Difficulties experienced by the third year english majors at thuongmai university in business writing skills and suggested solutions

Data analysis from interview...29 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS...31 4.1.Suggested solutions to improve business letter writing skill for the third-year English-majored stud

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc

Student : Hoang Thi Kim Dung

Class : K52N5

Student’number : 16D170288

Hanoi, 2020

HÀ NỘI - 2015

During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received manyassistances, precious ideas and encouragements from my teachers, family andfriends

First of all, I would like to show my deepest respect and profound gratitude to

my supervisor Mrs Do Thi Bich Dao for her guidance, detailed comments as well

as her constant support, which were decisive factors to the completion of myresearch

Secondly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to the teachers at the EnglishFaculty of Thuongmai University for giving useful lectures and professionalknowledge, which helps me fulfill my study

Furthermore, I also appreciate the third-year English-majored students atThuongmai University due to taking time to response my questionnaire, whichhelped me collect factual data and information effectively

Last but not least, I warmly thank my family, my parents who always give memore strength and motivation I would like to express my sincerity to all my friendsfor their help and encouragement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous study 2

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research subjects 4

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Research methodology 6

1.6.1 Research design 6

1.6.2 Population and sample of the study 6

1.6.3 Research instruments 6

1.6.4 Data collection 6

1.6.5 Data analysis 7

1.7 Organization of the study 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Definition of business correspondence 8

2.2 The Importance of Business Correspondence 9

2.2.1 Help in maintaining proper relationship 9

2.2.2 Inexpensive and convenient mode 9

2.2.3 Create and maintain goodwill 9

2.2.4 Serves as evidence 10

2.2.5 Help in expansion of business 10

2.3 Purposes of Business Letter 10

2.4 Qualities of a Good Business Letter 11

2.4.1 Inner qualities 11

2.4.2 Outer qualities 12

2.5 Parts of a business letter 13

2.5.1 Heading 13

2.5.2 Date 13

2.5.3 Reference 14

2.5.4 Inside address 14

2.5.5 Subject 14

2.5.6 Salutation 14

2.5.7 Body of the letter 14

2.5.8 Complimentary close 14

2.5.9 Signature 14

2.5.10 Enclosures 15

2.5.11 Copy circulation 15

2.5.12 Post script 15

2.6 The format of a business letter 15

2.7 Several types of business letter 16

2.7.1 Inquiry letter 16

2.7.2 Quotation letter 16

2.7.3 Order letter 16

2.7.4 Acknowledgement letter 17

2.7.5 Complaint letter 17

2.7.6 Adjustment letter 17

2.7.7 Recovery letter 18

2.7.8 Refusal letter 18

2.8 Difficulties in Writing English Business Letters 18

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 20

3.1 Participants of the study 20

3.2 Data collection instruments 20

3.2.1 The survey questionnaire 20

3.2.2 The interview 20

3.3 Data analysis from the survey questionnaire’s result 20

3.3.1 The reality of the students’ writing skills studying 21

3.3.2 Problems in writing business letters of the third year English-majored

students at Thuongmai University 25

3.3.3 Suggested solutions to improve English business letter writing skill 28

3.4 Data analysis from interview 29

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 31

4.1.Suggested solutions to improve business letter writing skill for the third-year English-majored students at Thuongmai University 31

4.1.1 Solution 1: Learning more about business expressions 31

4.1.2 Solution 2: Improving grammar, spelling and punctuation 33

4.1.3 Solution 3: Planning your writing 35

4.3 Recommendations 37

CONCLUSION 38

REFERENCES 39

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE viii

APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTION xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

2 Table 3.2 The importance of English writing skill towards

4 Table 3.3 Frequency of writing business letters 23

6 Chart 3.2 The attitude of K53N at TMU towards improving

English writing skill

24

7 Table 3.5 The motivation to improve English writing skill of

K53N at TMU

24

9 Table 3.7 Difficulties in writing business letters 27

10 Table 3.8 Suggested solutions to improve business letter

writing skill

28

11 Chart 3.3 Suggestions to teacher in helping K53N improve

English writing business letter

29

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

The first chapter includes an overview of the research topic The first problem mentioned is the reason for studying the topic as well as previous research and the aims of the study In addition, Chapter I also points out the salient features of the research subjects and scope of the study Moreover, this is also the chapter outlining the research methodology used in the study process Finally, this chapter

is also a chapter that summarizes the parts of the organization of the study.

