Interlanguage pragmatics in a service encounter: diagnosing how Spanish learners of English for the Tourism Industry inform tourists at a visitor centre

Abstract

This study explores the behaviour of (pre-)intermediate Spanish learners of English for the Tourism Industry at the transactional phase of a service encounter wherein they have to carry out one of the tasks for which they are trained: giving information at a tourist visitor centre. More specifically, this study analyses (i) the strategies wherewith they dispense tourist information, and (ii) how they attend to relational aspects during the encounter or manage rapport with tourists through such strategies and the information dispensed.