Abstract:
The language proficiency in multiple foreign languages, is a required prerequisite, for
successful communication in the tourism industry. Tourism industry which has become one of
the main foreign income sources in Sri Lanka, is recruiting graduates with high foreign
language proficiency skills, for a productive development of intercultural competence in the
area of tourism and hospitality management. Therefore teaching Foreign Languages for
tourism learners, can be regarded as a new academic discipline, which aims to bridge the gap
between foreign language teaching with specific language learning skills required for current
and future professionals in the field of tourism. Foreign language sessions for tourism learners
are based on developing specific language skills required for tourism, while fostering cross
cultural awareness. This study was designed to investigate how effective is the use of authentic
materials, in enhancing the cross cultural skills of tourism learners. Authentic materials can be
defined as “language materials that were originally designed to be used by first language
speakers and were not intended for use by language learners (Nunan & Miller, 1995). Authentic
materials such as Flyers, brochures, menu cards, hotel catalogs, magazines, train tickets and
invitation cards are not being designed for language teaching purposes, but to fulfil the daily
social requirements of the native speakers of the target language country. Therefore they
contain authentic up to date real life situation based information, which provide the learners,
the first-hand experience of travelers, visiting the target language country. This research is
based on class room observations and data collected by semi structured interviews and
distributed questionnaires among tourism learners. According to the findings of the research,
it was evident, that the use of authentic materials, including audio visual and printed materials
for German tourism teaching sessions, allow the learners to make contact with the real-life
language experiences of the target culture and is also a great motivational factor for the learners
to develop cross cultural sensitivity to overcome cultural barriers when working with
customers, employees and suppliers from diverse cultural backgrounds