1.1 Rationale

English, like oxygen, is the essential thing in our daily life It is one of themost important languages in today's global world It is the mother tongue of abouttwo hundred million people There are more than three hundred million peoplespeak English as their first or native language Another three hundred speak it asforeign language Therefore, it is used as a mean of communication in everyday life,especially in business Nowadays, due to the internationalization trend of the worldeconomy, the business world has need for the global language of English Manycompanies not only operate in their countries but also are expanding overseas.Therefore, people in business world are learning English to break the languagebarrier somehow This makes it easier to broker deals or tell potential partners what

is expected of them It is often the tradition of the business world that you need toknow your potential partner's mother tongue

With the continuous growth of commerce and industry, the usefulness andimportance of business letter are increasing gradually Business letter serves as aformal method of communication between people, providing valuable information

on business related matters, and serving a legal purpose Business letter does notonly secure, promote business, but it also maintains cooperation withoutcomplications With the help of business letter, entrepreneurs can easily exchangeinformation with employees, partners and clients Business letter plays animportant role in establishing and maintaining relationships over a wide area toenlarge the scope and the extent of the business Moreover, it also promotesgoodwill and enhances the prestige and the image of the organization Realizing theimportance of business letter, Vietnamese students in general and Thuongmai

University students in particular have been studying hard in order to improve theirEnglish business letter writing skill, especially in the today’s context ofinternational economic integration.

Business letters are written for the fulfillment of several purposes, so they aredivided into different types such as: enquiry letter, order letter, complaint letter,refusal letter, quotation letter, etc Each of these types, besides the characteristics of

a business letter, also carries some specific characteristics

During the previous four years, my friends and I had chances to study Englishthoroughly in terms of four skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing) as well

as English theory (English grammar, phonetics and phonology, semantics, and soon) I would say that Business Correspondence is my most favorite subject duringthe period in university since it taught me some skills such as writing memos, e-mail, letters that are essential for working in a business world in the future To keep

in touch with partners, the best way is to use business correspondence in Englishbecause more than three-fourth of the world's mainland business letter is written inEnglish Although business correspondence is easy to understand, writing businesscorrespondence well is not easy We can not only learn its basic rules of format,styles but also study all off its aspects Writing a correct form of English businessletter is really a problem not only to elementary students but also students at upperlevels or even graduated ones

Therefore, the researcher decided to choose “Difficulties experienced by the third- year English majors at Thuongmai University in business writing skills and suggested solutions” as the topic for her research with the hope that the

learners will be able to write business letters in more professional and effectiveway

1.2 Previous study

The researcher has found a lot of notable works about business letters thatexpressed the writers’ concern about difficulties in writing business letters andsolutions to deal with the difficulties The studies below had been conducted toanalyze and found out mistakes as well as difficulties that writers often encounterwhen writing business letters

“Business letters writing in business communication”, a case study of Intermatcompany, written by Aggoune Amina in 2015, offered an examination of businessletters influencing recent and present practice in written communication as well asillustrated the range of features that exist in business letters at present in order toknow what makes business letters effective He found that English is the commoncorporate language used in Intermat company and there were mistakes and workersfaced difficulties when they communicated and interacted with non-Englishspeaking colleagues all over the world The typical mistakes are related to specialspelling; abbreviations and special acronyms; punctuation; and format of the letters.Therefore, this study helped to plan a letter and built principles of effective businessletter writing.

