A study on how to improve english listening and speaking skills of the customer service staff at golden forwarding transport joint stock company (GOLDTRANS)

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF AT GOLDEN FORWARDING TRANSPORT JOINT STOCK COMPAN

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF AT GOLDEN FORWARDING TRANSPORT JOINT STOCK COMPANY (GOLDTRANS)” is the result of my own research at

Thuongmai University and the material in this research has not been submitted forany degree at any other university or tertiary institution

This graduation paper would not have been accomplished without theguidance and help of some people, who in one way or another, contributed andextended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study.First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my belovedsupervisor, M.A Pham Thi Xuan Ha,one of the lecturers at the Faculty of BusinessEnglish in Thuong Mai University, for the invaluable support, guidance, and timelyencouragement she gave me throughout my research I am truly grateful to heradvice and suggestions right from the beginning when this study was only in itsformative stage

Secondly, I would also like to send my sincere thanks to my colleagues inGolden Forwarding Transport Joint Stock Company (GOLDTRANS) who havehelped me in answering the survey questionnaire and making constructive andperceptive judgments as well as suggestions for this paper

Last but not least, I owe my loving parents and my friends for their continuoussupport for me to contribute totally my time on this research I would like toacknowledge my special debt to them for their concern, sacrifice and massive love.Regardless of my hardest attempt, this report certainly contains numerousmistakes due to the limitation of information resources and other documents as well

as the inexperience of the writer in this issue All of the feedbacks andrecommendations from readers are warmly welcome and will be considered in order

to improve the practicality of this graduation paper

To everyone, thank you so much!

Hanoi, 19th April, 2020 Nguyen Ha Anh

Nowadays, due to the globalization, English has become a truly globallanguage crossing many international boundaries, the common language spoken bypeople of different language backgrounds There has been an increasing demand ofinternational communication, especially in the business communities where thecustomers’ national languages are extremely diverse

In Vietnam, English plays a significant role in many businesses Mastering alanguage is not only a vital requirement for high-level employees to apply newtechnology processes but also an essential skill for modern Vietnamese Therefore,English has become the first requirement for employer to recruit their employees in

a number of fields, occupations and professions Especially, logistic companies'staff need to use English on everyday basis for communication on several levels Asone of the leading logistics companies in the field of freight forwarding in Vietnam,Golden Forwarding Transport Joint Stock Company (hereinafter referred to asGOLDTRANS) has made an impressive foothold in the industry However, as forthe employees in GOLDTRANS, they feel that learning English is difficult,especially communication skills Specifically, GOLDTRANS' customer servicestaffs have difficulty in two skills: listening and speaking in their working process.This study is researched on the importance of English listening and speakingskills of the customer support staff In addition, the researcher also analyses andfinds out the difficulties of English communication skills that employees in thisdepartment have to face based on reasoning and practical expression Then, thesurvey will be conducted to collect survey data

From above difficulties, the study has given some useful solutions to improveEnglish communication skills of customer support staff at GOLDTRANS to helpthem feel more confident and professional when communicate with foreigncustomers from many countries around the world

Due to limited time, awareness and practical experience, the study could notavoid shotcomings and errors Therefore, I look forward to receiving comments andsuggestions from my supervisor and friends in order to perfect the study

TABLES OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… ……….i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLES OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Previous studies 3

1.3 Aims of the study 5

1.4 Scope of the study 5

1.5 Research methodology 6

1.5.1 Method 6

1.5.2 Data collection procedures 7

1.5.3 Data analysis methods 7

1.6 Organization of the study 8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Overview of listening skill 9

2.1.1 Definition 9

2.1.2 Types of listening 10

2.1.3 Characteristics of listening skill 13

2.1.4 The importance of listening skill 15

2.1.5 Listening problems of the English learners in general and the customer support staff in GOLDTRANS in particular 16

2.1.6 Factors affecting listening skill 18

2.2 Overview of speaking skill 20

2.2.1 Definition 20

2.2.2 Types of speaking 21

2.2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill 22

2.2.4 The importance of speaking skill 24

2.2.5 Speaking problems of the English learners in general and the customer support staff in GOLDTRANS in particular 25

2.2.6 Factors affecting speaking skill 27

2.3 Conclusion 29

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 30

3.1 The research hypothesis 30

3.2 Procedure of data collection 30

3.2.1 Questionnaire survey 30

3.2.2 Interviews 31

3.2.3 Data analysis 31

3.3 Results and discussion 31

3.3.1 Results 31

3.3.2 Discussion 45

3.4 Conclusion 52

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 53

4.1 Solution to improve speaking skill 53

4.2 Solution to improve listening skill 58

CONCLUSION 61

REFERENCES 63

APPENDIX viii

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES viii

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No

1 GOLDTRANS Golden Forwarding Transport

Joint Stock Company

Công ty Cổ phần giaonhận vận tải Vàng

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

No

2 Chart 3.1 Frequency of listening and speaking English of the

customer service staff at GOLDTRANS

32

3 Table 3.2 Staff’s attitude towards the importance of English

listening and speaking skill

33

4 Chart 3.2 Staff’s listening and speaking ability self – rated 34

5 Table 3.3 The proficiency in listening and speaking English of

customer service staff at GOLDTRANS

35

6 Table 3.4 Customer service staff’s expectation to improve their

English listening and speaking skill

36

7 Chart 3.3 Frequency of organizing activities related to English at

GOLDTRANS

37

8 Chart 3.4 Factors affecting English speaking process 38

9 Chart 3.5 Factors affecting English listening process 39

12 Table 3.4 Suggested solutions to improve English speaking skill for

the staff at GOLDTRANS

43

13 Table 3.5 Suggested solutions to improve English listening skill for

the staff at GOLDTRANS

44

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

English has become an accepted international language since the World War

II One of the reasons for this is that the United States has become more powerful intheir politics, economy, technology, and culture Additionally, its language, English,has become the language for international communication The main cause of this isglobalization As a result of the increasing demand of international communication

in the academic and business communities, English has earned the status of a globallanguage, the common language spoken by people of different languagebackground.Vietnam is a developing country With the joining of economic sectorsand strong integration trend, the emergence of foreign companies as well as theglobal economic needs appear more and more Knowing how to use another foreignlanguage besides the mother tongue, especially English, provides moreopportunities for application In fact, nowadays, English certification is almostrequired for office work

