A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese resignation letters in terms of discourse structure

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ----* **---- NGUYỄN THÙY DƯƠNG A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH A

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

* **

NGUYỄN THÙY DƯƠNG

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE RESIGNATION LETTERS IN TERMS OF

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE

PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CẤU TRÚC DIỄN NGÔN CỦA ĐƠN THƯ TỪ CHỨC TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Linguistics Code : 60220201

Hanoi ,2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

* **

NGUYỄN THÙY DƯƠNG

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE RESIGNATION LETTERS IN TERMS OF

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE

PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CẤU TRÚC DIỄN NGÔN CỦA ĐƠN THƯ TỪ CHỨC TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Linguistics Code : 60220201

Supervisor : Dr Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà

Hanoi ,2014

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT

I certify my authority of the Study Project Report submitted entitled “A contrastive

analysis of English and Vietnamese resignation letters in terms of discourse structure”

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Hanoi - 2014 Nguyen Thuy Duong

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Do Thi Thanh Ha, my supervisor, for her valuable guidance, her encouraging support while working on the thesis

I am sincerely grateful to the Department of Postgraduate Studies at University of

Languages and International Studies – VNU for giving me the opportunity to complete my thesis

ABSTRACT

A resignation letter is one kind of business letters, which holds an important role in helping the employee to maintain a positive relationship with his/ her old boss, and paves the way for him or her to move on However, this kind of letters does not receive much attention from the researchers in English and Vietnamese Therefore, so as to help people have better understanding of resignation letters and see the similarities and differences in writing style of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, this thesis studies discourse structures of 20 resignation letters (10 in English and 10 in Vietnamese); then compares and contrasts them The major methods used in this thesis are „move analysis‟ approach, comparison and contrast methods The result of the study shows that the structures of English and Vietnamese resignation letters are basically similar They only have some differences in the length of the letters and the kinds of moves From the result of the analysis, the characteristics of resignation letters both in English and Vietnamese can be clarified Then, the knowledge of discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letter can be applied in writing an effective and persuasive letter of resignation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of Originality of Study Project Report……… i

Acknowledgement……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of Contents……… iv

List of Tables and Diagrams ……… viii

Part A: Introduction……… 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of Study ……… 1

3 Scope of the Study ……… 1

4 Research Question……… 2

5 Methodology of the Study……… 2

6 Organization of the Thesis ……… 2

Part B: Development……… 3

Chapter 1 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background……… 3

1 Literature Review……… 3

2 Theoretical Background……… 3

2.1 General Description of Discourse & Discourse Analysis……… 3

2.1.1 Definition of Discourse……… 3

2.1.2 Discourse and Text……… 4

2.1.3 Discourse Analysis……… 4

2.1.4 Discourse Structure… ……… 5

2.2 Genre Analysis and Approach to Genre……… 5

2.2.1 Genre………….……… ….……… 5

2.2.2 Genre Analysis… ……….……… 6

2.2.3 Approach to Genre: Move Analysis……… 6

2.3 General Description of Resignation Letters …….………

2.3.1 Definition of Resignation Letters ……….………

7 7 2.3.2 Characteristics of Resignation Letters……… 8

2.3.3 Format of English Resignation Letters ……… 9

2.3.4 Format of Vietnamese Resignation Letters……… 10

Chapter 2: Methodology……… 13

1 Description of Samples & Method of Data Collection……… 13

2 Methods of Data Analysis……… 13

Chapter 3: Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

1 Discourse Structure Analysis of English Resignation Letters………

1.1 The Surface Features of English Resignation Letters………

1.1.1 Length of Discourse……… ………

1.1.2 Paragraph……….……… ………

1.1.3 Sentence……… …… ………

1.1.4 Vocabulary………

1.2 The „Move Analysis‟ of English Resignation Letters………

1.2.1 The Analytical Framework………

1.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters………

1.2.3 Detail Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters………

1.2.3.1 Move 1 – Opening………

1.2.3.2 Move 2 – Addressing………

1.2.3.3 Move 3 – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Day of Work………

1.2.3.4 Move 4 – Giving the Reason of Resignation Positively………

1.2.3.5 Move 5 – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition………

1.2.3.6 Move 6 – Requesting Interest from the Old Company………

1.2.3.7 Move 7 – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success………

1.2.3.8 Move 8 – Ending………

2 Discourse Structure Analysis of Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

2.1 The Surface Features of Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

2.1.1 Length of Discourse……… ………

2.1.2 Part……….……… ………

2.1.3 Sentence……… …… ………

2.1.4 Vocabulary………

2.2 The „Move Analysis‟ of Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

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2.2.1 The Analytical Framework………

2.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

2.2.3 Detail Analysis of Move Types in Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

2.2.3.1 Move 1‟ – Opening………

2.2.3.2 Move 2‟ – Addressing………

2.2.3.3 Move 3‟ – Introducing Oneself………

2.2.3.4 Move 4‟ – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Working Date………

2.2.3.5 Move 5‟ – Stating the Reason of Resignation ………….………

2.2.3.6 Move 6‟ – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition………

2.2.3.7 Move 7‟ – Committing Onself to Fulfill One‟s Duty………

2.2.3.8 Move 8‟ – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success………

2.2.3.9 Move 9‟ – Requesting Interest from the Old Company………

2.2.3.10 Move 10‟ – Ending………

28 29 32 32 33 33 34 35 35 36 36 38 38 Chapter 4: Comparing and Contrasting discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters……… 40