“Problems in writing English business letter: errors and factors” (Thirdsemester of Bina Bangsa Economics students majoring in Manageme) of ShafaFirda Nila (2017) was conducted to identify the problems of error found in Englishbusiness letter writing and to explain the factors that caused the problems Thisstudy used qualitative method The data were collected from the English businessletter written by third semester of Bina Bangsa Economics students majoring inManagement and Accounting Her research results indicated that there are fourclassifications of error found in English business letter written by third semesterstudents: morphological, lexical, syntactic, and mechanical error These four errorsare divided into eight types, namely: verb, noun, article, word choice, sentencestructure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization Word choice error is the highestfrequency of error type (20.3%), respectively followed by sentence structure error(18.3%), verb error (12.1%), punctuation error (11.3%), noun error (9.7%), spellingerror (9.5%) Meanwhile, article and capitalization error share the same percentage

of 9.4% Also, there are three major factors that cause the errors: language transfer,overgeneralization, and context of learning Most of the students are still interfered

by Bahasa Indonesia grammar which is different from English Besides, the studentsfail to recognize some terminologies or vocabularies related in businesscorrespondence; they tend to generalize the language and do not pay attention to thedifference between general English and business English

The study “An analysis of some techniques to improve writing Englishbusiness letters”, written by Vu Thi Huong Giang (2010) (Haiphong PrivateUniversity), emphasized on techniques in writing English business letters andsuggested some solutions for improving techniques in writing English businessletters The author found out essential techniques related to four categoriesincluding attitude; positive emphasis; tone; and language Besides, the solutions thatthe writer suggested are also realistic and highly feasible.

All these studies not only helped the researcher with prescious knowledge but

also inspired the researcher to conduct “Difficulties experienced by the

third-year English majors at Thuongmai University in business writing skills and

suggested solutions” which aims at finding out difficulties and suggesting some

solutions to improve the business writing skill of these subjects

1.3 Aims of the study

The primary of this study is to find out subjective and objective reasons whythird-year students have difficulties in English business writing and then proposethe solutions for both teachers and students in teaching and learning the writingskill

The study used quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection Its aim

is to answer the following research questions:

What is the reality of English business writing skill of the third-yearEnglish major students at TMU?

What are the difficulties that the third-year English major students facewhen studying English business writing?

What are the possible solutions to solve those problems?

1.4 Research subjects

The subjects of this study are third-year English major students at Thuong MaiUniversity whose English are supposed to be at intermediate level After more than

2 years of learning at university, junior students are familiar with teaching method

at university Most of them could use four skills of English speaking, listening,writing and reading effortlessly and confidently

At high school, students are familiar with learning grammar and reading skill

to prepare for the paper examinations or the entrance examamination to theuniversity Otherwise, at university, subjects which are taken into the curriculum ofEnglish major students are particularly interested in improving the skills of students

in all four skills The level of these students has been improved significantly sincethe first semester with all students achieving the immediate level However, theirEnglish backgrounds are quite similar because most of them come from differentrural areas in the North and under the influence of the curriculum of English forhigh school students in the past, students did not have many chances to practiceEnglish skills Thus, when entering TMU, their English levels were limited and theyhave to face up with many difficulties in studying especially writing business letter

by English Understanding these characteristics of research subjects will help theresearcher when conducting the study

1.5 Scope of the study

Firstly, the scope of the study is the difficulties in English business writingskill experienced by third-year English major students at TMU The study focuses

on understanding and investigating the difficulties students face and finding suitablesolutions for them The study does not intend to explore other aspects of learningEnglish, such as: factors affecting English writing or students' English learninghabits, etc In addition, this research focuses on studying a unique skill of learningEnglish that is writing skill The researcher did not study about other skills such aslistening, speaking and reading