Hutchinson and Walter (1987) stated that “The effect was to create a wholenew mass of people wanting to learn English, not for the pleasure or prestige ofknowing the language, but because English was the key to the internationalcurrencies of technology and commerce.” They also suggested that people aredetermined to learn English because they know why they want to learn it and whatthey can do with it As there was a growing amount of English language learning, arevolution in linguistics also emerged Widdowson, 1978 (as cited in Hutchinsonand Walter, 1987) suggested that the trend in linguistics has changed from studyingthe grammar rules of the language to studying how the language is actually used inthe communication in real situations

The company in this study (GOLDTRANS) is one of the leading logisticscompanies in the field of freight forwarding in Vietnam with the scope and size ofservice and the number of long-term customers There has been an increasingworkforce demand recently, especially for English speaking employees to work ascustomer service agents in order to serve and handle the growing numbers offoreign customers Following the Chief Executive Officer’s operating strategy

“Because We Care” and "Yes, We Can Meet Your Need", one of the goals is tomaintain high standards and a reputation of good and caring services The CEO alsowants the company to “Not only focus on providing information service, but alsomake customers feel well taken care of whenever they need assistance” Also, thecompany has aimed to improve the level of customers’ satisfaction toward theservice provided by the company It is believed by the company that improving thecustomer service employees’ language could help in this situation.

For other Vietnamese – speaking customer service employees of otherdepartments, they are provided with the appropriate wordings, scripts, or guidelines

of responses It is quite convenient for them to scan through the scripts and respond

to the customers almost immediately Unfortunately, for English – speakingcustomer service employees, there is no English version of those scripts provided.Inevitably, regardless of their years of working experience, putting the customers onhold to read the information provided in Vietnamese and translate that into Englishbased on their own understandings occurs quite frequently However, some of thesetranslated versions of responses can be ambiguous and/or incorrect, which couldlead to misunderstandings and several other drawbacks This directly affects theemployees’ performances.According to the previous studies of Friginal (2007) andLockwood (2011), it is implied that as non-native speakers of English, customerservice employees may need to have the knowledge of cultural awareness andcultural sensitivity, alongside with the improvement of English pronunciation,grammar and communication skills Moreover, the majority of the customers arenon-native speakers of English, and therefore difficulties in communication oftenarise Because of the diversity of customers’ nationality, language and culture, itwould be helpful if the customer service employees had the communication skills aswell as the knowledge and awareness in terms of different varieties of the Englishlanguage

During my experience as a trainee for one month in Customer Servicedepartment of GOLDTRANS, I was able to access to the existing difficulties inEnglish communication skills problems in this company Although English isnecessary for work, due to no specific requirements on language proficiency and

nature of each department, employees don’t give enough attention to their Englishcommunication skills, especially listening and speaking skills Because of the

reasons above, the researcher carries on the study with the title: “A study on how to

improve English listening and speaking skills of the Customer Service Staff at Golden Forwarding Transport Joint Stock Company (GOLDTRANS)” with

expectation to help the staff, especially the customer service staffs inGOLDTRANS to improve their English listening and speaking skills to work withforeign guests more effectively

1.2 Previous studies

We all know that there are millions of English speakers across the globe Theyare eager to learn English with high passion and enthusiasm Knowing Englishincreases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company withinyour home country or for finding work abroad It’s also the language ofinternational communication, the media and the internet, so learning English isimportant for socializing and entertainment as well as work

Therefore, there have been lots of international and domestic studies whichhave been done in recently relating to the learning English in general and Englishcommunication in particular However, I was really impressed with the followingresearches:

For example, Helen Fraser, University of New England, 2000 has studied the topic: “Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners of

English as a second language” In this study, the researcher is concerned with the

situation of non-native speakers of English who have come to live in Australia asadults and have difficulty learning to speak English in a way that makes them easilyintelligible to native speakers One of the challenges for this group of learners is thehuge variableness in their backgrounds, not just in terms of their native languagebut in terms of their life histories, culture and education Human learning abilitydevelops at a young age and becomes more difficult as we grow up Especially thelanguage ability develops most strongly from the time we were born to adolescence.There are also difficulties in teaching ability and techniques to dealing with thisgroup of learners

“Factors affecting the learning of English as a second language macroskills among Tongan secondary students” by Mele F Latu, Edith Cowan University (Australia), 1994 showed us the factors which might have impact on the learning of

English as a second language macroskills (listening, speaking, reading and writing)

by Tongan secondary learners

In “Difficulties in learning English as a Second Language” by Dr R.

Kannan, 2009, the researcher pointed out the significance of learning English and

some difficulties they have to encounter during learning as well as practicing indaily life Bilingual method helps only to slow learners to some extent The fear ofimpossibility to master English communication skills prevents students fromlearning new languages Students’ learning purpose is only to pass the exams butnot able to handle any real-life situations

According to Hasan (2000), “Listening comprehension provides the right

conditions for language acquisition and development of other language skills”.

