To continue in the context of the root metaphor, every religion has its liturgy (practice), whose ritualistic ways of doing things are normally described in very singular language. In analyzing informants' descriptions of rituals common across the student travel industry, it became apparent that a number of them were not only strikingly similar, and in some cases identical, but were also denoted by very unique, often poetical language. In fact, one observer noted the significance of this industry's distinctive jargon: "It's the one thing we all have in common. . . . [I]n using language, you mess with the mind, you create a mindset" (Z, 1-22). To identify and explicate this unique language set, the discussion that follows first describes the language of sales and marketing and then describes operations-and-logistics-related language.

The Language of Sales and Marketing

Many of this industry's constructs are naturally attached to its common product. The most prominent example is the term educational travel itself, used profusely throughout both the interviews and the individual companies' marketing documents. In fact, when a non-identical term such as cultural travel is used, it is in tandem with educational travel. Likewise, clients are often referred to as teachers, regardless of their profession; in fact, one informant noted, "We call our clients teachers, whether they are or not," (Z, 1-15). Although there is almost an even split in the use of teacher and/or group organizer/ leader, even those entities whose public literature use the latter tend to actually talk about group organizers as "teachers." For example, one very revealing comment was, "We have a teacher handbook that we send to our group organizers &# we don't call them teacher-counselors" (P,1-12). The term teacher-counselor was used originally by ALSG, who "thought that [term] sounded more appropriate in the beginning, the picture of teachers huddling with their groups and having philosophical discussions of everything over a drink in the Latin Quarter . . . .The label just stuck, probably because it made so much sense, or maybe because "TC" just had a quick flip of the tongue. Anyway, it's part of the lexicon. Other companies use it, or something similar" (Z, 1-17). That, they do. In fact, an informant whose corporate literature uses the labels group leader or group organizer never actually used those terms in the interview itself, preferring instead the word teacher; moreover, that same informant referred to teachers nearly twice as much as any other informant.

Sales efforts are conducted primarily via telemarketing efforts by in-house sales or admissions staff . "In fact," surmises one informant, this industry "may be the country's first real telemarketers, who knows?" (Y, 1-15). Traditionally, sales and marketing efforts are directed primarily at high school teachers, using no intermediaries such as travel agents; in fact, teachers are the intermediaries or agents between the company and the end-user, who is the individual traveler, often described as a student. These sales efforts are initiated by mailing annual catalogues of tour selections to well-honed and well-targeted client mailing list. Most of the "boutique" companies do not consistently offer a catalogue, but instead design exclusive itineraries for each client. This exclusivity option is offered by the other companies as well, and is normally managed by a special department. At the very least, one employee is normally designated to coordinate custom itinerary design.

Finally, the teachers travel free ploy, offered universally across the industry, rests at the core of sales and marketing. In fact, all companies offer essentially the same pro rate to teachers; that is, teachers earn one free trip for every six students enrolled. Alternatively, teachers may choose to receive an experience bonus (essentially, commission payments) for each student over and above the six required to earn a free trip. One informant claims that although this incentive has been an essential motivator from the beginning, it was nonetheless "perfected within an academic context by ALSG" (Z, 3-1). Even so, today's 1:6 pro-rate did not originate with ALSG; this innovation may be laid at the feet of EF, one of whose informants opined that "this move helped us get ahead in the market, and the other companies followed suit the following year . . . a fantastic concept . . . for a teacher who has not done this before." Still another informant claims that this innovation ignited the "the pro-rate wars" and declares that "trip costs went through the roof after that." Regardless, free travel for teachers is a mainstay of the industry's sales and marketing efforts.

Regarding actual itineraries, European destinations are by far and away the most common, although most companies offer a smattering of tours to North America, the Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Tours range generally from nine days' to four weeks' time, and those of fifteen or fewer days' length are the most popular choice (making up some 80 per cent of total travel, according to one of the "big" companies' informants). All tours are accompanied by full-time "couriers" or "tour directors," terms used interchangeably to denote roles that are an integral element of the industry's educational focus (or, in terms of the root metaphor, its religion). One very interesting remark revealed the synonymy of these labels when an informant declared, "We call our couriers 'tour directors'" (P, 1-16). Interestingly enough, historical documents suggest that ALSG's early culture used the terms interchangeably, at least by the early 1980s when something called a Tour Director/Courier Manual was published. In older documents, courier was used almost exclusively.

Yet another of these term-sets is hometown group or hometown counselor, used commonly to denote the definitive group of students or participants traveling with individual teachers/group leaders. Participants themselves are most often referred to either as that, or as "students," sometimes interchangeably, although the current trend seems to be toward the former. Historical documents show that ALSG's early culture used these terms interchangeably, and in fact shortened participants to the word "pax," as will be discussed in the section below.