Secondly, the researcher only shows concern about the student’s attitudestoward English business writing Thus, the collected data were derived from theirown experience in practice and were not influenced by other factors such as friend

invite participants to fill up the survey questionnaire from each of these mentionedclasses Then the researcher will randomly interview ten participants having donethe survey questionnaire The thesis did not study or interview other subjects such

1.6.2 Population and sample of the study

Because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher, theparticipants were chosen through a convenient sampling procedure There were 100participants in this research The participants were third-year English major students

at Thuong Mai University who were taken randomly from all 6 classes: N1, N2, N3,N4, N5 and N6

1.6.3 Research instruments

In order to examine the detected English writing skill problems among year students whose major is English language, questionnaires and interviews weremainly used in this study These questionnaires were conducted by one hundredstudents who are third year at the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University andthe interviews were conducted randomly among ten students having done thequestionnaire

third-1.6.4 Data collection

Survey questionnaires are used for collecting data and information because ofits usefulness and speediness The researcher designed a questionnaire consisting ofsmaller and more specific questions Each questionnaire contains (10) questionsabout the attitude of students toward learning English writing skill, difficultiesencountered by students and methods to improve writing skill The questionnairesare established in some different types such as likert question, questions in closedended format, questions in open ended format, etc After having been collected, theresearcher summarized and analyzed the results and transferred them to tables andcharts with specific numbers

All interviews are recorded and taped among the study by using different massmedia, such as recording devices or smart phones provided with recordingapplication Then all the questions in the interviews and students responses arewritten on a hard copy for further records and statistic analysis

1.6.5 Data analysis

The data from questionnaires and all the interviews are tape-recorded andtranscribed verbatim The researcher uses Microsoft Office softwares such asMicrosoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, etc to display the results through specifictables and charts Thanks to that, the researcher can look into the English writingproblems comprehensively and figure out the best solutions

1.7 Organization of the study

The following outline is organization of the study:

Chapter 1 (Overview of the study) shows the rationale for the study, previousstudies, aims of the study, research subjects, scope of the study, researchmethodology and organization of the study

Chapter 2 (Literature review) provides the theoretical background for thethesis There are eight main parts in this chapter, including: Definition of businesscorrespondence, the importance of business correspondence, purposes of businessletter, qualities of a good business letter, parts of a business letter, the format of abusiness letter, several types of business letter and difficulties in writing Englishbusiness letters

Chapter 3 (Research findings) the researcher has justified and described theresearch method in full detail From the results obtained after the actual survey, theresearcher has drawn new findings and made comments and evaluations on thesurvey results

Chapter 4 (Recommendations and suggestions) identifies solutions forEnglish-majored students at Thuongmai University, limitations of the study andsuggestions for further study

References and Appendix will be listed on the last pages of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of business correspondence

In order to develop, every business as to establish and maintain contact withtheir various partners such as suppliers, customers, agencies, etc Therefore, abusiness letter is as an indispensable tool of communication in business This is aneffective way to provide or request information, send significant, sensitive, orconfidential messages or establish permanent records in any organization There aremany ways of communication between people and companies or organizations, forexample telephone conversations, email, contracts, invoices, etc It is important toremember that a business letter is the most powerful tool of communication forconfirm information in a formal way

Discussing the definition of business letter, many prestige economic websiteshave given different definitions basing on particular viewpoints Below are somedefinitions of business letter:

The business communication (2018) stated that “Business letter refers toformal written letter where business related issues and information is exchangedwith the suppliers, customers, clients, banks, insurance companies, governmentagencies or other external parts of the organization.”

Alison Doyle (2/2019) stated that “A business letter is a formal documentoften sent from one company to another or from a company to its clients,employees, and stakeholders, for example.”

Among many definitions, according to Oxford English Dictionaries, a

“business letter” is “A (usually formal) letter in which business is reported ortransacted”

Even though there are numerous different definitions of business letter, thecommon feature should be created in mind that “all letters written for businesspurpose are business letters” For the purpose of this study, the researcher used thedefinition that “The letters which are written among the businessmen forexchanging business-related information are known as business letters.”