Thus, Listening is essential not only as a receptive skill but also to the development

of spoken language proficiency

There was a research studied and compared speaking skills of Grade 11

students using three communicative activities It is Thanyalak Oradee, Udon Thani

Rajabhat University (Thailand) with study on “Developing Speaking Skills Using Three Communicative Activities (Discussion, Problem – Solving, and Role – Playing)” in 2012 In this study, the researcher also examined the students’ attitude

towards teaching English speaking skills using three communicative activities.These studies, however, have not gone deeply into giving solutions to supportthem deal with these problems thoroughly

Not only do foreign researchers care about this issue, but local researchershave also done the research related to improvement of speaking English skill In the

study “Factors Effecting English Language Teaching and Learning in Higher

Education” by Hong Thi Nguyen, RMIT University (Australia) gave factors

affecting the efficaciousness of non – major English teaching and learning inVietnamese higher education through an investigation of classroom practices Inaddition, the author also gave solutions to improve the quality of non – major

English teaching and learning at HUTECH University in particular, and inVietnamese higher education in general.

Another study of the researcher Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen, Hanoi Pedagogical

University 2, Vinh Phuc, Vietnam showed the importance of learning English for the

non – English major students with the research “How to motivate non – English

major students in Vietnamese university of education to learn English” The

researcher confirmed the importance of learning English nowadays It not onlysupports study at university but also reaches the higher ladder in the job Finding themotivation to support student’s passion in learning English but the researcher hasnot mentioned to the solution to improve English speaking skill

Recognizing the importance of listening and speaking English to staff inVietnam, as well as the urgent problem in order to provide solutions to staff to helpthem improve their English listening and speaking skill, the researcher decided to

study on the topic “A study on how to improve English listening and speaking skills

of the Customer Service Staff at Golden Forwarding Transport Joint Stock Company (GOLDTRANS)”.

1.3 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to find out the reality of English listening andspeaking skills of the staff at GOLDTRANS where I worked for one month as anintern More specifically, this study attempts to clarify the difficulties the employeeshave to face in learning English listening and speaking skills and give suggestion tohelp them improve their English listening and speaking skills Based on thefindings, I further seek to suggest for the solutions to enhance English listening andspeaking skills for the staff in GOLDTRANS, especially in Customer Servicedepartment

1.4 Scope of the study

There is a number of different material resources that require a lot of time andeffect while my personal experience is limited Therefore, this study can only focus

on studying the reality of using English of the employees in GOLDTRANS, thendetermine problems they had to encounter when listening and speaking English togive solutions which could help them improve their English listening and speaking

skills However, the study will focus mainly on the solutions I hope that this study

is a good reference material for the employees in GOLDTRANS in particular andall employees in general to get higher speaking level

Research subjects: The subjects of this study consisted of 30 employees in

Customer Service department in GOLDTRANS The age of employees is from 22

to 40, 30% were female and 70% were male Some of them have learnt English over

6 years, the others for 3 years and fewer Most of them were non- English majorstudents when they studied at college or university

1.5 Research methodology

1.5.1 Method

In order to attain the primary aims, the researcher has consulted several ideasfrom the supervisor and people who fully understand this topic All the theorieshave been carefully selected and gathered through reference books and documents

on the Internet websites

Survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collectingdata Advantages of using questionnaires are less pressure on respondent, practice,validity and reliability Like questionnaire, interviews can allow conductingintensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore theirperspectives on a particular idea, program or situation The purpose of usingquestionnaire and interview is collect information that we want to collect about ourstudy objects

A survey questionnaire has been designed as the key data collection of thestudy Thus, this study is conducted with qualitative method In addition, interview

is also applied to make sure that the data was more accurate and reliable

A combination of different methods above will provide reliable data bases onwhich the conclusions and suggestions were made in the following parts

Step 2: The researcher selected the data collection instrument for the study, inthis case, survey questionnaires were chosen for the main data collection Then, theresearcher firstly tried to draft survey questionnaires and asked supervisor to check

or improve the survey, as a result, the actual questionnaires were developed

Step 3: In the following step, the researcher identified the subjects of thesurvey and delivered the questionnaires to them

Step 4: Finally, questionnaires were collected by the researcher and collecteddata was analyzed after that

There are total 30 questionnaires delivered and all of them were collected,which means the rate of collection was 100% as participants are the researcher’scolleagues

All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in thestudy were based on the data analysis of the study

1.5.1.2 Interview

Another research tool which was used in this study was personal interview.The interviews were carried out with the system of 5 opening items to allow theinterviewees more comfortable in expressing their idea, thoughts, feelings oropinions

1.5.2 Data collection procedures

30 employees at Customer Service department in GOLDTRANS will beinterviewed and delivered the questionnaires with the same questions I will thencollect the results and system them, analyze and create data tables Based on theanalysis of the data, I will draw conclusions about the research

1.5.3 Data analysis methods

Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modelingdata with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions andsupporting decision-making

In terms of the data collected in the interview and questionnaires, the resultswere collected and analyzed by Microsoft Excel software in percentage After that,the data will be illustrated through charts and tables for a clear description of thisfinding

1.6 Organization of the study

This study is divided into 4 chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Providing an overview of the study and giving the reason for

choosing the study was focused Also, it consists of the rationale, previous studies,aims of the study, scope of the study, research methodology and organization of thestudy

Chapter 2: Literature review looks at some theoretical background relating to

the thesis of the study This chapter focuses on the concept, characteristics, factorsaffecting English listening and speaking skills, the importance of listening andspeaking skills, problems encountering and solutions to improve English listeningand speaking skill

Chapter 3: Data analysis and research findings: provides the details of the

findings including survey results through the questionnaire given to participants

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions: includes a summary of the

study, discussions and conclusions before ending with recommendations for furtherstudy

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of listening skill

2.1.1 Definition

Listening is considered as one of the most important skills in acquiring both anative language and a second or foreign language It is being paid more and moreattention to So far, there have been a number of definitions of listening by differentlinguists such as Morley (1972); Howatt and Dakin (1974); Wolvin and Coakley(1982); Pearson (1983); Hirsch (1986); Scarcella and Oxford (1992); Bentley andBacon (1996), Brown (2001), Gary Buck (2001), Scott Shelton (2008)