1 The Surface Features of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

1.1 Length of Discourse……… ………

1.2 Paragraph, Sentence, Vocabulary…….……… ………

2 The „Move Analysis‟ of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters………

2.1 The Analytical Framework………

2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters… 2.3 Detail Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters…

2.3.1 Opening………

2.3.2 Addressing………

2.3.3 Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Day of Work………

2.3.4 Giving the Reason of Resignation………

2.3.5 Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition………

2.3.6 Requesting Interest from the Old Company………

2.3.7 Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success………

2.3.8 Ending………

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Part C: Conclusion ……… ………

1 Conclusions………

2 Recommendations………

3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study………

References………

Appendix I Move Analysis of English Resignation Letters ………

Appendix II Move Analysis of Vietnamese Resignation Letters ………

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LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS

TABLE:

Table 1: Seven analytical steps

Table 2: The number of words in the corpus of English resignation letters

Table 3: The frequency of move types in the corpus of English resignation letters Table 4: The order of moves in English resignation letters

Table 5: The list of moves and steps in English resignation letters

Table 6: The number of words in the corpus of Vietnamese resignation letters

Table 7: The frequency of move types in the corpus of Vietnamese resignation letters Table 8: The order of moves in Vietnamese resignation letters

Table 9: The list of moves and steps in Vietnamese resignation letters

Table 10: The analytical frameworks of English and Vietnamese resignation letters DIAGRAM:

Diagram 1: The length of English and Vietnamese resignation letters

PART A – INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

A Business Letter, the most popular and the most widely written type of letter, is

used to serve as a means of communication written for various commercial purposes These purposes can be a business deal, complaint, warning, notice, invitation, declaration, information, apology and various other corporate matters There are many types of business letters such as Application Letter, Acceptance Letter, Demand Letter, Letter of Complaint, Resignation Letter, Sales Letters, etc Among these types of letters, the Letter of Resignation may receive the least notice because people often think that when they leave their jobs they have nothing to do with their old company and old employer However, a good resignation letter can help the employee maintain a positive relationship with his/ her old boss, and pave the way for him or her to move on In addition, the employee might need

a reference from the previous employer These show that knowing how to write a good resignation letter is very important Nevertheless, it seems that no researchers concern this kind of letter in English and Vietnamese Hence, in order to help people have better understanding of resignation letters and see the similarities and differences in writing style

of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, this study focuses on comparing and contrasting discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters

2 Aims of the Study:

The aims of the study are:

 To review the background knowledge of discourse analysis and resignation letters

 To point out the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English and Vietnamese resignation letters

 To give some suggestions for writing resignation letters in English and Vietnamese

3 Scope of the Study:

Conducting this study, I do not have the ambition to cover everything about discourse analysis of English and Vietnamese resignation letters I only concentrate on analyzing

English and Vietnamese resignation letters in terms of discourse structures

4 Research Question:

What are the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English and Vietnamese resignation letters?

5 Methodology of the Study:

„Move analysis‟ approach is applied in this research to analyze the discourse structure of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese Besides, in order to find out the similarities and differences between discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, the author uses comparison and contrast method

6 Organization of the Thesis: the study is divided into five main parts as follows:

Part A – Introduction

This part consists of rationale for choosing the topic, aims and scope of the study, research question, research methodology, and organization of the study

Part B – Development

Chapter 1 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background

This chapter includes general description of discourse analysis, discourse structure,

„Move analysis‟, and general information about English and Vietnamese resignation letters

Chapter 2 – Methodology

This chapter describes the participants and methods which are applied to collect and analyze the data

Chapter 3 – Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters

In this chapter, the author analyzes discourse structures in English and Vietnamese resignation letters in detail

Chapter 4 – Comparing and Contrasting Discourse Structure of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters

The similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese resignation letters

in terms of discourse structures are pointed out in this chapter

or “Genre Analysis of Personal statements: analysis of Moves in Application Essays to Medical and Dental schools”, by Ding (2007), “Self-composed: Rhetoric in Psychology Personal Statements” by Brown (2004), and so on With regards to resignation letter, up to now, there has been no research

Therefore, it is necessary to have a research in terms of discourse structure of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese Hopefully, this study can bring some contributions to the theory and implications of teaching and learning writing skill, especially writing English and Vietnamese resignation letters

needs “to be defined in terms of meaning”, and “pieces of discourse are those that form a meaningful whole” Widdowson (1979: 98) states: “Discourse is a use of sentences to perform acts of communication which cohere into larger communicative units, ultimately establishing a rhetorical pattern which characterizes the pieces of language as a whole as a kind of communication.”

