A study on the english speaking barriers for employees of customer care department at k hair import and export co , ltd when communicating with foreign clients

ABSTRACT This thesis was conducted to find the English speaking barriers for employees when communicating with foreign clients of the Customer Care Department at K Hair Import and Export Co , Ltd Cust[.]

This thesis was conducted to find the English-speaking barriers for employeeswhen communicating with foreign clients of the Customer Care Department at K-Hair Import and Export Co., Ltd Customer Care Department To suit the target ofthe present study, the author uses two main research methods respectivelyquestionnaires and interview questions Nearly 30 Customer Care Department staff

at K- Hair participated in the questionnaires The data and results were showing thatthe Customer Care Department staff does recognize the importance of using English

in the workplace However, they still face some difficulties in speaking Englishwith their clients Hopefully, this study will become a good source for CustomerCare Department staff while using English to speak and negotiate with their foreignclients and use it for further studies

Secondly, I am thankful to all staff and managers in Customer Care

Department at K- Hair who have made this study possible

Moreover, I would like to acknowledge all the authors of the books,

magazines, and other materials listed in the reference part for my ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study I am in my classmate’s debt for their encouragement during my study

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and my close friends who got my back to support and cheer me to successfully complete this thesis

Ha Noi, November 24,2022

Giang

Le Huong Giang

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research Subjects 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.7 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Definitions of speaking skill 6

2.2 Characteristics of speaking skill 7

2.3 Types of speaking 8

2.4 Purpose of speaking 9

2.5 Difficulties in speaking 9

2.5.1 Difficulty in pronunciation 9

2.5.2 Difficulty in vocabulary 11

2.5.3 Difficulty in knowledge 11

2.5.4 Other difficulties 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 15

3.1 Research strategy 15

3.2 Research method 15

3.2.1 Participants 15

3.2.2 Questionnaires 15

3.2.3 Interviews 15

3.3 Research approach 16

3.4 Research process 16

3.5 Data collection and tools 17

3.6 Data analysis methods 17

3.7 Results 18

3.7.1 Results from questionnaires 18

3.7.2 Results from interview questions 26

3.8.Discussion 28

3.8.1 Current situation of Customer Care Department staff’s English communicating skill in K- Hair 28

3.8.2 Difficulties in speaking with foreign clients: the case of Customer Care Department staff at K- Hair 28

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 31

4.1 Recommendations and suggestions 31

4.2 Research limitations 32

CONCLUSION 33 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Diagram 2.1 Summary from chapter 2 13

Table 3.7.1: Staff’s working years 18

Table 3.7.2 Years of learning English of staff 19

Table 3.7.3 Staff’s attitude towards the importance of speaking English 19

Table 3.7.4 The ability to speak English of staff 19

Table 3.7.5 The general opinion of staff about difficulty in English speaking 20

Figure 3.7.6 Aspects of difficulties affect speaking with foreign clients of Customer Care Department staff 21

Figure 3.7.7 Difficulties in pronunciation of staff when speaking with foreign clients 22

Figure 3.7.8 Difficulties in vocabulary of staff when speaking with foreign clients 23

Figures 3.7.9 Difficulties in knowledge of staff when speaking with foreign clients 24

Figure 3.7.10 Solutions to improve speaking skills of Customer Care Department staff 25

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale of the study

English is the dominant business language and it has become a necessity for people who want to enter a global workforce Research from all over the world shows that cross-border business communication is most often conducted in

English English is also considered as a means to promote mutual understanding andcooperation between Vietnam and other countries, especially since Vietnam became

an official member of WTO Therefore, there has been an increasing number of people desiring to know English with the hope of keeping up with the latest modern technology in the world