2.2 The Importance of Business Correspondence

Nowadays, business operations are not restricted to any locality, state ornation Today production takes place in one area but consumption takes placeeverywhere Since the businessmen as well as customers live in far off placesthey do not have sufficient time to contact each other personally Thus, therearises the need for writing letters With the continuous growth of commerce andindustry, usefulness and importance of business letter are also increasinggradually The following is the importance of business correspondence

2.2.1 Help in maintaining proper relationship

Business letters play an important role in establishing and maintainingproper relationship with various parties Nowadays, business activities are notconfined to any area or locality The businessmen as well as its parties arescattered throughout the country Business letters reduce the distance between abusiness and its customers, suppliers, and other public groups The customerscan write letters to the businessmen seeking information about products andbusinessmen also supply various information to customers This helps them tocarry on business on national and international basis

2.2.2 Inexpensive and convenient mode

Business letters are an inexpensive and convenient mode ofcommunication Though there are other modes of communication like telephone,telex, fax, etc However, business information can be provided and obtainedeconomically and conveniently through letters

2.2.3 Create and maintain goodwill

Business letters promote and sustain good will Good business relationshipsare formed and maintained through effective communication Properly writtenletters give a positive impression of an organization or individual Businessmen

at times send letters to enquire about complaints and suggestions of theircustomers They also send letters which serve as a micro-level substitute foradvertisements to their customers and clients All these result in cordial relationswith the customers, which enhance the goodwill of the business

2.2.4 Serves as evidence

Business letters also serve as references to future actions, and they providesubstantial evidence to transactions and disputes Information exchanged throughletters can be preserved permanently and used as reference when need arise Wecannot expect a trader to memorize all facts and figures in a conversation thatnormally takes place among businessmen Through letters, he can keep a record

of all facts

2.2.5 Help in expansion of business

Business requires information regarding competing products, prevailingprices, promotion, market activities, etc It is very difficult and loss of time forbusinessmen to run from place to place to get information But through businessletters, a businessman can find markets easily all over the world He can make allenquiries about the products and the markets as well as receive order fromdifferent countries, thus enhances sales

2.3 Purposes of Business Letter

There are varieties of business letters like inquiry letter, quotation letter,order letter, complaint letter, etc All these letters serve important andmultidimensional business purposes The major objectives of writing businessletters are discussed below:

 To exchange information: The main purpose of business letter is toexchange information related to business Through it, business organizations cancollect and convey business-related information

 To establish business relationship: By exchanging information throughbusiness letters, new business relationships can be established with various partiesand existing relationships can be strengthened

 To make inquiry: Another important objective of writing business letter is

to make inquiry about people, product, price etc

 To take right decisions: Taking right decisions requires accurateinformation Since business letters collect information from reliable sources,executives can take right decisions using that information

 To place orders: A common purpose of writing business letter is to placeorder for goods specifying quantity, quality, price, payment method etc.

 To create goodwill: Goodwill is an important asset for any business.Businesses can create goodwill by writing letters like order confirmation letter,inquiry letter, reply to inquiry letter etc

 To save time and cost: Saving time and cost of communication is anotherobjective of writing a business letter Posting letter is cheaper and less timeconsuming than making personal visits

 To expand markets: Through writing various business letters like inquiryletter and circular letter, business organizations can create new market for theirproducts

 To overcome misunderstanding: If there arises any misunderstandingbetween a business and its stakeholders, business letter is written to overcome it

 To settle transactions: By means of writing business letters, concernedparties can settle their transactions For example, customers write claim letters tothe sellers for compensations, sellers write collection letters to customers forcollecting dues

 To keep records: Another reason for the wide use of business letter is tokeep permanent record of information Business letters help to develop aninformation base in the organization and facilitate future decision making

