Research on the Application of Scenario Simulation Teaching in Cruise Ship Spoken English Classrooms: A Case Study of Guest Complaint Handling Scenarios

Research on the Application of Scenario Simulation Teaching in Cruise Ship Spoken English Classrooms: A Case Study of Guest Complaint Handling Scenarios

Authors

  • Xiaowei Zhang School of Cruise and Art Design, Jiangsu Maritime Institute, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66069/ojspub.25360902

Keywords:

Scenario simulation teaching, Cruise spoken English, Guest complaint handling, Communicative competence, School-enterprise cooperation

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the international cruise industry has generated sustained demand for service personnel who can communicate fluently and appropriately in English, particularly when handling guest complaints under pressure. However, spoken English courses for cruise-service majors in vocational colleges still rely heavily on the memorization of scripted dialogues and isolated vocabulary drills, which inadequately prepare students for the emotional intensity, cross-cultural sensitivity, and improvisational demands of real complaint-handling encounters. Drawing on constructivist learning theory, situated cognition, and communicative language teaching, this study designs and implements a scenario-simulation-based instructional model centered on guest complaint handling. The model organizes instruction around authentic complaint cases co-developed through school-enterprise cooperation, sequences learning through a three-stage cycle of pre-class rehearsal, in-class immersive simulation, and post-class debriefing, and integrates language ability, job competency, and professional literacy into a multidimensional assessment framework. Practical implementation indicates that scenario simulation markedly improves learners' fluency, pragmatic appropriateness, emotional regulation, and service awareness, while also revealing challenges in case authenticity, role configuration, and assessment reliability. The study argues that complaint-driven simulation constitutes an effective bridge between classroom English learning and the communicative realities of cruise service work, and it offers implications for the reform of maritime English curricula and the coordinated development of school-enterprise training resources.

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Published

2026-09-25

Issue

Section

Articles

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