We can see that most of the definitions of discourse typically involve reference to concepts of language above or beyond the sentence, language as meaning in interaction, language in use, and language in situational and cultural context

2.1.2 Discourse and Text:

There have been so many concepts around the two terms „Text‟ and „Discourse‟ Some linguists use them interchangeably Other linguists try to make a clear distinction between them For example, Widdowson (1984: 100) argues, “Discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction Its situational outcome is a change

in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, intentions made clear, its linguistic product is text” Brown & Yule (1983: 6) argue that text is the representation of discourse and the verbal record of a communicative act David Nunan (1993: 6) clarified the two terms as follow: text is used “to refer to any written record of a communicative event” while discourse refers “to the interpretation of the communicative event in context”

For the sake of simplicity, in this thesis the two terms are used interchangeably to refer to any stretch of language in use, which is in most cases longer than

a single sentence

2.1.3 Discourse Analysis:

Discourse analysis, a new area of language investigation since the early decades of the 20th century, has become one of the significant foundations in applied linguistics Famous scholars at different periods such as Halliday and Hasan (1976), Brown and Yule (1983), Widdowson (1984), Cook (1998) have a variety of works which equip us with insights to investigate language in use In Vietnam, since Tran Ngoc Them introduced his pioneering work on discourse, there have been a lot of researchers studying this field, namely Diep Quang Ban (1999), Nguyen Hoa (2003), etc

In the introduction to The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Schiffrin et al (2001) group the definitions of „discourse analysis‟ into three general categories The first one is

the study of language use; the second is the study of linguistic structure „beyond the sentence‟; and the third one is the study of social practices and ideological assumptions associated with language and/or communication

The first type concentrates on traditional linguistic constructs - phrase and clause structures The second one focuses on extended sequences of utterances or sentences, and on how to construct and organize those „texts‟ in systematic ways The third concentrates either

on participants‟ actions in particular communication events or on the general characteristics

of speech/discourse communities in relation to issues such as power and gender

We can say that discourse analysis gives us insight into various aspects of language

in use such as: how discourse norms and their realization in language differ from culture to culture; how talk follows regular patterns in a wide range of different situations; or how texts are structured beyond sentence level

2.1.4 Discourse Structure:

In the theory of discourse analysis, the concept of discourse structure has been studied and expanded by many different researchers Hatim and Mason (1990) discuss constituents of discourse in terms of element and sequence Elements and sequences

of discourse with their certain rhetorical functions to the whole purpose of a discourse create a stable discourse organization The text structure is seen in the light of pragmatics by Ross (1975) He states that text structure is „expectation structures‟ While Halliday and Hasan (1976) define discourse structure as the organization of language above the sentence such as: the paragraph, episode, or topic unit

Although each researcher has his/ her own view of discourse structure, they are essentially the same All of them suppose that discourse of all kinds has definite organizations, and the flexibility of structures varies from genre to genre They try to establish the relationship between discourse structure and the communicative purpose of the speakers or writers, in order that they find out the method to analyze discourse structure based on the relationship of the factors of discourse

2.2 Genre Analysis and Approach to Genre

2.2.1 Genre

A genre is a culturally and linguistically distinct form of discourse such as narrative, exposition, procedural discourse, etc Sharing communicative purposes has been the

principal criterion which characterizes a class of communicative events as a genre According to Bazerman (1988: 62), "a genre is a socially recognized, repeated strategy for achieving similar goals in situations socially perceived as being similar" Exemplars of a particular genre share similarities in "structure, style, content and intended audience" (Swales, 1990: 58) With the similar point of view, Bhatia (1993: 13) defines “a genre is a recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative purpose(s) identified and mutually understood by the members of the professional or academic community in which it regularly occurs.” He also stresses the important role of communicative purposes in genre identification: "Although there are a number of other factors, like content, form, intended audience, medium or channel, that influence the nature and construction of a genre, it is primarily characterized by the communicative purpose(s) that it is intended to fulfill"

Relating the above discussions to this study, a resignation letter can be seen as a genre which shares the common communicative purpose that is stating resignation; and its social function is informing and persuading the employer to let the employee resign from his/ her current position and at the same time helping the employee to remain the good relationship with the old company They are also the communicative purpose that forms the key criterion for identifying data in this study

2.2.2 Genre analysis

Swales (1990) supposes that genre analysis is a means of studying spoken and written discourse for applied ends; it is an analysis of text to derive an indication in a rationale of why genre texts have acquired certain features Bhatia (1991) considers genre analysis as the analytical framework revealing the utilizable form-function correlations and contributing to the understanding of the cognitive structuring of information in specific areas of language use

Up to now, Genre analysis, especially which concentrates on moves, has become a commonly applied approach to discourse analysis

2.2.3 Approach to Genre: Move Analysis

There are two approaches in corpus-based discourse analysis The first is top-down, and the second is bottom-up Under the top-down approach, the analysis starts with the identification of communicative purposes of the genre which is done by expert informants

Next, these global purposes are compared against the texts in order to identify moves On the contrary, under the bottom-up approach, identifying surface linguistic features is the starting point Then, the salient linguistic features that frequently occur across texts are explored to identify patterns Based on these patterns, the researcher will identify rhetorical move structures