In this globalization, all of the companies will hire a candidate who has

excellent English skills Speaking English opens up thousands of new opportunities.Being able to communicate with foreign clients or business partners will provide you a more challenging position in your career Moreover, being able to use English

in your research will give you unlimited access to knowledge

Today, English is used in every aspect of life Adopting a global language policy is not easy at all, especially in the business world Many employees may feel

at a disadvantage if their English isn’t as good as others, team dynamics and

performance also can suffer In order to survive and thrive in a global economy, companies and employees must overcome language barriers and English will

always be the common ground, at least for now

In Vietnam, there are still many employees who can not speak English

properly due to condition, context, workload especially staff in the Customer Care Department at K-Hair Import and Export Co., Ltd when they communicate with foreign customers Customer Care Department staff need to be good at negotiating, networking and dealing with numbers, as well as dealing with other factors such as solving problems that customers face in the process of purchasing, using products orservices at the company scarcity, risk management and quality evaluation, and negotiating price Customer Care Department staff frequently speak and negotiate with customers in and outside the country in English However, their

communication suffers from complex jobs assigned, and intercultural

misunderstandings significantly It slows down productivity and undermines the capacity of employees to develop their skills.

All of the above reasons have inspired me to do the research on “A study on the English speaking barriers for employees of Customer Care Department at K-Hair Import and Export Co., Ltd when communicating with foreign

clients” with the hope to make a small contribution to the quality of changing

communicating skills of Customer Care Department at K-Hair Import and Export Co., Ltd

After reading and watching by many means and aspects of life, I realize that there are three main difficulties almost every employee or learner faces when

speaking English The first one is the fear of committing mistakes Most staff or workers hesitate to speak English because of what others may think if they find a mistake They can laugh or insult them, they prefer to keep quiet or speak as little aspossible The second one is the non-availability of words to express feelings A non-native speaker of English wants to say something but doesn’t get words to express them in English The third is the difference in syntax The arrangement of words in the mother tongue is different from the syntax of English People can’t translate a sentence from their mother tongue to English in the same manner

1.2 Previous studies

There are many studies about the difficulty in speaking English Lawtie’s study pointed out that emotional states affect learners' English speaking skills These emotions are unconfident, shy, nervous Emotions become an important factor when speaking with other people While Hinkel (2005) stated that problems occur when communication is possible because they do not understand the meaning

of a word or can not express their meaning This also prevents communication between people from being successful

Several causes of difficulty in practicing speaking skills such as pronunciation,semantic errors, lack of vocabulary, lack of interest or lack of environment for practice have been shown in Mustafa Mubarak Pathan’s (2014) research studies In Samira Al Hosni (2014) research, she lists three main difficulties when speaking English, they are linguistic difficulties, mother tongue, and inhibition Staff have an

inadequate vocabulary and weak sentence building skills The findings also showed that the main factors that contributed to the existence of these difficulties are

teacher’s perceptions and tacit belief of teaching speaking, teaching strategies and assessment regulations

Besides studies on English speaking which were done by foreigners, there were also a number of studies of researchers in Vietnam about the speaking ability

Cao Dinh Duc (2018) “A study on some problems in using spoken language at the workplace of fourth-year students in the English Department, Thuongmai

University and suggested solutions” The results indicated that oral communication

is important and the Customer Care Department at the company most used forms of

it are persuading customers, informal work-related discussion

These studies above have pointed out the English speaking barriers of

communicating skills of staff They are typical subjects who regularly use English This is a comparative study that covers neither universities nor high schools or evenemployees This study also takes place in a company where I was doing an

internship within a month It explores old problems – English speaking skills, but with a new subject – the Customer Care Department at a company, based on the literature reviews from the related previous studies and data analysis

1.3 Aims of the study

Based on the reality in how many staff at Customer Care Department use and what their English speaking barriers they have to face while using English, this study is conducted with the aim to identify common English speaking barriers whencommunicating with foreign clients of Customer Care Department staff at K- Hair

1.4 Research Subjects

This research is designed with the participation of 30 staff including four staff and 5 managers at the Customer Care Department at K- Hair All of the staff are different in English speaking levels, they are willing to complete questionnaires Moreover, the director also feels comfortable to share information and takes part in the interview questions

This research is carried out by answering three following research question:

1 Could you tell me some specific situations/examples which you have difficult in such as pronunciation, vocabulary, knowledge or other difficulties when speaking English with foreign clients at K- Hair?

