A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited

A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited A study on how to improve customercomplaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited

THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH

Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, M.A

HANOI, 2021

HÀ NỘI - 2015

Over hundreds of years of development and integration, English has become a popular language and it is internationally recognized, used as a common language Currently, if graduates want to have a well-paid job, they have to learn English This

is an important factor in Viet Nam

In order to complete the graduation paper, the author had a chance to intern in JDL Vietnam Limited Company, where the author found the current situation of using business correspondence as well as errors of employees Therefore, the author

decided to choose the study “A study on how to improve customer-complaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited”.

Based on the results from the study, the author would like to analyze problems, reasons and give some recommendations, suggestions, and work outright solutions

to deal with the difficulties in customer-complaint response writing skills The author hopes that students will have awareness of the customer-complaint response writing skills and find new ways to overcome all the difficulties faced during intern

as well as work at the company in the future

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor –Mrs Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc - one of the enthusiastic lecturers for the valuable guidance and encouragement Mrs Ngoc, along with her sharing and feedbacks, has been my inspiration as well as motivation to overcome all the obstacles and

difficulties during the process Without any help of her, I can hardly finish this graduation thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the teachers

of English Faculty at Thuongmai University, who have imparted golden knowledge

to me From these supports, I can improve my English skills and have good

background to achieve my dreams, finish my graduation paper successfully

Moreover, I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the employees in Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd who helped me with valuable information by completing interview questions and email

Last but not least, millions of thanks go to my beloved family whose financial support and spiritual encouragement contribute a significant part to the completion

of the research

In short, I really thank to all people helping me to finish this graduation thesis Hanoi, April 16th, 2021 Student

Le Thi Thuong

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LISTOF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTSe vi

CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research subjects 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.7 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Business corespondence 6

2.1.1 Definition of BC 6

2.1.2 The purposes of BC 7

2.1.3 Parts of the formal business correspondence 8

2.2 Complaint letter 11

2.2.1 The definition of complaint letters 11

2.2.2 Some types of complaint letters 11

2.2.3 Replying to letters of complaints 12

2.2.4.Points to be kept in mind while writing reply letters to complaints 13

2.3 Error 14

2.3.1 Errors in the Use of Punctuation 14

2.3.2 Grammatical errors 15

2.3.2 Lexical errors 16

2.3.3 Collocation errors 16

2.3.4 Other Errors 16

2.4 Essential techniques in writing English reply customer-complaint 17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 18

3.1 Research methods 18

3.1.1 Participants 18

3.1.2 Research instruments 18

3.1.3 Data collection process 19

3.2 Findings 19

3.2.1 Errors in the Use of Punctuation 19

3.2.2 Sentence Structure Errors 21

3.2.3 Preposition Errors 24

3.2.4 Conjunction Errors 26

3.2.5 Verb – form Errors 28

3.2.6 Other Errors 29

3.3 Summary 30

3.4 Suggested solutions given by staff in JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd 31

3.4.1 Apply more policies to motivate improve skill writing reply English correspond business 31

3.4.2 Hire English - major or English certificate owner employees 32

3.4.3 Professional training courses 32

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 33

4.1 Limitations of the study 33

4.2 Recommendations and suggestions for staff 33

4.1.1 Suggestion on improving vocabulary 33

4.1.2 Suggestion on improving grammar structures 34

4.1.3 Suggestion on improving writing skill 35

4.3 Suggestions for the company 35

4.4 Suggestions for further studies 36

CONCLUSION 37

REFERENCES 38

APPENDIX 39

Công ty TNHH JDL Việt Nam

corespondence

Thư Tín Thương Mại

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 2.1 Complementary close in business correspondence 9

Table 2.2 Format of a business letter 10

Table 3.1: Punctuation errors in collected customer complaint response letter 19

Table 3.2: Sentence structure errors in collected customer complaint response letter 21

Table 3.3: Preposition errors in collected customer complaint response letter 25

Table 3.4: Conjunction errors in collected customer complaint response letter 27

Table 3.5: Verb - form errors in collected customer complaint response letter 28

Table 3.6: Other errors in collected customer complaint response letter 30

Chart 3.7 The percentage of common errors in customer complaint response letter .31

CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

As the trend of integration is growing, human relations as well as work

cooperation are not only confined within Vietnam but also to the international environment English, one of the international languages, has been acting as a means of communication between countries, between cultures, between companies, international organizations and between communities It can be said that, in the current globalization trend, English has become a prerequisite for each country to integrate into the world In Vietnam, English plays an important role in all fields such as science, technology, aviation, international sport, diplomacy and so on.English is used in a majority of countries in the world as it is one of the most important languages for international communication such as many schools,

colleges, universities, and companies Being an international company, JDL

Vietnam Co., Ltd requires a high level of English especially speaking and writing skills In addition, employees are taught basic writing and communication skills in their training Of the skills, many employees consider writing the most difficult because it requires not only specialized knowledge but also professional use of grammar and lexis to write business correspondences as well as custom procedures

To deal with customer, good writing skills of business correspondence is very important, which contribute to the development of JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd

Improving customer-complaint response writing skills will be the second

opportunity for individuals and businesses to regain sympathy for scoring points in the eyes of customers as well as alleviating the stress of customer with enterprise Inspite of the importance, it has not really been taken care of and has not really given priority to improve skills of writing business correspondence Whenever customers take order or respond to product, the employees must reply immediately However, most of them have average expertise and only a few of them have both professional and language skill to work well Therefore, this is an urgent matter that needs to be solved to overcome difficulties as well as improve writing skill to write business correspondence more effectively

Therefore, I choose the topic: “A study on how to improve

customer-complaint response writing skills for staff at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited.” to research The aim of this paper is to focus on writing reply

to complaint letter and the research object is employees in Sales Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd The study is feasible and useful for employees in this department