According to Morley (1972), listening consists of auditory discrimination,aural grammar, selecting necessary information, remembering it, and connecting it

to the process between sound and form of meaning

Howatt and Dakin (1974) defined listening as the ability to identify andunderstand what others are saying This involves understanding a speaker's accent

or pronunciation his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning

Wolvin and Coakley (1982) regarded listening as "the process of receiving,attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli"

Pearson (1983) stated "Listening involves the simultaneous organization andcombination of skills in Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, and knowledge of the textstructure, all of which seem to be controlled by the cognitive process Thus, it can

be said that though not fully realized, the listening skill is essential in acquiringlanguage proficiency"

Hirsch (1986) gave another definition: "Listening as an aspect of skills:involves neurological response and interpretations of sounds to understand and togive meaning by reacting, selecting meaning, remembering, attending, analyzingand including previous experience"

Bentley and Bacon (1996) stated that listening, an important part of the secondlanguage learning process has also been defined as an active process during whichthe listener constructs meaning from oral input

According to Brown (2001), listening is "not merely the process ofunidirectional receiving of audible symbols" He supposed that one aspect of

listening comprehension which is "the psychomotor process of receiving soundwaves through the ear and transmitting nerve impulses to the brain" Hence,listening comprises of three elements: the sender, the message and the listener.Gary Buck (2001), for example, points out that "listening comprehension is anactive process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge tothe incoming sound" in which "a number of different types of knowledge areinvolved: both linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge".

Scott Shelton (2008) thinks that listening effectively is a demanding andinvolving process One must be able to deal with different accents or pronunciation,unfamiliar lexical items and syntactic structures, competing background noise, andalso make a conscious effort to not switch off or become distracted while listening.All of this must be achieved and dealt with more or less simultaneously in order toidentify and understand the meaning in any given message

To sum up, all of definitions are given with a view to clarifying the nature ofthe listening skill which is necessary in the process of acquiring a native language

Likewise, a person who cannot hear the subtleties of emotional variation inanother person’s voice will be less likely to be able to discern the emotions the otherperson is experiencing

Listening is a visual as well as auditory act, as we communicate much throughbody language We thus also need to be able to discriminate between muscle andskeletal movements that signify different meanings

 Comprehension listening

To comprehend the meaning requires first having a lexicon of words and alsorules of grammar and by which we can understand what others are saying Incommunication, some words are more important and some less so, andcomprehension often benefits from extraction of key facts and items from a longspeech Comprehension listening is also known as content listening, informativelistening and full listening

Evaluative listening is particularly pertinent when the other person is trying topersuade us, perhaps to change our behavior and maybe even to change our beliefs.Within this, we also discriminate between subtleties of language and comprehendthe inner meaning of what is said Typically, also we weigh up the pros and cons of

an argument, determining whether it makes sense logically as well as whether it is

helpful to us Evaluative listening is also called critical, judgmental or interpretivelistening.

When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to become the onecan understand how others are feeling This requires excellent discrimination andclose attention to the aspects of emotional signals When we are being trulyempathetic, we actually feel what they are feeling

In order to get others to expose these deep parts of themselves to us, we alsoneed to demonstrate our empathy in our demeanor towards them, asking sensitivelyand in a way that encourages self-disclosure

Dialogic listening mean learning through conversation and an engagedinterchange of ideas and information in which we actively seek to learn more aboutthe person and how they think

Sometimes the most important factor in listening is in order to develop orsustain a relationship This is why lovers talk for hours and attend closely to whateach other has to say when the same words from someone else would seem to berather boring

Relationship listening is also important in areas such as negotiation and sales,where it is helpful if the other person likes and trust a speaker

On the other hand, there are two ways of listening in the real life according tosome authors, namely Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong (2006) They

are casual listening and focused listening depend on the purpose of listening.

One type of listening, casual listening, means listening without a particular

purpose When we listen, we do not pay much or even any attention to theinformation unless there is something that interests us Therefore, we hardlyremember the content of what we hear Normally, we do this kind of listening when

we listen to music, or listen to news on the radio or TV while doing somehousework or chatting to a friend

Another type of listening is focused listening That is when we listen for a

particular purpose to find out information we need to know It happens quitepopularly in the real life In here, we listen with much more concentration and try toget as much information as possible However, we do not listen to every word Weknow beforehand what we are going to listen so we only catch the most importantinformation from the speech or the lecture In classroom, learners also use thesetypes of listening

2.1.3 Characteristics of listening skill

2.1.3.1 The process of listening

Listening is a skill of critical significance in all aspects of our lives–frommaintaining our personal relationships, to getting our jobs done, to taking notes inclass, to figuring out which bus to take to the airport Regardless of how we’reengaged with listening, it’s important to understand that listening involves morethan just hearing the words that are directed at us Listening is an active process bywhich we make sense of, assess, and respond to what we hear For listening to beeffective and meaningful, the process of listening should involve the followingsteps

Hearing is the first essential step in the listening process and relates to thesensory perception of sound The listener further processes the perceived sound Forlearning to be effective, hearing needs to be done with attention and concentration

The next step involves sensing and filtering of heard sounds The heardmessage is categorized as wanted or unwanted, useful or useless The unwantedmessage is discarded In this step, the sense of judgement of the individual comesinto play, that is, the filtering process is subjective and a person chooses to retainwhat makes sense to him

The next level of listening consists of comprehending or understanding Thelistener understands or interprets what the speaker has tried to convey This activitycan be described as absorbing, grasping or assimilating In order to grasp the

meaning of the message, the listener uses his knowledge, experience, perceptionand cognitive power The verbal and auditory message is coupled with non-verbalcommunication to understand it.

Remembering relates to a process whereby the assimilated message is stored

in memory to facilitate future recall Remembering assumes significance becausemany times messages received are meant not for immediate consideration but forfuture use

2.1.3.2 The characteristics of listening skill

Most of the language we listen is informal and spontaneous The speaker ismaking it up as he or she goes along rather than reading aloud or reciting frommemory

Informal Speech has various interesting features:

for example, people take turns to speak, usually in short turns of a few secondseach

from the phonological representation given in a dictionary There are obviousexamples such as “can’t” In English “cannot” which have made their way even intothe written language

example use “guy” where in writing you would use “man”, or “kid” for “child”

- Grammar: Informal speech tends to be somewhat ungrammatical.

