THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT ------ GRADUATION PAPER Topic: IMPROVING ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF EMPLOYEES IN RED WAREHOUSE SERVICE TRADING COMPANY LIMITED Supervisor : Hoang Thu Ba, MA Student : Nguyen Quang Huy Class : K54N4 Student Code : 18D170166 HANOI, 2022 Luan van ABSTRACT The English language is a universal language and one of the simplest and easiest languages in the world. It is the official language in many countries, and it is estimated that the number of people in the world that use English to communicate regularly is approximately 1. The English language is the dominant business language. There are many reasons why people learn this language, such as international economics, tourism, technology, scientific articles, the Internet, the modern world language of media, etc.
All of that demands a good knowledge of English and excellent oral communication skills. In reality, however, employees' English oral communication skills at Red Warehouse Service Trading Company Limited still not as good as expected. Therefore, the research topic: “Improving English oral communication skills of employees in Red Warehouse Service Trading Company Limited,” is meaningful and necessary in both theory and practice to improve their oral communication abilities in the workplace. The study deals with problems in communicating with English staff at Red Warehouse Co.
The study presents the fundamental theories related to English oral communication skills to achieve the objectives as mentioned earlier. The researcher carried out survey questionnaires among 27 sale staffs of Red Warehouse to get their opinion. In addition, the study also gives some solutions to improve the staff's English oral communication skills. Based on findings, some suggestions are presented with the hope that it might be helpful for employees at Red Warehouse CO., LTD in particular, and other companies in general to develop their oral communication skills.
i Luan van ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While doing this graduation paper, I have received countless needed help, treasured opinions, and valuable words of encouragement from teachers, family, and friends. This graduation paper would not have been possible without the help, motivation, and support from several people who most deserve my gratitude and appreciation. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor - Mrs. Hoang Thu Ba, one of the enthusiastic lecturers, for her guidance and encouragement during my graduation thesis.
She is always willing to give me valuable advice and suggestions to complete this research well. Thanks to the dedicated guidance, I have completed the graduation thesis most efficiently. Without her help, I would not have achieved this graduate thesis. I also would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at the English Faculty of Thuong Mai University for teaching and providing me with a lot of advice and helpful information to complete this graduate thesis.
Moreover, I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the employees in Sales Department at Red Warehouse Co., Ltd, who helped me with valuable information by completing survey questionnaires. In addition, I would like to thank all the authors of the books, magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the graduate thesis. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my loving parents, for their continuous support during my study. Thanks to their intense devotion, I have overcome the difficult times and completed this thesis.
Hanoi, 15th April 2022 Student Nguyen Quang Huy ii Luan van TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY. Aims of the study. Information about the Sales department. Scope of the study.
Data collection procedures. Data analysis methods. Organization of the study. 8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Overview of communication and communication skills. Definition of communication. Definition of communication skills. Types of communication skills.
Non-verbal communication. Overview of oral communication skills. Definition of oral communication skills. Advantages and disadvantages of oral communication skills.
Advantages of oral communication skills. Disadvantages of oral communication skills. 14 iii Luan van 2. The importance of oral communication skills.
Barriers in oral communication skills. 20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS. The results of the questionnaire and data analysis. Employee’s attitude toward oral communication skills.
Employee awareness of oral communication skills. Attitude of employees toward oral communication with people. Common difficulties in oral communication skills. Listening ability difficulties.
Suggestions to improve employee’s oral communication skills. Improving oral communication skills for employees. Self-improving oral communication skills. Main findings and discussion.
32 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .1 Recommendation for the company. Suggested solutions for employees. Limitation of the study. Suggestions for further studies.
xii iv Luan van LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No. Acronym Meaning in English Meaning in Vietnamese 1 CPI Consumer Price Index Chỉ số giá tiêu dùng 2 F&B Food and Beverage Service Dịch vụ nhà hàng và quầy uống 3 IELTS International English Hệ thống Kiểm tra Anh ngữ Language Testing System Quốc tế 4 NATO North Atlantic Treaty Tổ chức Hiệp ước Bắc Đại Tây Organization Dương 5 Red Warehouse Red Warehouse Service Công ty TNHH Dịch Vụ Co., Ltd Trading Company Limited Thương Mại Kho Đỏ 6 SPSS Statistical Package for the Phần mềm phân tích thống kê Social Sciences 7 TOEIC Test of English for Bài kiểm tra tiếng Anh giao International tiếp quốc tế Communication v Luan van LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES No. Tables and figures Page 1 Chart 1.1 Employees’ year of learning English 22 2 Chart 1.2 Employee's certificate score 23 3 Chart 1.3 Employee awareness of oral communication skills 24 4 Chart 1.4 Frequency of practicing oral communication skills 25 5 Chart 1.5 Frequency of oral communication with people 26 6 Chart 1.6 Employee's attitude when communicating orally with people 27 7 Chart 1.7 Frequency of oral communication skills difficulties 28 8 Chart 1.8 Frequency of psychological difficulties 30 9 Chart 1.9 Frequency of listening ability difficulties 30 10 Table 1.1 Frequency of linguistic difficulties 29 11 Table 1.2 Company solutions to improve oral communication skills 31 12 Table 1.3 Self-improving oral communication skills 32 vi Luan van CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY The current chapter indicates the rationale and the previous domestic and foreign studies. Most importantly, the aims of the study, the research subject, the scope of the study, and the research methodology.