Another group of common constructs — and these are merely a subset of the whole set — are used to denote specific charges incurred by travelers. The membership fee is probably the most antique of these, having had its origins in the days when charter flights required that passengers be members of a discrete group. From the documents available, it was not clear whether ALSG's predecessors (e.g. AIFS, FSL, or the World Academy) charged a membership fee; however, it is certain that ALSG did so (ALSG, 1970). Today, most companies do charge membership fees but a few do not. Likewise, an adult supplement is often charged adults who travel on these tours, presumably because they are designed as student tours. Again, it is not clear who originated this term; however, it is used throughout the industry today, as is the term surcharge, which one company explains as follows: "NETC's published program fees are based on exchange rates, prevailing rates for trip services and administrative costs . . . and are subject to increase" (NETC, 1998, 111). Companies who levy surcharges — and that includes most of them — nonetheless offer "plans which enable you to avoid possible increases in your program fee" (111). These "surety" plans, also known as Guaranteed Price Plans, Early Bird Payment Plans, and the like are said to have originated with ALSG, as described in the following story:

[Every year], before spring trips began, as well as long after, teachers waited in fear, cringing at the thought of the surcharge. Just before the summer trips ran — normally spring trips didn't incur surcharges, at least not in the beginning — ALSG and later [most of the] industry levied a surcharge, ostensibly to account for inflation and whatnot, which in the late 1970s was running in the double figures. Then, Mike Eizenberg [who was an ALSG executive at the time] thought of the price guarantee, which basically meant that if you paid by a pre-determined deadline called the Early Bird Deadline, which usually fell about March 15 for summer trips . . . you could escape the surcharge. That was a brilliant innovation, with especially serendipitous timing due to the Carternomics of those days. This came to be known as the "pre reg[istration] deal.

In this context, the "bonus trip" was conceived, a perk that most companies offer today.

Gil came up with the idea of the "bonus trip" — that being that if their students signed up early, teachers could have an extra free trip in addition to the "official" trip that they would be taking with students — or more accurately, with participants, since by that time we were starting to see a number of adults on all the tours. The bonus trip . . . started out as . . . the "Thanksgiving in London" pitch. It has been through several incarnations, but basically began as a way for Gil to get money into the coffers early . . . . For whatever reasons it was engendered, the bonus trip idea, combined with the [surcharge-avoidance deadline], was a brilliant marketing strategy. Not only do the students lock in a price, but more importantly to the marketing effort, [the bonus trip deal] removes the [teacher] from the competitive marketplace early on. So it wasn't long until we had [an early registration] market, over and above the traditional market.

Here, it should be emphasized that except for the bonus trip, none of these practices is universal; however, those who employ these practices describe them in similar language, most of which had its origins in the early ALSG culture. As well, of special linguistic interest is one company whose corporate literature declares that participants will not be charged " fees for membership or adult surcharges" (Voyageur, 1998, 1).

Another subset of common language includes references to what one informant calls "academic artifacts" (Y, 1-6). Those artifacts mentioned most often and commonly, in both the interviews and the documents, are unique to this industry. Three of the most representative are detailed below.

Teacher handbook/group organizer's guide

Although a variety of titles is used to denote this document, the topics and the language used within the various "guides" is very similar. Basically, this handbook is a soup-to-nuts instruction manual that walks teachers/organizers through the organizing process. In fact, on the front of one company's handbook was once printed, "Whether you're on your first trip or your twenty-first, this handbook has all you need to get you started!" (ACIS, 1996).

Historical documents indicate that the first such handbook was published by ALSG in 1978 and addressed the following topics: (1) how to organize for success; (2) the ten-day [recruiting] plan; (3) sample announcements and letters, including an invitation to a parent meeting; (4) sample questions and answers about overseas travel; (5) an outline of the teacher's role overseas; (6) hints for preparing the group; (7) fund-raising ideas; (8) suggestions for obtaining school approval for the trip; and (9) a guide for obtaining academic credit for the students (ALSG, 1978). Today, all but two of the industry members publish a similar guide, and with the exception of point (9), above, their contents cover, to a greater or lesser degree, virtually the same material. Perhaps the most striking inclusion is the "sample letter" inviting parents to an orientation meeting; this particular artifact appears in virtually every handbook. One informant described this "cross-pollination effect" in these terms:

