An Evaluation of the Quality of English for Tourism Purposes Program in Iranian Universities

The purpose of the present study is evaluating English for tourism program in Iranian universities using Kirkpatrick model. The program is evaluated taking into consideration four levels of reaction, learning, behavior, and results. The data were collected from 50 lecturers currently teaching English for tourism in Iranian universities, 200 tourism graduates, and 30 employers of these graduate students in tourism industry using three instruments: a survey, semi-structured interviews and program-related document analysis. Results of the study indicate that graduates were not good at productive skills though they were good at vocabulary and reading comprehension, and the program objectives defined by the Supreme Council of Programming in the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technologies of Iran are not met. Finally, researchers have made some suggestions for better implementation of the program, such as decreasing the number of students in classes, providing enough equipment, dedicating enough time for practicing speaking, improving students’ motivation, and having more practical views to develop competent graduates for real life tourism businesses in Iran.