Utterances do not usually divide neatly into sentences; a grammatical structure maychange in mid – utterance or unfinished clauses are common

are unintelligible to the hearer, and therefore as far as he or she is concerned aremeaningless “noise”

necessary for the conveying of the message

is only heard once

The listener almost always knows in advance something about what is going

to be said Who is speaking, for example, or the basic topic We normally havesome objective in listening beyond understanding for its own sake to find outsomething, for example

Only a very small proportion of listening is done “blind” to the radio ortelephone, for example Normally, we have something to look at that is linked towhat is being said

The listener is usually responding at intervals as the discourse is going on It isrelatively rare for us to listen to extend speech and respond only at the end

The speaker usually directs his or her speech at the listener, take the listener’scharacter, intensions etc

2.1.4 The importance of listening skill

Hutchinson, Carol, Jenny and Kate (2007) in English for Life affirmed that

listening is one of the necessary life skills which are defined as “Skills which canprovide you with a better perspective on life, skills which can allow you to maintain

a higher awareness of both yourself and the world around you” Listening is indeedone of the four skills which enable complete communication, help you both in your

work and your personal life In fact, it is the first essential language skill becauselearning a language usually begins when we learn to listen first, then to speak, then

to read, and finally to write

It is obvious that listening is really important in the real life Listening skillsare of great importance in the workplace, the family and in the society at large It isone of the most vital ways that human beings feel the life and live Everyone, in thereal life, often listens more than speaks, reads or writes We listen everywhere andevery time We listen to everything and everybody For instance, at home, we watchfilms, listen to music or talk with your friends At school, students listen to thelecturers teaching

Listening shows one’s level of manners or etiquettes When one is listening toanother, he is being responsive and if required advising as per the conversations’requirements

Good listening skills at workplace can make workers more productive Theability to listen carefully allows workers to better understand assignments they aregiven Careers in communications, management, planning, sales, and anything elserely on good listening skills

The ability to listen and to comprehend also allows workers to build a strongrapport with colleagues, managers and clients Employers and managers haveconfidence in workers that can listen to instructions and then do what is expectedwith minimal follow-up

In conclusion, as we can see, listening skills are necessary to improvecommunication, interpersonal relations, emotional intelligence and self-analysis.Emphasizing the importance of listening, Anderson and Lynch (2003) state thatlistening skills are as important as speaking skills because people cannotcommunicate face-to-face unless both types of skills are developed together

2.1.5 Listening problems of the English learners in general and the customer support staff in GOLDTRANS in particular

Listening is becoming increasingly important in every fields of life, especially

in learning a foreign language such as English as well as putting it into practicalconditions When learning and using English, the learners and the users found some

difficulties of Vietnamese students in general and some challenges ofGOLDTRANS customer service staff in particular that they have to face up with.Listening is becoming increasingly important in every fields of life, especially

in learning a foreign language such as English When learning English especiallylearning listening English, the learners found some difficulties of Vietnamesestudents in general and some problems of customer service staff at GOLDTRANS

in particular that they have to face up with

Firstly, listeners found that they lack of vocabulary In communication, whenthe speakers speak to the listeners, they can choose what they say and they canchoose word to say, so maybe some words that listeners do not know, that lead tothey cannot understands what the speakers are talking about Besides, sometimeslisteners must to face up with some scientific or specialized English words, or anyfields that listener do not know, so they can miss the next part of speech of thespeakers

Secondly, when communicate with another, listeners cannot ask speakersrepeat many times Sometimes, the listeners cannot understand some word or theycannot follow the speech of speakers, they can ask speakers to repeat it However,

in some countries, it is impolite to ask them repeat continuously if listeners cannotcatch the information many times

Besides, lack of knowledge about grammar will let students misunderstandwhat the speakers are saying about Although Vietnamese students in general andcustomer service staff at GOLDTRANS in particular were studied English quiteearly, at secondary school and high school, they were taught more about grammar

of English but they still are not good at grammar

In addition, lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak is also adifficulty of people when listening English Some research of the author atGOLDTRANS show that staffs find difficulty when listening English in fast speedand normal speed At fast speed and normal speed, they said they cannotunderstand It also can be a barrier that English learners as well as customer servicestaff at GOLDTRANS have to face up with when listening foreign language

Finally, listeners have difficulty when concentrating in a foreign language.People can easily concentrate on something if they feel it interesting Thus, forexample in a conference about science, listeners sometimes feel tired and boredabout the speech because it is hard for them to understand it because they do nothave any knowledge about it Specifically, although working in a logistic company,some employees of Customer Service department of GOLDTRANS are lack ofknowledge of their working field, leading to not understanding the specialized termsand vocabulary of logistics industry.

2.1.6 Factors affecting listening skill

Bias can take on many forms Personal prejudice can affect how well we listenand how we perceive what the speaker is saying Anger can also cause distortion ofthe message As good communicators, personal bias and anger must be put aside inorder to interpret the message Be willing to listen to new ideas Make eye contactwith the speaker, use nonverbal communication, such as nodding your head orsmiling to show that you are interested Even if you do not agree with the speaker'smessage, showing acceptance will let the speaker know that you have received theirmessage

Environmental factors such as noise, temperature and uncomfortable seatingcan cause us to focus our attention on other factors besides what the speaker issaying Try to control environment factors whenever possible Try adjusting thethermostat, finding another seat, or moving to a quiet place to continue theconversation It is hard to focus attention when we are constantly distracted byoutside forces

As we receive a message, we must attend to it or we will lose it Some peoplehave trouble remembering points to discuss when the speaker is talking Try takingnotes as the speaker talks, or use a cue to help you remember what you were going

to say If you find your attention wondering, concentrate on what the speaker issaying, and rehearse how you will answer, or what you are going to say to keep in

your mind on the task at hand Ask questions to clarify and to become involved inthe conversation Concentration helps you receive accurate information andindicates that you are interested in what speaker is saying.