2 What did you do to solve the problem of speaking?

3 What should the company do to improve speaking skills of Customer Care Department staff?

1.5 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focuses on analyzing and emphasizing the main English speaking barriers in communicating with foreign clients, the case in Customer Care Department staff at K- Hair This thesis is also expected to be a helpful reference to people who are weak in

communicating and motivate them to confidently speak when communicating with others I do hope that this study will be a useful document for readers or employees

to find out the biggest challenges while speaking English at the workplace

1.6 Research methodology

A questionnaire was designed based on what Customer Care Department staff need to do while speaking with foreign clients in K- Hair and to discover problems they encountered The questionnaire was sent to 30 Customer Care Department staff They were requested to provide samples of the English speaking barriers while communicating with foreign clients for a study A contribution of 30 samples in English was thus collected It was decided that 30 samples of

respondents should be classified and analyzed

Apart from the questionnaire, also 30 staff (concluded 5 managers)

representing the main Customer Care Department were selected to provide further information in interview questions to gather more details on certain issues derived from the questionnaires

1.7 Organization of the study

My graduation paper is divided into five main chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study This chapter provides an introduction

which includes the reason for conducting the study, the aims, the subject research, scope of the study and research methodology

Chapter 2: Literature review This presents a review of the literature with

theoretical and fundamental principles

Chapter 3: Data analysis and research findings It explains in detail about the research strategy, research methods, research approach, research process, data collections and data analysis It is the main part of the study, based on the results of research and investigation Point out the collected data after applying the research method to the investigation

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions The final chapter provides

some implications, limitations and recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of speaking skill

Speaking is an interactive activity that involves producing, receiving, andprocessing information, according to Brown (1994) and Burns & Joyce (1997) Itsmeaning depends on the situation in which it is used, as well as the speakersthemselves, their experiences as a group, the surrounding environment, and theintended audience

In order to speak, learners must not only be able to create certain languagefeatures, such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also comprehendwhen, why, and how to do so Speech is distinct from written language in terms ofits abilities and grammatical frameworks (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter &McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996)

Bygate (1998: 23) has a definition of speaking based on interactional skillswhich involve making the decision about communication This is considered a top-down view of speaking Adopting this view, Eckard & Kearny (1981), Florez(1999) and Howarth (2001) define speaking as a two–way process involving a truecommunication of ideas, information or feelings This top-down view considers thespoken the product of cooperation between two or more interactants in shared time,and a shared physical context Thus, proponents of this view suggest that rather thanteaching learners to make well-formed sentences and then putting these to use indiscourse we should encourage learners to participate in spoken the discourse fromthe beginning and after that they will acquire the smaller units (Nunan, 1989, 32).Chaney (1998) has the definition of speaking is that speaking is "the process

of sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety

of contexts" Speaking is an essential part of second language learning However formany years, learn English speaking has been undervalued and English languageteachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills ormemorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal oflearning speaking should improve learners communicative skills, only in that way,they can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rulesappropriate in each communicative circumstance and in the workplaces

2.2 Characteristics of speaking skill

The first characteristic of speaking skills is fluency According to Hughes(2002), fluency is the learners’ ability to speak in an understandable way in ordernot to break down communication because listeners may lose their interest Hedge(2000) stated that fluency is the ability to answer coherently by connecting thewords, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stress and intonation properly.The second characteristic of speaking ability is accuracy When speaking,learners should focus on the preciseness of language form by paying close attention

to grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazouzi, 2013).According to Thornbury (2005), complex utterances and well-structured sentencesare necessary for learners to correctly apply grammatical structures Learnersoccasionally use comparable phrases or expressions in circumstances when they donot imply the same thing Therefore, staff should correctly use words andexpressions