„Move analysis‟ is considered to be an illustration of top-down approach which is used to analyze the discourse structure of texts in a specific genre level (Swales, 1981, 1990) The aim of „Move analysis‟ is to identify the moves, move sequences, and key linguistic features of the texts in a specific genre In order to have clear understanding about

„Move analysis‟, we need to clarify three important terms: „move‟, „text‟, and „genre‟

There are many definitions of „move‟ According to Nwogu (1991: 114), move is

“…a text segment made up of a bundle of linguistic features which give the segment a uniform orientation and signal the content of discourse in it” Duszak (1994: 299) considers move as “…a conventional strategy to carry out a discourse goal” Holmes (1997: 325) defines move as “…a segment of text that is shaped and constrained by a specific communicative function” Bhatia (1993: 30-31) supposes moves as “…cognitive structures which serve certain communicative intentions and are subservient to the overall discourse communicative purpose of the genre”

Two terms – „genre‟ and „text‟ are discussed in the above sessions In detail, Swales (1990) states that „genre‟ focuses on the communicative purpose of discourse; and „text‟ is considered as a sequence of „moves‟, each move represents a stretch of text serving a particular communicative (that is, semantic) function

2.3 General Description of Resignation Letters:

2.3.1 Definition of Resignation Letters:

A resignation letter is one kind of business letter which the employee uses to formally inform the employer that he is leaving his job A resignation letter can help the employee keep a good relationship with his employer, and at the same time it helps him make progress in his new career easily

2.3.2 Characteristics of Resignation Letters:

Resignation letter is considered one kind of the business letters Therefore, it has some characteristics that an effective business letter should have According to Santos (2006), there are ten basic characteristics

The first one is „conciseness‟ It means the number of words and sentences that are used to convey the message is as few as possible The writer can achieve this by eliminating wordy and trite expressions

The second one is „clarity‟ Precise and familiar words should be used Jargon, colloquialisms, and slang should be avoided because they often cause confusion

The third is „consideration of the readers‟ needs, interest, and circumstances‟ The letter should be written from their point of view and how they benefit from the content of the message

The forth is „completeness‟ This means the letter has to present all the facts that the reader needs to help him or her make a sound decision on the writer‟s message

The fifth one is „concreteness‟ The letter must be specific, vivid and definite rather than general and vague

„Courtesy‟ is the sixth characteristic that should be included in the resignation letters

It means the letter should express the respect and the concern for the reader The language discriminating on the basis of age, race, disability, gender, religion, ethnicity, and nationality must not be used in this kind of letter

The next characteristic is „coherence‟ All the words and sentences in the letter should be arranged correctly to make the ideas flow smoothly and logically The

„coherence‟ can be achieved by using some devices such as repeating the key words; or using the synonyms, transitional phrases, and sentence patterns

„Correctness‟ is the eighth one that should be taken into consideration The writer has to make sure that all the figures and facts are accurate; all the grammar, punctuation, and spelling are flawless

The next one is „credibility‟ This feature refers to the communicator‟s status (whether as himself/ herself or as representative of the company) Being a message sender, the writer must write the true and believable information The letter must sound honest and sincere

Last but not least, the letter must be „consistency‟ of tone and style It means the writer should use only one tone and one style from the beginning to the end of the letter

2.3.3 Format of English Resignation Letters:

The website-http://jobsearch.about.com/od/sampleresignationletters/a/resignsamples.htm

is a reliable website which provides us a large amount of useful information related to a variety of letters such as: job application letters, cover letters, recommendation letters, thank you letters, resignation letters, etc According to this website, a full English resignation letter should have the following parts:

Header: both the date and the employer‟s contact information (name, title, company name,

address, phone number, and email) should be the first part of a resignation letter If this is an email rather than an actual letter, the employee‟s contact information should be put at the

end of the letter, after his signature

Salutation: this part is used to address the letter to the manager with his or her formal title

(“Dear Mr /Mrs /Dr XYZ)

Paragraph 1: in this part, the employee states that he is resigning and informs the date on

which his resignation will be effective He should check the contract to see how much notice

he is required to give his manager

Paragraph 2: the employee can say the reason why he is leaving (i.e he is beginning

another job, he is going back to school, or he is taking time off), but this is not necessary If the employee wants to say why he is leaving, the reason should be positive He should focus

on where he is going next, not on what he disliked about his current job

Paragraph 3: in this part, the employee should say that he is willing to help with the

transition that his leaving will cause

Paragraph 4: if the employee would like a letter of reference from his manager, he can ask

for it here

Paragraph 5: this part is used to thank the manager for the opportunity to work for the

company If the employee has a particularly good experience, he can go into a bit more detail about what he appreciates about the job (the people he worked with, the projects he worked on, etc)

Close: to close the resignation letter, a kind but formal signoff should be utilized, such as

"Sincerely" or "Yours Sincerely."