Many times, we catch the drift of what the speaker is saying and we begin torehearse a response, thereby missing parts of the message Other times we may beanticipating our turn to speak and will spend time mentally or physically reviewingnotes and will miss what the speaker has said

We all have certain words that we react to Sometimes when a speaker uses ahot word in his or her message we will concentrate more on the meaning or theword, or its implications for us Consequently, we tend to lose sight of what is beingsaid by the speaker

Many times, we will be asked to attend a seminar where we exhibit little or nointerest in the topic As listeners, we tend to listen to get an overview of what isgoing to be presented and then simply tune out the rest of message

 Accent

Munro and Derwing (1999) expressed that too many accented speeches canlead to an important reduction in comprehension According to Goh (1999), 66% oflearners mentioned a speaker’s accent as one of the most significant factors thataffect listener comprehension Unfamiliar accents both native and non-native cancause serious problems in listening comprehension and familiarity with an accenthelps learners’ listening comprehension Buck (2001) indicated that when listenershear an unfamiliar accent such as Indian English for the first time after studyingonly American English will encounter critical difficulties in listening This willcertainly interrupt the whole listening comprehension process and at the same time

an unfamiliar accent makes comprehension process and at the same time anunfamiliar accent makes comprehension impossible for the listeners

2.2 Overview of speaking skill

2.2.1 Definition

We oftentimes understand simply that speaking is an act of making vocalsounds, we can say that speaking means to converse, or expressing one’s thoughtand feeling in spoken language To speak often implies conveying information Itmaybe from an informal remark to a scholarly presentation to a formal address

A more scholarly way, speaking is the productive oral skill Speaking consists

of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning (utterances are simplythings people say) Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning thatinvolves producing and receiving and processing information (Florez, 1999:1) It isoften spontaneous, open-ended and evolving (ibid:1), but it is not completelyunpredictable.It is not the same as the language used in the written form and cannot

be separated from listening Speaking a foreign language usually seems muchharder than learning to write and read it In this regard, different researchers havehad different definitions of speaking

According to Brown and Yules opinions (1983), spoken language consists ofshort, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation However, speaking is askill, which deserves attention as much as literacy skills in both first and secondlanguage because our learners often need to speak with confidence in order to carryout a lot of their most basic transactions (Bygate, 1991) Furthermore, speaking isknown with two main types of conversation called dialogue and monologue

Ladouse (1991) pointed out that speaking is described as an activity as well asthe ability to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts orsituation in precise words or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideasfluently In addition, Clark and Clark (1991) said that speaking is fundamentally aninstrument act Speakers talk in order to have some effect on their listener It is theresult of teaching- learning process

Furthermore, Wilson (1983) defined speaking as the development of therelationship between speaker and listener Cambridge dictionary also suggested that

“Speaking is the act or skill of giving a speech at a public event” According to

Tarigan (1990), speaking is a language skill that is developed in the children’s life,which is produced by listening skill, and at that period speaking skill is learned.Based on the statements above, it can be inferred that speaking is a spokenlanguage productive skill that focused on the speakers’ capability to produce pieces

of the language orally It is about how the speakers express themselves such asexploring ideas, and express feeling

2.2.2 Types of speaking

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode Like other skills, it’s morecomplicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words Itdepends on the context And in each situation, it has own types There are threemain kinds of speaking situations

Firstly, interactive speaking situations include face- to- face conversation andtelephone calls, in which we are alternately listening and speaking, and in which wehave a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech from ourconversation partner

Secondly, some speaking situations are partially interactive, such as whengiving a speech to a live audience, where the convention is that the audience doesnot interrupt the speech The speaker nevertheless can see the audience and judgefrom the expressions on their faces and body language whether or not he or she isbeing understood

Finally, some few speaking situations may be totally non – interactive, such aswhen recording a speech for a radio broadcast

In each situation, we also have many types of speaking skills that can help usstand out in a crowd, some of them are:

Stories can be a powerful public speaking tool when speaking in groups,especially when they contain some hints of humor but shorter messages leave moreimpression Also, they will help those who listening easier to remember the details

When speaking in group, the speaker will try to reach as many people as hecan by moving his eyes around and talk to anyone who listening to what they want

to say It will make the audiences feel respected and also make the speech moreconvincing.

The more you know what you want to say, the better you can get at it Beforesaying anything, brainstorming the topic of your speech and think wisely about thething you want to talk about

Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the attention of an audience,providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message known Agood speaker doesn’t have to know many complex grammatical structures, he justneeds to practice, try to speak as fluently as possible and focus on grammar aspectslater

2.2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill

2.2.3.1 The process of spoken language

According to Levelt, Models of word production, 1999, the author stated that

the production of spoken language involves three major levels of processing:conceptualization, formulation, and articulation In "The neurocognition oflanguage" published in Oxford Press, Levelt also gave the details conception ofeach level of processing

Conceptualization or conceptual preparation, in which the intention to createspeech links a desired concept to the specific spoken words to be expressed Herethe preverbal intended messages are formulated that specify the concepts to beexpressed

Formulation in which the linguistic form required for the expression of thedesired message is created The formulation includes grammatical encoding,morpho-phonological encoding, and phonetic encoding

Articulation, which is the execution of the articulatory score by the lungs,glottis, larynx, tongue, lips, jaw and other parts of the vocal apparatus resulting inspeech

2.2.3.2 The characteristics of speaking skill

According to Mazou (2013), learners’ activities should be designed based on

an equivalence between fluency and accuracy achievement Both fluency andaccuracy are important elements of a communicative approach Besides,vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation also support a lot for oral communication.Understanding deeply in each element will make advantages for learners especiallyfor the staff in customer support department Because this department not onlyfrequently communicates with foreign customers by phone, email but directlycommunicates each other as well