The third is vocabulary Vocabulary is crucial for successful second languageuse because without vocabulary, we will be unable to use the structure forcomprehensible communication It can be said that success in communication,which is the power of words Vocabulary means the most important thing in alanguage especially in speaking; furthermore, knowing many vocabularies make iteasier to express ideas, feeling and thoughts both in oral form In spoken language,the vocabulary tends to be familiar and every day (Turk, 2003:87) It means that inspeaking, the vocabulary used must be familiar and used in every day conversation

in order to understand the spoken discourse

Complexity also a characteristic of speaking skill According to Halliday(1985:87), it is wrong that written language is highly organized, structured, andcomplex while spoken is disorganized and simple Nunan (2004:86) said that whatmade speaking difficult were related to the type of information that had to beconveyed and was concerned with the scale of the task and relationships among thedifferent elements involved The complexity of written language is static, whilespoken is dynamic and intricate

Last but not least, pronunciation is the main thing when mentioning speakingfeatures Thornbury (2005) stated that pronunciation is the lowest level ofknowledge which learners typically pay attention to Pronunciation refers to thecustomary utterance of words From that statement, the researcher concluded thatpronunciation is the way for learners to produce the utterance of words clearly whenthey are speaking (Kline, 2001:69) Moreover, pronunciation includes all thoseaspects of speech that make for an easily intelligible flow of speech, includingsegmental articulation, rhythm, intonation and phrasing, and even gesture, bodylanguage and eye contact (Fraser, 2001:6) which contribute to the development ofspeaking.

2.3 Types of speaking

There are three main types of speaking: demonstrative speaking, informativespeaking and persuasive speaking according to “Clella Jaffe's Public Speaking:Concepts and Skills for a Diverse Society 5th ed Belmont, CA: ThomasWadsworth, 2007”,

In demonstrative speaking, science demonstrations and role-playing are types

of demonstrative speaking Demonstrative speaking requires to speak clearly andconcisely to describe actions The main purpose behind demonstrative speaking isthat the audience members leave with the knowledge about how to do something.With informative speaking, the speaker is trying to explain a concept to theaudience members In this type of speaking, the information is crucial The speakerdoesn’t try to get others to agree with him/her or to show them how to do somethingfor themselves

While persuasive speaking tends to be the most glitzy Politicians, lawyers andclergy members usually use persuasive speaking Persuasive speaking requiresnuances of language that will convince the audience members of a certainviewpoint In this pursuasive type, the speaker has a stake in the outcome of thespeech Politicians may want votes or a groundswell of support for a pet project,while clergy members are trying to win others over to their faith The persuasivespeaker usually uses emotional appeals and strong language in speeches

2.4 Purpose of speaking

It was argued that the purpose of speaking can be either transactional orinteractional Apparently, there are some differences between the spoken languageused in both transactional and interactional discourse Analyzing speaking purposesmore precisely, according to Kingen (2000:218), he combines both the transactionaland interpersonal purposes of speaking into personal, descriptive, narrative,instructive, questioning, etc

In transactional discourse, language is used primarily for communicatinginformation Language serving this purpose is 'message' oriented rather than'listener' oriented (Nunan, 1989: 27) Clearly, in this type of interaction, accurateand coherent communication of the message is important, as well as confirmationthat the message has been understood Speaking turns serving this purpose tend to

be long and involve some prior organization of content or type of information thatwill be given (Basturkmen, 2002: 26)

However, some conversations are interactional with the purpose ofestablishing a relationship This kind is sometimes called the interpersonal use oflanguage It plays an important social role in oiling the wheels of social intercourse(Yule, 1989: 169) Apparently, the language used in the interactional model islistener oriented Speakers' talk in this type tends to be limited to quite short turns(Dornyei & Thurrell, 1994: 43 and Richards, 1990: 54-55) However, in spite of thedistinctions between the two types, in most circumstances, interactional language iscombined with transactional language This helps to ease the transactional tasks to

be done by keeping good social relations with others In other words, speakers doone thing by doing another (Brazil, 1995:29) So both purposes can be viewed astwo dimensions of spoken interaction