2.4 Qualities of a Good Business Letter

The qualities of a business letter make it presentable It becomes easy for aperson or an organization to imprint an impression onto the others The qualities of

a business letter can be classified as:

Simplicity: The language used in the business letter must be simple and easy.Difficult words should be strictly avoided, as one cannot expect the reader to refer

to the dictionary everytime while reading letter

 Clarity: The language used in the business letter must be clear It helps thereceiver to understand the message immediately, easily, and clearly Any ambiguitywill lead to the misinterpretation of the message stated

Accuracy: Accuracy generally means no error in grammar, spelling,punctuations etc An accurate letter is always appreciated

Completeness: A complete letter helps the reader to know about the issue andthe solution to be taken It should provide all the necessary information Forexample, while sending an order, we should mention the desirable features of thegoods, their quality, shape, colour, design, quantity, date of delivery, mode oftransportation, etc

Relevance: The letter should only contain important information Irrelevantinformation should not be included and avoided in any business communication

Courtesy: Courtesy wins the heart of the reader In business letter, courtesycan be expressed by using words like please, thank you, etc

Neatness: A neat letter is always impressive A letter either handwritten ortyped, should be neat and attractive in appearance Overwriting and cuttings should

be avoided

2.4.2 Outer qualities

The outer quality of a business letter means the quality of its outerappearance The outer look of the letter must be catchy and impressive Some of theouter qualities are:

Size of the Paper: The standard size of paper should be used An A4 paper isthe most used paper for writing a business letter

Quality of the Paper: The quality of the paper used must be good It is notalways possible for a firm to use the costly paper One must use good quality paperfor original copy and ordinary copy for the duplicate copy

The Color of the Paper: Sometimes it is very useful to use the different color

of paper for different types of letter The receiver can clearly understand theintention and the purpose of the letter by its color

Folding of Letter: One must fold the letter properly and uniformly Thefolding must be done to fit the letter in the envelope It is noticeable that one mustnot over fold the letter It will have a bad impression on the reader’s mind

Envelope: The envelope used must be of good quality Special attention must

be given to the size of the envelope for fitting the letter

2.5 Parts of a business letter

The textbook used in teaching Business Correspondence module forEnglish-majored students at Thuongmai University gives the essential parts of abusiness letter as follows:

Different parts of a business letter

2.5.2 Date

The date is normally written on the right hand side corner after the heading.The date is supposed to be written in full with day, month and year Someexamples are 31st May 2018 or May 31st, 2018

2.5.3 Reference

It indicates letter number and the department from where the letter is beingsent and the year It helps in future reference This reference number is given onthe left hand corner after the heading

2.5.4 Inside address

The inside address includes the name and full address of the individual orthe organization to whom the letter is to be sent This is written on the left handside of the sheet below the reference number Letters should be addressed to theresponsible head e.g., the Secretary, the Chairman, the Manager, etc

2.5.5 Subject

The subject is a statement in brief, that indicates the matter to which theletter relates It usually starts from the left margin and may also start from thecenter of the sheet The subject attracts the attention of the reader immediatelyand helps him to know quickly what the letter is about

2.5.6 Salutation

Salutation is word of greeting used to begin a letter It is courteous gestureand shows respect to the addressee It is written below the inside address or thesubject, and is usually followed by a comma (,)

2.5.7 Body of the letter

This comes after the salutation This is the main part of the letter and itconveys the actual message of the sender It is divided into a number ofparagraphs, mostly 3-4 or more depending upon the matter The last paragraphshould sum up the whole letter and offer any assistance or take a course of action

designation is given below the typed name The name of the company, phonenumber, email address, and any other contact information, if not provided in theheading, too could be included below the designation of the writer.