The first characteristic of speaking performance is fluency It is the main aim

of the staff when learning English Of course, when the staff speaks Englishfluently, it easier for them to build a new relationship with their partners Inaddition, it also creates more opportunities for two sides to coordinate for a longtime According to Hedge (2000), fluency is the ability to answer coherently byconnecting the words and phrases, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stressand intonation Hughes (2002) expressed that fluency is the learner’s ability tospeak in an understandable way in order not to break down communication becauselisteners may lose their interest

The second characteristic of speaking performance is accuracy Englishlearners in general, and the staff in the customer service department ofGOLDTRANS in particular should be fluent in learning a foreign language.Therefore, the staff should pay full attention to their learning English processes such

as focusing on grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazou,2013)

The third characteristic of speaking performance is vocabulary According toWikipedia, “Vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language.”Vocabulary will be accumulated with age and time and becomes one of thepowerful and useful tools for communication and acquiring knowledge If you don’thave the words to say what you want to say, then you cannot say it The moreinteresting words you know, the better your speaking ability is

The fourth one is grammar Grammar is the structure and system of alanguage, or of languages in general, usually considered to consist of syntax andmorphology Mastering in grammar will support the speaker a lot to communicatewith others and the audience also can understand what the speakers say.

The last characteristic of speaking performance is pronunciation.Pronunciation is the way in which a language or a particular word or sound ispronounced The sub-skills like word and sentence stress, intonation, rhythm andthe use of the individual sounds of a language will support a lot for pronunciation to

be practiced perfectly

In general, fluency, accuracy, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation both arenecessary characteristics of oral communication In order to improve Englishspeaking skill, the customer service staff should be competent in these elements.From that, their English-speaking ability will change quickly

2.2.4 The importance of speaking skill

Why the importance of speaking skills? While a picture may be worth athousand words, those words will no doubt come in handy if the picture is distorted

or poorly understood After all, the most effective way to communicate is throughspeech Thus, speaking skills are a vitally important method of communication.The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are allinterconnected Proficiency in each skill is necessary to become a well-roundedcommunicator, but the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with severaldistinct advantages The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way toreflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these importantadvantages:

Well-developed verbal skills can increase one’s negotiation skills confidence is improved A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front

Self-of larger and larger audiences A reputation for excellence in speaking can accrueover time, thereby imparting a certain credibility to the speaker

 Ability to inform, persuade, and direct

A great speaker is the one who can gain and then holds the attention of anaudience, with well-chosen words in a well-delivered presentation There are manypeople like business managers, lawyers, politicians choose to develop their speakingskills so they can easily persuade others

Employers have always valued the ability to speak well It is, and always will

be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing

When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as a common skill.Think again The ability to stand before others and speak effectively is not anordinary ability Many people are deathly afraid of public speaking; others havelittle ability to form thoughts into sentences and then deliver those words in abelievable way

Speakers who have experienced a connection with an appreciative audiencethrough a well-composed and well-delivered presentation often find a deep level offulfillment that is seldom achieved in other forms of communication The normalsense of nervous tension can give way to feelings of accomplishment andexuberance when an audience expresses its outward appreciation to a speaker It’s areward, of sorts, for all the hard work and preparation that goes into honing yourskills

To sum up, speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly notlimited to one’s professional aspirations Speaking skills can enhance one’s personallife and thereby bring about the well-rounded growth that we should all seek

2.2.5 Speaking problems of the English learners in general and the customer support staff in GOLDTRANS in particular

There are some problems for speaking skill that the staff in the customersupport department can encounter during communicating in English with thecustomers These are inhibition, lack of topical knowledge, mother – tongue use,and working environment

Lack of topical knowledge is the first problem that the staff in the customersupport department often encounters at work The employees in the customerservice department complain that they cannot think of anything to say For example,

in a specific situation, the customer called to complain about long shipping time.The staff can understand the customer’s problems but they express their idea badly,which leads to mutual understanding Moreover, they sometimes do not haveenough information, little opinions about what to say, which vocabulary to apply, orhow to use grammar accurately

The second problem is inhibition “Inhibition is a feeling of worry that stopspeople from telling or performing what they want” (Cambridge A L Dictionary,2008) When they want to say something with the customers, sometimes they areinhibited Because they are not confident of themselves and worried about makingmistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face They are ashamed of the othercolleague’s attention towards themselves It is easier to recognize that oralcommunication in a foreign language may create inhibitions and anxiety easilyespecially at work

The third problem related to the speaking ability All we know that thoughmost of the employees in customer service department use English at work, otherdepartments still use their own language (mother tongue) Therefore, they are notable to practice English well They just deal with the common problems at work but

if they encounter the new cases, maybe it is difficult for them to solve theseproblems Especially, they can be supported by their colleagues who will explainthese problems in their mother tongue Furthermore, most of time the employeeswork with Vietnamese so they get used to mother tongue use As the results, theemployees are always in a spot and do not find the effective solutions to changethemselves

The last as well as significant problem of speaking skill is environment theywork The staff in customer support rarely communicate directly with foreigncustomers because this is the main duty of the operation department inGOLDTRANS They mainly support customer via internet like phone, email andsocial media Besides, each customer who comes from the other countries has

different accent Therefore, the employees are able to listen comprehensivelyespecially customers from Singapore, India.