2.5 Difficulties in speaking

2.5.1 Difficulty in pronunciation

In recent years, Ozkan, Bada, and Genc (2011) asserted the importance ofpronunciation in speaking skill because people compete with limited time whilespeaking to recall words, and also need to take care of their pronunciation

Pronunciation plays a crucial role while speaking Some of the staff revealed thatthey have difficulties in their way of speaking, make mistakes while speaking.Many people will not be able to make the sounds, lack of word stressespecially the first stage, and constant correction may discourage them According

to Ngo, a Vietnamese lecturer at Harvard University claimed that Vietnamesespeakers usually meet difficulties with English word stress while speaking aboutpronunciation Riviera-Castillo and Pickering (2004), Astruc and Prieto (2006),stated that learners are exceptional in positioning the word only in phrase-finalposition, making it di icult to tease apart word stress from boundary-inducedff

e ects Heidi Altmann (2006) investigated the influence of native language stressffproperties on the second language acquisition of primary word stress Learners withpredictable stress in their native language did poorly in perceiving the location ofstress while in production they were native-like

According to (Honey, p 241), Vietnamese speakers are not able to vocalizestress by the tone in English words due to syllabic tone, sometimes theymispronounced words In Rodman and Fromkin’s (1978:159) research, they madereference to the struggle between those that words should be pronounced according

to their spelling and those who felt words should be spelled according to theirpronunciation They indicated that at that time /h/ sound was not pronounced in:honest, hour, etc

Moreover, pronunciation is even difficult due to learners be affected by accentspecific Vietnamese accent Although Vietnamese and English share certain sounds,there are multiple consonants sounds specific to each language That’s the reasonwhy many learners feel hard to speak English Nguyen et al (2001) concluded thatduring the elementary school years, there seemed to be a strong trend ofmaintaining Vietnamese oral skills while gaining strong English skills Young andTran (1999) reported a study aims at Vietnamese accent affected how learnersspeaking English even though their family shifts abroad It seem that the longer theystay in the United States, the more parents encourage children to retain Vietnamese.They usually speak English with a Vietnamese accent even though they live abroad

2.5.2 Difficulty in vocabulary

Vocabulary is an individual word or a set of words that have a specificmeaning Kamil and Hiebert (2005) state that vocabulary is the knowledge of themeanings of words Accomplishing accuracy in terms of vocabulary refers to theappropriate selection of words during speaking According to Wilkins (1972) wrotethat “while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabularynothing can be conveyed” It has the same importance in speaking

In Hosni’s (2014) research, he investigated speaking difficulty by observinggrade 5 learners in the elementary schools in Oman The learners in her study werestruggling to find accurate vocabulary to speak English Alcindor (2001) shows thatthe learners who familiar with mother tongues are different and low Englishproficiency than learners are not familiar, and he coined the term Limited EnglishProficiency to describe those learners in his research It is known that learners whohave different mother tongues than mother language or other languages have limitedmother language proficiency

of language learners and their perceptions of idiom learning context inVietnam The results revealed that the subjects have poor idiomatic competence.His efforts Moreover, in Al-Kadi, 2015 and Saleh & Zakaria (2013) study, theresearchers found that learners encounter difficulties in learning slangs, idiomswhich is hard to remember and convey into English Tran (2013) explored thecompetence of figurative idioms also uncovered the paradox between staff’situation of using and learning idioms and their desires to learn Al-Khwaldeh,Jaradat, Al-momani, & Bani-Khair (2016) examined students’ perceptions of theimportance of learning idioms, their most frequently used idiom-learning strategies,and the difficulties they faced when trying to learn idioms The results alsoillustrated that staff encounter difficulties when learning idioms or slangs