Signature: the employee puts an end of the letter with his handwritten signature, and this is

followed by his typed name

A Sample of English Resignation Letters:

It is with deep regret that I give you my formal notice of resignation as a journalist at the Wall Street Journal Publisher

My last working day will be March 16 th

I have accepted a position with another publisher that will further my growth and development in my career I have enjoyed working at the Wall Street Journal Publisher and will miss my colleagues here However, this new position will challenge my growth and further my career

I appreciate the professional development and growth from the Wall Street Journal Publisher, and in particular from you Your mentoring support has encouraged me and I hope that we will continue our relationship as I move forward in my career

I wish you and the Wall Street Journal Publisher continued growth and success in the future Sincerely,

Julia Dennis

Julia Dennis

2.3.4 Format of Vietnamese Resignation Letters:

Vietnamese people do not usually write resignation letters when they give up their jobs That leads to the difficulty in finding the standard form of a Vietnamese resignation letter The process of searching the format of Vietnamese resignation letters in some websites such as http://ayya.vn/mau-don-xin-nghi-viec-mau-don-xin-nghi-viec-viet-tay-

http://www.hrlink.vn/diendan/index.php?showtopic=1797 shows that the format of resignation letters in Vietnamese is influenced by the English ones

Therefore, partly based on format of English resignation letters and partly based on the survey of the corpus in Vietnamese, the format of Vietnamese resignation letters is found out with the following parts:

Header: the official name of the country and the name of the letter should be the first part of

a resignation letter

Salutation: this part is used to address the letter to the manager and the personnel

department

Part 1: the employee shortly introduces himself/ herself in this part (stating the name and

the department where he/she works)

Part 2: in this part, the employee states that he is resigning and informs the date on which

his resignation will be effective

Part 3: the employee can say the reason why he is leaving with the positive attitude

Part 4: in this part, the employee should express his/her willingness in helping with the

transition

Part 5: the employee will commit himself/ herself to fulfill his/ her duty before leaving Part 6: this part is used to appreciate the job, show deep gratitude to the manager for the

opportunity to work in the company, and wish the company success

Part 7: in this part, the writer formally resquests the old company to deal with his/ her

resignation letter by law

Close: the employee puts an end of the letter with stating the place and the date he/ she

writes the letter

Signature: the employee gives his/ her signature and full name on the right corner of the

letter, and on the left corner that is the signature and full name of the person who confirms the letter - the manager

A Sample of Vietnamese Resignation Letters:

CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM

Tên tôi là: Nguyễn Quang Huy

Bộ phận làm việc: Phòng Quản trị Đời sống

Tôi rất lấy làm tiếc vì sẽ không còn làm việc tại Công ty Cổ phần Sơn Tổng hợp Hà Nội trong thời gian sắp tới Tôi quyết định nhận vị trí công việc mới để tìm thêm cơ hội phát triển mới , phù hợp với chuyên môn và khả năng làm việc của tôi

Tôi thực sự lấy làm vinh dự lớn được làm việc tại đây trong suốt 5 năm qua Trong quá trình làm việc tại đây, Công ty

đã cho tôi có được may mắn làm việc với những đồng nghiệp tốt cùng với một môi trường làm việc tốt Tôi xin chân thành cảm ơn Công ty đã tin tưởng tôi trong suốt thời gian vừa qua và chúc cho Công ty chúng ta sẽ đạt được những thành công như mong muốn

Vậy tôi làm đơn này xin đƣợc nghỉ việc từ ngày 8 tháng 6 năm 2010 Tôi sẽ bàn giao công việc của mình một cách đầy

đủ và có trách nhiệm

Rất mong đƣợc sự giúp đỡ của Ban lãnh đạo Công ty

Tôi xin chân thành cảm ơn !

Hà Nội , ngày 8 tháng 6 năm 2010

Nguyễn Quang Huy

Chapter 2 – Methodology

1 Description of Samples & Method of data collection:

At first, it was difficult to collect this kind of letters, especially those in Vietnamese because Vietnamese people do not have the habit of giving resignation letters when they want to give up their jobs It took two months to collect over 100 resignation letters in English and Vietnamese from different companies and organizations in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kien Giang, Thai Nguyen and so on Most of these letters are searched on the internet and the rest is collected directly The writers of resignation letters in English are English speakers, and the authors of Vietnamese ones are Vietnamese people These letters include a variety of reasons to resign such as: resignation for further education, health condition, or pursuing a new career, moving to another place; and some letters do not give the reasons to resign

Out of the total of over 100 resignation letters collected, the corpus of this study consists of 20 resignation letters (ten in English and ten in Vietnamese), which were selected based on the status of the person who resigns from the office and the background that he or she gives the resignation letters The total words in 20 letters are 4294 in which English resignation letters consist of 1786 words and Vietnamese resignation letters have

2508 words The number of words in 10 English resignation letters ranges from 107 to 304 While the range of words in Vietnamese resignation letters are between 166 and 352 The average length of resignation letters in Vietnamese (250.8 words) is slightly longer than that

of English ones (178.6 words)

The selected texts cover a wide range of staffs‟ jobs such as: editor, accounting clerk, secretary, receptionist, filing clerk, librarian, production supervisor, etc They represent a variety of author styles However, all these letters have a common characteristic that is the person who gives the resignation letter is an office staff and the reason why he/ she wants to resign is pursuing a new career

2 Methods of data analysis:

To analyze the corpus, the thesis follows seven major analytical steps which were developed by Biber et al (2007), as shown in this table:

