is paid both to format (menu and general design, advertising, personalisation, etc.) and to content (title transparency, topics, skills and language areas emphasised, activities, etc.). The results indicate that although most of the apps contain useful topics and/or authentic language for university students enrolled in the previously mentioned degrees (such as vocabulary for preparing job interviews, business meetings or presentations, dealing with reservations or writing cover letters), emphasis is mainly placed on receptive skills and hardly ever on productive ones. Moreover, most of the apps offer theoretical explanations, wordlists or dialogues with several speakers, but very few of them include practical activities for students to put into practise the concepts learnt; similarly, hardly any of them contain tests for students to check whether they have learnt the content correctly. Hence, it is important for teachers to look at mobile apps in detail before recommending them to their students.