Lastly, this chapter will also present the organization of the study. Rationale English is the most-spoken language globally, and it can be found spread far and wide. While there is no official lingua franca for the planet, English is often used to communicate across nations. This is because of several historical factors, most notably the patterns of colonialism by English speakers.
The world’s total population is approximately 7. Out of this number, 1.35 billion speak English. However, the majority of these are not native English speakers. About 360 million people speak English as a first language.
In addition, up to 75% of letters and postcards worldwide are written in English. English is also used for communication and discussion; most conferences and international competitions are conducted in English, such as the Olympics and Miss World competitions. Also, diplomats and politicians from different countries use English to communicate. English is the primary language in organizations like the United Nations, NATO, and the European Free Trade Association.
In Vietnam these days, we can see that English oral communication is an essential aspect of business success. People who have appropriate oral communication skills and high interpersonal skills are more likely to get more opportunities to find good jobs and reach their career goals. Thus, having good English oral communication skills has become more critical than ever. Red Warehouse Co., Ltd is one of the companies that has made a significant contribution to the F&B industry, especially the wine industry, over the past few years since 2001.
The Vietnamese market is preferred imports, and the company’s products are mainly imported directly from the manufacturer, plus the increase of the CPI in recent years, which also significantly impacts consumer spending. In recent years, Vietnam has 1 Luan van been considered a potential market for foreign enterprises in investment funding, bringing many employees from abroad to come and work in Vietnam. This is an excellent opportunity to increase Red Warehouse’s sales revenue and reach potential foreign customers, mainly because the products are imported. Since the company specializes in importing products from abroad, the company's primary customers are foreign.
Not to mention, all products have transcriptions and information in English, and the wholesale and retail system is written in English. So Red Warehouse Co., Ltd requires the employees to have a high level of English especially speaking and listening skills. In addition, employees are taught basic communication skills in their training. Of the skills, many employees consider oral communication the most difficult because it requires specialized knowledge and professional use of grammar and lexis to listen and reply to customers and customs procedures.
There are still some problems with using English in oral communication activities in small and medium-sized companies, where recruiting requirements are not strict. Moreover, for companies with a workforce that does not have a particular specialization, employees who don't have to deal with documents or sales are not required to speak English. During the experience as a trainee for one month in the sales department of Red Warehouse Co., Ltd, the researcher assessed the existing difficulties in English oral communication skills problems in the company. Although English is necessary for work, due to no specific requirements on language proficiency and the nature of each department, employees face many difficulties in listening, speaking, and communicating in English.
Therefore, the researcher would like to conduct a study on “Improving English oral communication skills of employees in Red Warehouse Service Trading Company Limited.” In the hope that this research will provide Red Warehouse's employees and all students interested in the job related to commercial documents a relatively complete and detailed view of improving English oral communication skills. Previous studies There has been a lot of research on oral communication skills in recent years. But most of them are research on students; there are only a few studies on employees’ oral communication skills but not much. First are the most outstanding researches on students’ oral communication skills.
Abroad, there are exceptional research papers that should be mentioned, such as “Academic oral communication difficulties encountered by Yemeni postgraduate students in a Malaysian university” by Ali Abdullah Ali Alghail in 2019 and “Oral Communication Problems Encountering English Major Students: Perspectives of Learners and Teachers in Palestinian EFL University Context” by Abedrabu Abu Alyan in 2013. Both of these studies were conducted based on the qualitative analysis method to explore the oral communication difficulties faced by students. The main challenges encountered in these two studies are students' incorrect pronunciation and limited vocabulary. The study also shows that students have not formed the habit of listening and reading comprehensively.
Furthermore, the students could not coherently organize their ideas and meanings, and they seemed to lack confidence. And finally, after clarifying the difficulties in oral communication of employees, both researchers came up with some solutions to solve these difficulties. Besides, the researcher also found a foreign research paper using both quantitative and qualitative methods, which showed students' difficulties in oral communication. The study is: “Oral Communication Challenges Encountered during the Instruction of English Language in Secondary Schools in Kenya” by Joseph K.
It was determined that the most common oral communication challenges faced by high school students were difficulty pronouncing certain English words, uneven classroom participation, the dominance of classroom discourse by a few learners, and learners do not seek clarification or ask questions from their teacher.