Table 1: Seven analytical steps

1 Communicative/ functional

categories

Develop the analytical framework: determine set of possible functional types of discourse units, that is, the major communicative functions which discourse units can serve in corpus

analytical framework from step 1)

each text of the corpus (apply the analytical framework from step 1)

4 Linguistic analysis of each

units shifting among the different functional types

7 Description of discourse

organizational tendencies

Describe the general patterns of discourse organization across all texts in the corpus

Adapted from Biber et al (2007)

After applying seven analytical steps to analyze the corpus, the results are displayed via tables/graphs in percentage terms From that the frequency of each category is determined and the results are discussed and evaluated The analysis results of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese are synthesized and discussed in an attempt to find out salient discourse features of this genre Finally, discourse structure of resignation letters

in English and those in Vietnamese are compared and contrasted to point out the similarities and differences between them

Chapter 3 – Analysis of discourse structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters

1 Discourse Structure Analysis of English Resignation Letters:

1.1 The Surface Features of English Resignation Letters:

1.1.1 Length of discourse:

In general, resignation letters in English are rather simple and their length is short They are presented in only one page All the ten letters which are used in this study totally have 1786 words The number of words in each letter is presented as follows:

Table 2: The number of words in the corpus of English resignation letters

paragraphs The number of sentences in each paragraph ranges from 1 to 6 sentences There are 12 paragraphs which have one sentence in each (29.3%) There are 19 paragraphs having

2 sentences in each, equal to 46.3% 8 paragraphs have 3 sentences in each one, which equals to 19.6 No paragraph has 4 sentences (0) There is one paragraph having 5 sentences (2.4%) and one paragraph having 6 sentences (2.4%) These figures indicate that most of the paragraphs contain 1 to 2 sentences and the number of paragraphs having more than 2 sentences takes a small percentage

1.1.3 Sentence:

The total number of sentences in the body of ten English resignation letters is 85, in which the longest sentence has 48 words, and the shortest one has 6 words Other sentences have the average length from over 10 to over 20 words

The study of ten English resignation letter indicates that using complex, compound, and extended simple sentences is the common trend That accounts for the number of sentences in each paragraph is rather few

Most of the sentences in these letters are written in active voice and begin with subject „I‟ because in writing, the English often goes straight to the problem and thinks of

„who‟ or „what‟ in advance

1.1.4 Vocabulary:

All the letters take ten key characteristics in writing resignation letters into consideration Therefore, words that are used in these letters are clear, simple, easy to understand, but still formal so that the letters can convey the message effectively and avoid confusing

Because the employees want their employers to accept their resignation letters without feeling unpleasant and uncomfortable, they often use some words such as „please‟,

„would like‟, or „regret‟ in the letters We can see the following examples:

Please accept this as my formal resignation letter from my position as accounting clerk to be effective from September

It is with deep regret that I give you my formal notice of resignation as editor at the Wall Street Journal Publisher

1.2 The ‘Move Analysis’ of English Resignation Letters

1.2.1 The Analytical Framework:

In order to analyze the corpus, the first step is to develop the analytical framework; that means the set of communicative and functional categories which can be represented in the texts of the genre must be determined To identify the move types for a genre, it is essential to understand the overall rhetorical purpose of the texts in the genre Then the function and local purpose of each text segment must be found out and evaluated The process of sorting out move types is rather difficult; therefore, multiple readings and reflections on the texts are needed

Based on the above format of an English resignation letter, there is a move which is used to request the letter of reference However, in the process of reading and categorize move types in 10 English resignation letters, this move type hasn‟t been found out Instead

of that, a new move type emerges, that is requesting interest from the old company Hence, after reading, reflecting and evaluating the corpus many times and also basing on the format and communicative purposes of an English resignation letter, the analytical framework of English resignation letters is developed It includes the following moves and steps:

Move 1: Opening

Step A: The date of writing resignation letter Step B: The employer‟s contact information Move 2: Addressing

Move 3: Stating resignation and informing the last day of work

Step A: Stating resignation Step B: Informing the last day of work Move 4: Giving the reason of resignation positively

Step A: Stating the resignation reason

Step B: Expressing interest in the old job Move 5: Expressing the willingness to help with the transition

Move 6: Requesting interest from the old company

Move 7: Showing gratitude & wishing success

Step A: Appreciating the old job Step B: Thanking

Step C: Wishing success Move 8: Ending

Step A: Expressing sincerity Step B: Signing

1.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters

The survey of 10 resignation letters shows the frequency of moves that appear in each letter as follows:

Table 3: The frequency of move types in the corpus of English resignation letters

Move 1 no.1, no.2, no.3, no.4, no.5, no.6, no.7, no.8, no.9,

The above table indicates that move 1, move 2, move 3, move 4, move 7, and move 8 appear in all the letters in this corpus; whereas, move 5 appears in 5 letters Move 6 only appears in letter number 10 That means 6 move types (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8) are obligatory and 2 moves (5, 6) are optional in this corpus

The survey also shows that the order of moves is not necessarily similar to the move order in the analytical framework

