Service, Satisfaction and Climate: Perspectives on Management in English Language Teaching

Service, Satisfaction and Climate: Perspectives on Management in English Language Teaching presents the results of research carried out in New Zealand to demonstrate the ways ELT can be conceptualized in terms of service and climate. Although ESL is a major worldwide service industry employing large numbers of professionals and serving millions of clients, it is an under-researched field and one that is under-represented in the management/business literature. This omission is particularly noticeable, given that ELT has its own particular themes, problems, and issues. For instance, ELT is an educational service, yet exists within a commercial context. Its clients are from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In many ELT contexts, the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the service providers are different from those of the clients. Thus, the service provision has a strong cross-cultural dimension. Yet the ELT sector is largely missing from the educational and the management literature. This book seeks to fill the gap through discussion of ELT as a service, issues surrounding ELT teachers as service providers, the work of ELT managers, client expectations and perceptions of ELT service, comparison of staff estimates and client ratings of service quality, and considerations of service milieu and climate in ELT centers.