2.5.10 Enclosures

This is required when some documents like cheque, draft, bills, receipts,lists, invoices etc are attached with the letter These enclosures are listed one byone in serial numbers

2.6 The format of a business letter

In business correspondence, there are some format of business letter which areused quite widely Here are some important of them:

 Indented: In an indented format letter, the first word of every paragraph iswritten leaving some spaces from the left margin Other parts are arranged- date isright margin, inside address left margin, subject is in the middle of two margins andcomplement close in the right margin

 Full block: In a full block format letter, everything is aligned or startingfrom the left margin Paragraphs are not indented Therefore, no time is lost intyping adjustment

 Modified block: It is just like the full block style with two exceptions (dateand complementary closing) In a modified block format letter, all text or part isaligned to the left margin, except for the date and complementary closing (withsignature) Paragraphs are not indented

 Semi-block: In a Semi-block format letter, all text is aligned to the leftmargin, paragraphs are indented It is the combination of indented and block letterformat In this form, inside address and complementary closing are written in block

style (left margin) while the body of the letter is written in the indented style.Paragraphs are indented three to five spaces.

2.7 Several types of business letter

Business letters are written for the fulfillment of several purposes such asplace an order, enquire details of the goods, or complaint about a product or service,etc There are many standard types of business letters, and each of them has aspecific focus

The Business Correspondence textbook mentions the following main types ofbusiness letters:

2.7.1 Inquiry letter

A letter of inquiry is written to individuals or companies to requestinformation and/or verify its authenticity regarding such as the supply of particulargoods or services Prospective buyers may want to know the details of the goodswhich they want to buy, like quality, quantity, price, mode of delivery and payment,etc They may also ask for a sample Regardless of its subject, the objective is to getthe receiver to respond with an action that satisfies the inquiry

When composing this type of letter, one should keep it clear and succinct andlist exactly what information one needs The writer also needs to make sure thatcontact information is included so that it is easy for the reader to respond

2.7.2 Quotation letter

A quotation letter is written by a seller to supply relevant information afterreceiving the letter of inquiry from a prospective buyer This type of letters iswritten keeping in view the information asked for like price list, mode of payment,discount to be allowed etc Businessman should reply to the inquiries carefully andpromptly

Quotation letter must be written to the point with conciseness and completetone The seller should have the intention to create goodwill through such letterwhich will establish a business relationship

2.7.3 Order letter

Order letter are written by individuals or companies to place an order of goods

or services with a business house These letters must contain specific information

such as model number, name of the product, the quantity desired and expectedprice Payment is sometimes included with the letter.

The buyer’s intentions need to be clear and concise The objective is toprovide the seller with detailed instructions for fulfilling an order The reader willfill the order only according to the given instructions Order letters also serve as alegal record of the transaction and, consequently, should be written with care

2.7.4 Acknowledgement letter

Acknowledgement letters act as simple receipts Businesses sendacknowledgement letters to let the reader know that they have received the itemsrequested in a prior communication, usually an inquiry or an order letter Anacknowledgement letter is a professional courtesy routinely extended by successfulpeople in the building and maintenance of productive business relationships

Acknowledgement letters tend to be short, just enough to complete a businesscommunication cycle Confirming the day in which an item arrived or expressingsome appreciation for having a request satisfied may be all that is necessary

2.7.5 Complaint letter

Complaint letter is a very specific and objective type of letter is generallywritten to deal with a problem situation when the purchaser does not find the goodsthat make him satisfied Through writing complaint letter, the sender advises thereader of an error in a business transaction or a defect discovered in a consumerproduct or service The objective of this type of letter is to provide detailedinformation regarding the error or defect and to serve as a legal document recordingthe writer's claim and the corrective action or adjustment being requested

It is important to keep in mind that the reader is a trained customer serviceprofessional and not very likely to be the person responsible for the problem Thewords and tone used in the letter may be the deciding factor on whether thecomplaint is satisfied Rather than being angry, the writer should use a firm butcourteous tone when stating a complaint

2.7.6 Adjustment letter

An adjustment letter is normally sent to respond to a claim or complaint Thistype of letters aims to inform the receivers that their complaint has been received