Table 4: The order of moves in English resignation letters

of the letters

In addition, moves and steps do not necessarily coincide with paragraphs - more than one move/step appears in the same paragraph and one move/step can appear in two different paragraphs

Table 5: The list of moves and steps in English resignation letters

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

1-A 1-B

3-B

3-A 3-B

3-A 3-B

3-A 3-B

3-A 3-B 4-A

3-A 3-B

3-A 3-B 4-A

3-A 3-B

3-A 4-A

7-A 4-A

4-B 7-A

7-C

5

8-A 8-B

8-A 8-B

8-A 8-B

7-C 7-B

This move can be realized by means of the following two steps

Step A: The date of writing resignation letter Step B: The employer‟s contact information

All of the ten letters in the corpus have move 1 The position of this move is at the beginning of the letters Its steps follow the order – step A step B in which step A is used

to state the date when the employee writes the resignation letter and step B contains the employer‟s contact information including name, title, company name, and address Some examples are shown as follow:

5501 Old York Rd, Philadelphia, PA (215) 456-7890

1.2.3.2 Move 2 – Addressing:

Move 2 also appears in the whole corpus of English resignation letters It follows move 1 and is utilized to address the employer This move always starts with the short and simple structure: Dear + Mr/ Mrs/ Miss + the employer‟s surname For instance:

Dear Mr Brown, Dear Mr Hession, Dear Mr Branson,

1.2.3.3 Move 3 – Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Day of Work

Move 3 is also considered a compulsory move type in this kind of letter because of its appearing frequency in the corpus This move may be realized by means of two steps:

Step A: Stating resignation

Step B: Informing the last day of work

In step A, the writers state that they will give up their jobs This step takes place right after move 2 The ways to express this step are various Some letters express the regret about their leaving:

It is with deep regret that I give you my formal notice of resignation as editor at the Wall Street Journal Publisher.

(letter no.1)

With some regret, this letter is my resignation from my position as administrative assistant with Wallace Development Company Limited.(letter no.9)

Some state resignation by using structure: „please accept…from…as…‟

Please accept this as my formal resignation letter from my position as accounting clerk… (letter no.2)

Please accept this as my formal resignation letter from my position as receptionist …(letter no.4)

Please accept this letter as formal notice that I wish to resign from my position as a filing clerk, effective from the date above. (letter no.10)

Some just state resignation directly as follows:

This is to formally notify you that I am resigning from I L Wilson Computer Company as secretary (letter no.3)

This letter is to announce my resignation as librarian at Seton Hall University (letter no.5)

I have decided to tender my resignation from my position as administrative assistant with Willoughby Brewing Company (letter no.6)

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of my resignation from my current position as billing accountant (letter no.7)

I am resigning from my position as a production supervisor…(letter no.8)

The above examples indicate that the writers tend to use formal words such as „deep regret‟, „please‟, „formal‟, „formally‟, „tender‟ in order to meet communicative purpose of this step – that is stating resignation without making the employers unpleasant

While step A is used to state resignation, the employees utilize step B to inform the final date when they work in their old companies Step B tends to appear right after step A

In the exception of two letters (no.9 and no.10), from letter no.1 to letter no.8, the position

of step B is right after step A (80 %) To express step B, the writers often use structure: „my last/ final day (of work) will be…‟

My last working day will be March 16 th (letter no.1)

My last day will be August 15 th , two weeks from today (letter no.5)

My last day will be August 10 th (letter no.6)

My last day of work will be October 14 th 2010. (letter no.7)

My final day is June 10, so you have the full two weeks‟ notice (letter no.9)

…my final day at work will be April 19 th 2010 (letter no.10)

1.2.3.4 Move 4 – Giving the Reason of Resignation Positively

In the genre of resignation letters, there are many letters which do not give the reasons to resign However, because one of the criteria to select the corpus of this study is based on the reason of resignation, that is pursuing new career Therefore, the move – giving the reason of resignation positively is obligatory in this corpus Move 4 does not necessarily stay right after move 3 For instance, in the letter no.2, 3, and 8, following move 3 is move 7 Move 4 may be realized by means of one or more of two steps:

Step A: Stating the resignation reason

Step B: Expressing interest in the old job

Step A is used to state the reason why the employees give up their jobs This step appears in all the ten letters In some letters, step A appears 2 or 3 times in the same paragraph or in different paragraphs; for example, in letter no.1 this step turns up 2 times in paragraph 4, while the author of letter no.9 uses this step 3 times in paragraphs 3, 4, and 6

I have accepted a position with another publisher that will further my growth and development in my career…

…However, this new position will challenge my growth and further my career.(P.4) - (letter no.1)

I have accepted a position as a manager at a firm that is not a competitor with Wallace Development This was a timely offer since I am ready for the next step forward in my career (P.3) -(letter no.9)

I had determined, after talking with you about the possibility, that such a promotion would be unavailable here for several years I really wanted to take all of my team leader experience to the next level and have reporting staff members (P.4) -(letter no.9)

Rather, I am pursuing my next opportunity (P.6) -(letter no.9)

Having the same reason to resign, but there are many ways to express this step We can see the following examples:

You probably already know the reason I am leaving is that I pursue a new career (letter no.2)

But after long hours of consideration, my decision is now final and I have accepted a position with another company

(letter no.3)

I have been offered a position as a secretary, a position which I feel will give me a better chance to further my career

(letter no.4)

I have been offered the position of plant manager This is a new job opportunity for me, a job opportunity that will not

be available here for quite some time So, I will pursue this new job opportunity… (letter no.8)

…since my graduation from university I have been pursuing a career more fitting with my long term aspirations and I have received an excellent job offer with which I can use the skills and knowledge I have worked so hard for (letter no.10)

To support for step A, to make stating resignation reason more positively, the employees use step B This step is utilized to express the interest in the old job Nevertheless, this step is optional because its frequency is 60 % Some letters do not contain this step such as: letter no.3, 4, 5, and 7; but in letter no.2 and 9 step B takes place 2 times

The position of step A and step B can be exchanged for each other For example, the order of these two steps in letter no.1 is: step A – step B – step A, in letter no.2 is: step B –

step A – step B, in letter no.9 is step A – step A – step B – step B – step A, in letter no.6 and no.10 is: step B – step A, and in letter no.8 is: step A – step B

In order to express step B, the authors often use the word „enjoy‟

I have enjoyed working at the Wall Street Journal Publisher and will miss my colleagues here (letter no.1)

I have immensely enjoyed working here as the accounting clerk for the past six years, …(letter no.2)

While I have enjoyed my time spent working for your team, …(letter no.6)

I‟m sure you know that this decision was difficult for me because I have truly enjoyed and learned from my colleagues here (letter no.9)

1.2.3.5 Move 5 – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition

Move 5 is used when the employees want to express their willingness to help the old company with the transition Out of the ten letters, this move just appears in 5 letters (letter no.4, 6, 8, 9, 10); thus, it is optional This move is not always after move 4 In letter no.4, 6,

8, and 10, move 5 turns up one time Only in letter no.9 this move appears two times

In spite of offering to help the old company, the employees have to choose the expression carefully to demonstrate their goodwill in helping with the transition As we can see in the following examples, the authors usually use some structures: „please feel free to…‟, „please be assured that I will do all…‟, „I‟ll help all…‟, or „I‟ll be happy to help…‟

Please feel free to contact me should the need ever arise (letter no.4)

This was not an easy decision and took many hours of consideration However, please be assured that I will do all I can

to assist in the uneventful transfer of my duties before leaving (letter no.6)

…I‟ll help all that I can until I start my new job Just let me know what you need me to do (letter no.8)

I‟ll be happy to help train my replacement if you can fill the position quickly I am also leaving a fully developed job description, so nothing slips through the cracks I can be available by phone on a limited basis if needed after my last day This offer is known about and supported by my new employer (letter no.9)

1.2.3.6 Move 6 – Requesting Interest from the Old Company

Move 6 is utilized to request interest from the old company It is not necessarily included in the English resignation letters because its appearing frequency is 10 % In the whole corpus, this move only appears in letter no.10 In this letter, move 6 is even before move 5

In order to contribute to the acquisition of the general communicative purpose of this genre, that is persuading the employers to accept the resignation without feeling unpleasant, the vocabularies used in move 6 are very positive

If I have outstanding accumulated annual leave, please advise me how much I have, and whether I am permitted to take

it, or if it will be paid to me (letter no.10)

1.2.3.7 Move 7 – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success

Move 7 is used to express the employees‟ deep gratitude to the old employers and companies, at the same time to wish the old companies success This move is considered one of the most important moves in English resignation letters On this account, all of the ten letters in the corpus have move 7 This move may be realized by means of one or more

of three steps:

Step A: Appreciating the old job

Step B: Thanking

Step C: Wishing success

The order of these three steps can be changed In step A, the writers appreciate their old job This step appears in 8 letters (80%) They are letters no.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 Analysis of the corpus indicates that the most frequent word which is used in this step is

„appreciate‟ The following is some examples:

I appreciate the professional development and growth from the Wall Street Journal Publisher, and in particular from you Your mentoring support has encouraged me and I hope that we will continue our relationship as I move forward in my career (letter no.1)

My time here was an incredible experience for me and I truly appreciate all that I learnt working here for the past three years (letter no.4)

I appreciate the professional development and growth from Acme Company and in particular from you during the last five years Your mentoring has inspired me and I hope that we will continue our relationship as I move to a different state (letter no.7)

Working at Anchor Brewing Company for the past twelve years was an opportunity that I appreciate Starting as a production worker, I progressed through the ranks to my current supervisory role and I appreciate the help and support that I had from you along the way I‟ve enjoyed my coworkers and the company provides an excellent work environment for employees (letter no.8)

In step B, the employees give thanking to the employers This step turns up in 7 letters (no.2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10) in which this step has 2 times of appearance in letter no.2 The survey shows that the most used word in step B is „thank‟

I wish to thank you and all my colleagues at Einstein Medical Center for all your help, professional courtesy, and support (letter no.2)

…and I want to take this opportunity again to thank you for permitting me to be part of the team (letter no.2)