I do know that things have been picked up [from the ALSG Teacher Handbook], absolutely . . . .All you have to do is [look at] their teacher handbook, or whatever they call it . . . and you'll see [ALSG's] prose . . . and topics all over that thing . . . the sample letter inviting parents to come to a meeting to discuss organizing a trip overseas, the letter written to a skittish schoolboard that's a little uncertain about letting the kids, giving kids permission . . . all the things that [ALSG] put into the . . . handbook [are there] . . . .[ALSG's] was the first time in the industry that anybody had taken all the stuff and put it between two covers, all the way from a bibliography to these sample letters and even a sample agenda for these meetings that the teacher conducts. What do you start with? What topics do you cover? Don't say too much at the first meeting; let suspense build up, and all that. THAT was in the teacher handbook. [Other companies] didn't have anything like that, so I know that they pillaged all that from [ALSG's] various editions of that over the years. And I've even found phraseology of [ALSG's] in theirs.

A thematic content analysis of the original ALSG Teacher-Counselor Handbook (1977) compared with several current guides/handbooks, supports these claims.

Walking tours and/or city factsheets

Another common use of specialized language is used to denote the planned, on-foot sightseeing, mostly of inner-city areas; these are commonly known as "walking tours." One catalogue describes its walking tours thusly: "Because we know that most students don't like to sit still, our Tour Directors will frequently show you around on foot. Take in the sights and sounds, aromas and flavors as you stroll — EF walking tours provide a close-up view!" (EF, 1998b). Most companies publish a written guide to accompany these "walks," and these usually contain directions (how to proceed on the walk) in addition to commentary about the sites encountered along the way. At least one company, in fact, maintains a 3-inch binder of very artfully written and elaborately illustrated walking-tour guides. Walking tours are often supplemented by, and in some cases replaced by, "City Facts" or "City Factsheets" that contain a quick overview of important things to know about particular destinations (e.g. Paris, London, Rome, for example). Again, historical documents indicate that the first walking tour was a product of the ALSG culture, which devised both the practice and its name, circa 1970 (ALSG, 1970b).

Classroom motif

Yet another interesting and common use of academized language may be found in the "classroom" motif, still in use today. One of its earliest appearances may be traced to 1973, where ALSG's General Catalogue describes its European experiences as "not a 'tour' . . . or just a 'summer school' . . . but a truly open classroom" (ALSG, 1972, 5). This motif is woven throughout the history of the industry, has enjoyed various incarnations, and remains prominent in contemporary literature. Most conspicuous of these references is perhaps EF's full-page treatment of the concept — titled "Opening the door to the Global Classroom" — in its most recent General Catalogue:

For over 30 years, EF has pursued a vital mission: to introduce students worldwide to other cultures and lands. We believe that every student should have the opportunity to broaden personal and academic horizons through international travel. EF Educational Tours makes your entrance into the Global Classroom simple, affordable, and unforgettable — providing you and your students with the learning opportunity of a lifetime (EF, 1998, 2).

Moreover, this is simply the way many informants often talk about the tours:

Our courier's job is to transmit this education to kids in a sort of moving classroom (B, 1-2).

Travel in itself is a very, very powerful tool for conveying so much . . . you're there, you can feel it, you touch it. Global classroom — I think it's a global classroom. I can argue that the world is a classroom and we're all students in this classroom, but traveling is definitely a way of learning while you're moving around (C, 1-5).

These passages offer interesting comparisons to how one informant described one of ALSG's "bedrock" contributions to the industry:

Within the high school market [c. 1965], it was expected that the tours would be about a month long and the reason for that is that the only competition was campus-based language instruction programs, and these are going to be at least a month long. So [ALSG] took the concept of studying a month in Europe and instead of limiting it to a campus site or location, put it on wheels. Took the classroom, cut the ties to a particular institution or city, put the whole concept on wheels, and made it a traveling program.

Operations and Logistics-Related Language

Although examples of commonly-used operations and logistics-related language are fewer than in the language of sales and marketing, what does exist is very distinctive — so much so that as one informant noted, the jargon would never be understood except in the context of this industry's culture (Z, 1-9).

One example is the term wave, which is used to denote all the groups traveling on a certain date, as well as a group's date of travel (e.g. "The Jones group is in the 6/13 wave). In fact, an informant in a "newer" company uses the term to train new employees, but reportedly not otherwise:

We don't use [the word] wave except when I'm having to explain something to someone who's come in here new. I find myself using that term . . . I don't know what else you'd call it. What else would you call it? (P, 1-15).

Found to be in wide (albeit not universal) use across the industry, the term is said to have originated in the ALSG/Markle culture, c. 1968:

We[at ALSG] came up with [the term] as we visualized onslaughts of students descending on targets in Europe. Kind of like the D-Day landing. Waves of students. One or more groups moving in tandem.