2.5.3 Difficulty in knowledge

The definition of knowledge by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) is "justified truebelief," and it can be defined as familiarity with or understanding of someone orsomething, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquiredthrough experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning It is alsoclaimed that human beings' capacity for acknowledgment is tied to knowledge

Due to a large amount of knowledge outside, many people feel overwhelmedand obstacles when communicating with other people Besides the countlessknowledge, English learners feel frustrated and misunderstand cultural differences.Some learners have admitted that the countless knowledge is hard to identifywhich to choose to learn in The knowledge of someone can have an immediateimpact on comprehension and speaking, especially when the information is closelyrelated to what one already knows (Cook & O'Brien, 2014) As Nunan (1999)states, learners encounter difficulty when speaking English due to the lack ofnecessary knowledge and cannot provide the correct form.

Cultural variations also affect knowledge Effective knowledge is frequentlyhampered by culture (McDermott & O'Dell, 2001) The researchers contend thatcompanies whose cultures already prioritize information sharing did not alter them

in order to support knowledge management projects In fact, they changed theirknowledge management strategy to fit their culture These have been accomplishedthrough presenting knowledge management in a manner that is consistent with theorganization's style and encouraging peer and supervisor pressure to share

Another difficulty is the lack of grammar usage Grammar is sentences whichare structured and formatted According to Celce-Murcia (2001s), grammarbecomes difficult because learners do not learn structures one at a time Even thelearners appear to have controlled a particular structure; it is not uncommon to findbacksliding occurring with the introduction of a new form to the learners’interlanguage

The researcher will draw a figure from chapter 2 to display the key details ofthe study as follows:

Diagram 2.1 Summary from chapter 2

From the diagram above, we can see that there are three main difficulties in

OthersKnowledgeVocabularyPronunciation

The first difficulty is pronunciation When discussing pronunciation, Englishlearners frequently struggle with word stress Due to their syllabic tone, they areunable to vocalize stress using the tone of English words They speak Englishnaturally because they do not want to use the wrong words They emphasize eachsyllable equally because they follow Vietnamese pronunciation standards and areinfluenced by the Vietnamese accent The beats in between stressed syllables areused to determine the rhythm in English, which is referred to as a stress-timedlanguage In contrast, when English language learners substitute a consonant soundfrom their native tongue, they frequently fail to shift their mouths into the propershape to pronounce the sound as it is in English.

The second difficulty is vocabulary The right vocabulary is essential forcommunicating, but many staff struggle to pick up new words They frequentlystruggle to put their thoughts into words, lack the necessary vocabulary, andoccasionally use terms erroneously that do not have the same meaning in allsettings Additionally, native speakers can use slangs or dialects that are difficult forlisteners to understand Sometimes staff need to communicate information aboutVietnamese cultures or practices, but they lack the terminology necessary toprecisely express this to suppliers

Knowledge also has an impact on how people speak Many people feeloverwhelmed by the vast amount of knowledge in the modern world and find itdifficult to interact with others They believe there are countless sources ofknowledge, and they are unsure of which sources to choose as the most reliableones from which to learn Additionally, because staff update their informationslowly, they communicate knowledge incoherently, which is difficult for listeners tounderstand Additionally, they find it difficult to recognize cultural differences andthe demands of listeners, which makes it harder for them to reach global knowledge.Additionally, speaking abilities are impacted by a lack of confidence or poorgrammatical usage English language learners are anxious about speakingincorrectly in front of others They fumble through their words or lack confidence inwhat they want to say They are unable to speak English fluently because of theirlack of confidence and fear

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 3.1 Research strategy

The research held with respect to this thesis was an applied one, but not new.Rather, numerous pieces of previous academic research exist regarding thedifficulties in speaking, not only for Customer Care Department staff at K- Hair inspecific but also for other employees in other workplaces As such, the researchtook the form of new research but on an existing research subject

3.2 Research method

Hair, the researcher will use questionnaire and interviews to dig moreinformation about the difficulties staff encounter while speaking with foreignclients