2.2.6 Factors affecting speaking skill

With purpose to help the staff in customer support overcome problems inEnglish speaking, it is necessary to figure out factors that affect their speakingperformance The staff’ speaking performance can be affected by the factors thatcome from listening comprehension, topical knowledge, English pronunciation,grammatical accuracy, vocabulary, and psychology

In order to be proficient in a second language, the speaker’s task is to reach thepronunciation standard of a native speaker In fact, it is not a realistic expectation atall They need to pronounce accurately the important sounds that is distinctive fromone another For instance, the customer service employees at GOLDTRANS whoare assigned to communicate with foreign customers have trouble with pronouncingthe difficult words especially the name of the customers Hence, the staff shouldenhance their pronunciation to have an effective communication

Lack of vocabulary is also one of the common factors that affects a lot Englishspeaking skill The effective communication comes from using suitable words.Their vocabulary is limited so they are not able to express their idea, feeling, andopinion From that, it causes speaking problems

Learners in general and staff in customer support department in particularshould accumulate a diverse vocabulary for themselves For each person, it depends

on a job position and a specific field For example, the employees in customerservice department lack of vocabulary specialized logistics, they cannot understandwhat it means In addition, in some cases, the meaning of the word is not similar tothe daily conversation, they will make mistakes easily

Some people wonder why it is necessary to have grammatical accuracy inEnglish when even some native English speakers commit the grammatical mistakes

themselves The real reason is they are familiar with their own language and theycan express their idea in another way without changing the meaning But for non-native speakers, it is more difficult For staff at the customer service department,they also face this problem And most of them change the meaning of sentences thatthey want to express, and thus create a misunderstanding That’s exactly the reasonwhy the staff in customer support at GOLDTRANS has to study grammar morethan native speakers.

Listening comprehension is a basic skill one must have in order to be a goodEnglish speaker Be proficient in listening ability is the key to understand whatothers are saying One of the most common mistakes of the staff when learningEnglish is, they just focus their effort on grammar without accessing and practicingEnglish comprehension skills They only know grammar rules and constructcomplex sentences However, they do not know that they cannot support them a lot

in practicing English speaking Even, when someone is good at English grammar,they cannot communicate with the foreigner customers

For example, when being asked a question too fast or the enigmatic accent ofthe speakers (often from Australian or British speakers) that make them land in anembarrassing situation to catch their idea Sometimes, they will ask the speaker torepeat the question several times or request the speaker to speak more slowly,before they can understand the question On the other hand, some staff answer thequestion impressively (without many mistakes in grammar and pronunciation, andwith good explanations) just to find out in the end that she or he misunderstood thequestion

Lacking of grammar knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension of meaningalso causes listening problems As a result, it may affect a lot to speaking ability ofthe staff in customer service department of GOLDTRANS

Topical knowledge is the speaker’s knowledge of related topical information.Bachman and Palmer (1996) assert that topical knowledge has a great impact on the

learners’ speaking performance This is true because if anyone in the customersupport department has no deep knowledge about logistics, they do not know how

to deal with problems with the customers and give them appropriate solutions

Numerous researches have reported that learners with high motivation andself-confidence are able to perform easily while learners who lack confidence areusually not able to develop their speaking skill (Dornyei, 2001; Krashen, 2002;Viswat and Jackson, 1993) Basically, when the learners suffer from lack ofconfidence, “They lack effective strategies such as being able to praise themselvesfor doing something well or having confidence in themselves’ (Viswat and Jackson1993:17) Makiko Ebata (2008) finds that ‘Lack of belief in one’s ability hindershim from achieving that task-pursuing a targeted language accomplishment.Therefore, when staff are not confident, their English-speaking skill is increasinglybad

In addition, lacking of motivation, laziness, anxiety also are the key factorsprevent the learners from speaking fluently If they can overcome these factors, theycan absolutely communicate with the foreigners without hesitation

2.3 Conclusion

In conclusion, this chapter mainly summarizes the theories, ideas, opinionsrelated to the speaking skills and listening skills It has presented the relevantliterature, which has helped to form the theoretical can conceptual framework forgraduation paper The following chapter will present the methodology and finding

of the research under the light of all above

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 3.1 The research hypothesis

Humans are programed to listen and speak before reading and writing In anysituation, human beings spend more time interacting orally with the language ratherusing it in the written form Efrizal ( 2012) and Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016)expressed that “Speaking was of great significance for the people interaction whenthey spoke everywhere and everyday Speaking is the way of communicating ideasand messages orally” In communication, speaking and listening are two inseparableactions, which must go together Moreover, listening and speaking skills havebecome the compulsory components of the daily communication and in office.The effective communication depends a lot on the message conveyed.Therefore, it is essential to learn listening and speaking skills In order to master inoral communication, the speakers should know many significant components such

as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension

At GOLDTRANS company, English is required for all staff as it is considered

to be the most useful and effective tool to communicate with the customers Manyuseful methods are applied for staff in a long time but do not gain the positiveeffect Therefore, the researcher studied about the reality of using English in thecompany and found out the problems what they faced to in listening and speakingEnglish then suggested some solutions for them to enhance their English listeningand speaking skill

3.2 Procedure of data collection

3.2.1 Questionnaire survey

In the first phase, questionnaires were administered to 30 customer supportstaff of GOLDTRANS The online questionnaires were administered to allparticipants before collecting at least three days The staff is asked to complete them

at home and returned their responses five days later so that they would have asmuch time as they needed The needed information includes the learners’ Englishlevel, their problems in conversation with the guests, how they need to be assisted it

to overcome the difficulties in the frequently conversational situations at work

Their needs help to give the best solutions to improve their English listening andspeaking skill.

3.2.2 Interviews

An interview was conducted with 30 employees in two phases They wereinterviewed in some locations where they feel in the most comfortable situation.The length of each interview was from 5 to 10 minutes All answers of theparticipants would be recorded carefully They are clear evidences to provideauthentic information about the staff’s proficiency in English listening and speakingskill

2 The solutions to solve the problems

Quantitative data provided inputs for calculation of percentage and frequencyfor answers to the two research questions

Qualitative data were analyzed following the interactive approach suggested

by Miles & Huberman (1990)

In short, this part has described in details the research context, data collectionprocedure and data analysis used in this study Major findings will be presented anddiscussed in the next part

3.3 Results and discussion