Likewise, the term pax — meaning "peace" in Latin, of course — is also used extensively, and most especially in casual conversation, as an acronym for "participants." Although no one described (or indeed seemed to remember) the origin of this term, when informants who used it (some 80 per cent of the informants did so) were asked to define it, they articulated similar denotations. Moreover, one erstwhile executive noted that the term was "in use when I got there, and that was about 1974." Yet another example of operational jargon is the word fit, a term that to one informant

absolutely . . . makes sense. You are fitting groups together. . [if we have] .one group of 10 on June 1 and one group of 20 on June 5, we're going to fit those two groups together for a common departure date (S, 1-9).

A rather fascinating characteristic of the industry's operational jargon is that a number of terms denote in the student travel industry just the opposite of what they connote in "real life." Even so, a good bit of this "counter-intuitive" jargon has made its way across the industry, when in fact newer expressions would no doubt be easier to communicate, especially to employees in newly forming companies. For example, the term broken is used almost universally in the genetically related companies to label those teachers/group organizers who have sent in applications and are therefore assumed to be actually traveling, as opposed to their being in the planning or "talking" stages. From a logistics point of view, the "broken" point is when the sales department relinquishes the teacher's file to the operations department. Obviously, the word broken normally has a negative connotation, but in student travel jargon, it is one of the most positive denotations that can be attached to a client. One informant acknowledged,

Broken, we still use that word. Why? It's a very funny word. I remember [hearing it for the first time when] somebody said, 'You know, they broke," and I thought, 'What the heck does that mean?' Old term, but yes, we still use it. To us in the industry, and at [our company], it means that a group actually sent in an application, that group has now broken, it means they're in-house with money (S, 1-10).

Another example of this counter-intuitive operations language is the word dole, a word normally used to denote "money or food given in charity" (Websters, 1993, 182). In the student travel industry, however, the definition of dole was summarized by one informant as "what we refer to in this industry as the money that is given to the courier at the outset of the trip, which is basically an approximation on a per day basis of what they will need to run the operation of the trip" (L, 1-16). Thus, it might be argued that the dole represents a conferring of power (in the form of money) upon the courier or tour guide, just the opposite of a need for charity. When describing the use of this term, another informant exclaimed:

Now there's an expression that will transcend [cultural] boundaries! [A courier] calls up her boss and says 'Dole me!' What other explanation could you find for her to use that term, in that way, other than an overreaching industry identity . . . evidence of [our] irrefutable common threads . . . .Just think about how many people — and more to the point, how few — know or use that term in [this] connotation (Z, 1-25).

Finally, exclusively designed itineraries that do not appear in the catalogue are commonly known as "specials" or SPITS ("SP-ecial IT-inerary," explained one informant).

Apparently, the continued use of the "old ALSG terminology" is common across the industry: " . . . a lot of the internal terms, it doesn't make sense to change because they're only used in-house and we all understand them. You use whatever terms you're comfortable with" (Q, 1-8), explained one informant, who also noted, "It's like calling a custom itinerary a SPIT."

The language described above, as might be expected, is most commonly used in the industry's "genetically related" companies. This study surfaced little, if any, evidence to suggest that these particular terms are used in the "non-genetic" companies, and in fact, they are not used universally in the "genetic" companies. Still, they are used widely enough to suggest that their performance is common to much of the industry-at-large. Moreover, among the informants who continue to use the terms, they are universally acknowledged to have originated in the ALSG/Markle culture.

Although it may be a cognitive "stretch" to argue that the root metaphor (work as religion) emerges from this category's data in any explicit sense, it is implicitly observed. In fact, it is plausible to parallel the industry's common language, e.g. the "core" of its "common mindset," with similar linguistic "cores" that exist within any "common mindset," including that of the church. Moreover, arguendo, it would be no more implausible to extend the metaphor by saying that linguistic variances across the industry are merely denominational differences rather than doctrinal ones — i.e. using slightly different language to perform virtually identical rituals, such as exist in the terms "baptism" and "christening" or "Lord's Supper" and "communion," for example. Be that as it may, there is no doubt that the industry's rituals and practices are "performed" in universally comparable fashion, and more to the point, they are described in very similar, if not virtually identical terms, not only in the genetically-related companies, but in all the member entities. Finally, and as one informant noted, language use is a "window to the mind" that not only "creates a mindset" but is also reflective of same; thus, this industry's unique jargon provides the framework, the liturgy as it were, for performing its "religion," for practicing its work.

back to menu

All dissertation material copyright © Linda Gayle Lyle, 1998. All rights reserved.