3.2.1 Participants

The participants were 30 staff from the Customer Care Department at K- Hair.They were chosen for the reason that they are Customer Care Department staff at K-Hair For the second purpose of this study, 30 participants were selected to find outthe difficulties they have to face while speaking with foreign clients The solutionswere given and then reviewed after staff members were asked about any difficultiesthey experienced communicating with clients in English

3.2.2 Questionnaires

The data for this study came from survey participants The questionnaire was created with the staff of K- Hair's Customer Care Department in mind and is the method of data collecting for the study

10 questions are included in the survey, which is split into two halves In the first section, there were 4 questions concerning the participants' backgrounds The second section consists of 6 questions about participants' communication abilities.The questionnaire may be the most practical method for researchers to

properly gather data in general

3.2.3 Interviews

The interview will have three main questions related to difficulties in somerealistic situations participants face while working with foreign customers andsuggested solutions

Interview questions

1 Could you tell me some specific situations/examples in which you have difficulty such as pronunciation, vocabulary, knowledge, or other difficulties when speaking English with foreign clients at K- Hair?

2 What did you do to solve the problem of speaking?

3 What should the company do to improve speaking skills of Customer Care Department staff?

This is a face-to-face interview question type The interview was conducted with the participation of Customer Care Department staff After the interview, the researcher will collect information and analyze the data based on the results

3.3 Research approach

The research approach was followed to find the difficulties in speaking of theCustomer Care Department staff at K- Hair It was the inductive one According tothis approach, the researcher begins with the specific observation from staffworking in the Customer Care Department who have difficulty in speaking English.This approach is used to produce generalized theories and conclusions drawn fromthe research The reason for occupying the inductive approach was that it takes intoaccount the context where the research effort is astir, while it is also mostappropriate for small samples that produce data to support the study

3.4 Research process

The researcher came in touch with the staff and asked them to participate inthe research The researcher would give them questionnaires and some questions inthe interview section The respondents were willing to participate in the researchand the interviews were conducted The discussions took place at the offices of theexecutives and lasted approximately 10 to 20 minutes During the interviews, theresearcher mainly kept notes, to analyze the gathered data

During the conduction of the interview, respondents were free to express theiropinions about the topics, and suggested methods to improve problems in speakingalso support further study It also should be noted that the conversations flowedsmoothly and happily between the researcher and the participants

3.5 Data collection and tools

For this research, in-depth interviews were used As far as data collection toolswere concerned, the conduction of the research involved the use of a semi-

structured questionnaire, which also was used as an interview guide for the

researcher. 

First, the questionnaires were sent to the Customer Care Department staff at K- Hair All of the questions were written in English Two-part of the questionnaire consist of both closed and open questions Some certain questions were prepared, for the researcher to guide the interview toward the satisfaction of research

objectives, moreover, additional questions were made encountered during the interviews.  

Second, interviews were used in this study Interviews were conducted with 30

staff (including 5 managers) in the Customer Care Department at K- Hair All the

questions were made in English The researcher uses the dept interviews because it

is personal and unstructured interviews, whose aim is to identify participants’ feelings, and opinions regarding the subject of the difficulties staff encounter while

speaking with foreign customers specifically in the Customer Care Department at

K- Hair The main advantage of personal interviews is that they involve personal and direct contact between interviewers and interviewees, as well as eliminate non-response rates. 

3.6 Data analysis methods

Data analysis is a process of cleaning, transforming, and modeling data to discover helpful information for business decision-making about the gloss, venues, etc According to Shamoo and Resnik (2003), he defined data analysis “provide a way of drawing inductive inferences from data and distinguishing the signal from the noise present in the data” The purpose of data analysis is to draw useful

information from data and taking a decision based on the data analysis When the data collection is completed, the data analysis is started

In terms of obtaining data in the questionnaires, the results were collected, quantified, and analyzed according to percentage.