I hope that through the study will be a useful reference to help improve writing skills for not only all employees at the company but also all students who interested

in the job related to commercial documents

1.2 Previous studies

In the world, there are many business correspondence documents as well as many studies related to business correspondence I have consulted it and selected some good ideas from the following studies:

In 2014, Shafa Firda Nila (Management and Accounting, Indonesia)

implemented the study “Problems in writing English business letter: Errors and Factors” In this study, “the data were collected from the English business letter written by third semester of Bina Bangsa Economics students majoring in

Management and Accounting The students were asked to respond a complaint letterfrom a customer of the given situation The error category is based on Ferris and Hedgcock model (2005) The researcher identified the problems of error found in the letters and explained the factors that caused the problems to draw the

conclusion”

A study by Jerraselan Gnanaselan (English Teaching Unit, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka) stated that using a native language in business communication limited the opportunities and investments throughout countries and abroad He also marked “making great business correspondence is a must in international trading period”

Another study by Aliya Aimoldina, SholpanZharkynbekova and

DamiraAkynova (Philology Department, L.N Guimilyov Eurasian National

University, Kazakhstan) on BC, which examined Pragmatic Failures, is also fairly interesting to discuss here In this study, the trio identified a number of reasons for pragmatic failures in communication through BC, ‘a mixture of different genres in

one business text with a combination of several communicative purposes, a lack of language skill of the authors of business letters in English, etc”.

In addition to the research of famous scholars over the world, in Vietnam, there were also many studies related to this issue “An analysis of some techniques

to improve writing English business letters” by Vu Thi Huong Giang (2010 -

Foreign Language Department of Hai Phong Private University) The study aimed

to give theoretical background of definition, importance, purpose, business letter format and some types of business letter Besides, it found out some common mistakes in writing an English business letter Then the author conducted an

analysis of the results and suggested some techniques in order to have good will in writing English business letter

In general, in my opinion, the mentioned studies could help people have a full understanding of business correspondence and point out the way to write these kinds of letters more effectively I also hope that my study can allow employees, especially employees at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd to realize their popular errors in writing reply letters to complaints and, therefore, they can find out the most suitablesolutions to improve their skill

1.3 Aims of the study

The study aims at finding the errors of the staff at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd in writing English reply correspondence Moreover, the study tries to find solutions to this issue in order to limit the faults and tries to determine some ways that would improve this essential skill

This study aims to answer the following research questions:

1: What are the errors in using English writing skills such as emails, letters ofemployees at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd?

2: What are the solutions to improve customer complaint response writing skills for staff at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd?

1.4 Research subjects

The subject of the study is customer-complaint response writing skills for staff

at Jet Delivery Logistics Vietnam Company Limited Accompanying study subject

is thirty employees who had little previous English-writing experience in their previous study in sales Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd.

Working for the company, they were trained through two basics ( include Write Professional Emails in English and Secret Sauce of Great Writing), writing courses focused mainly on English customs procedures, business correspondences, bills, so far and so on They were involved in composing an email and tell the author how customer-complaint response writing skills

The author also collected data from the company’s stored documents The author read over fifty business correspondences made by JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd Employees and summed up data for the study

1.5 Scope of the study

To deal with customers, good writing skills of business correspondence is veryimportant, which contribute to the development of the company Moreover, because

of limited time and knowledge, the study only concentrates on finding out the most common problems made by all employees of Sales Department at JDL Vietnam Co.,Ltd when they reply complaint response The study is carried out within doing my internship (lasting from February 24th to April 16th, 2021)

Sales Department takes responsibility of planning, developing, implementing marketing strategy and create the company’s brand to the customer, in charge of PR activities It can be seen that the employees usually work in international

environment and business documents However, their abilities of writing business correspondence are not absolutely good Through the research, the author hope that they can improve their skill and connect effectively with customer

1.6 Research methodology

This study is implemented in two steps: collect data and process data

Step 1: In this first step, I will collect secondary data resources collected from websites, textbooks, and social media channels Besides, it also includes useful information that the author consulted from other data resources as well as from the instructor to complete this study I will read and synthesize the related materials needed for the study These materials provide suggestions to help identify the problem and form the basis of the research To realize the errors in writing

English reply business emails made by all staff in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd Fifty collected business emails from this company Thus, I can find out the mistakes they often made while writing English reply business emails After this step, I will have preliminary information on the theoretical issues related

to the study and sample emails written by staff in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd, and then process the data in the next step

Step 2: In this step, I will process the collected data In this Graduation Paper, the author method I would like to use is the quantitative method of collectingand analyzing data I will analyze and find out all the errors staff in the Sale

Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd usually made in writing customer-complaint response from the collected data in step 1 After processing the data I will make conclusions about the mistakes they often made while writing English reply

business email at the company mainly based on the plurality that they made It aims

to help writers improve their writing and to able to check and correct errors

themselves during their work The author would analyze the collected data by using calculation and synthesis tools and then display the analysis results in the form of tables and percentages

1.7 Organization of the study

The graduation paper includes 4 parts as following:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study

The introduction of the study including rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study method of study and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review

Theoretical background supplies the readers with the theoretical background including the theory of academic writing, business correspondence, errors and techniques

Chapter 3: Research findings

The current situation of using business correspondence as well as the common skills used, problems and causes of these frequently-made errors errors of the employees in the company Besides, the main part of research findings is proposing effective solutions as well as techniques to improve the skills

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions for further studies.

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the author focuses on presenting basic information as well as analyzing all of the relevant aspects of errors and business email The literature review is started with an overview of errors, types of errors, English business

emails, some popular types The literature review is considered an important

foundation to help people learn characteristics, qualities, and the importance of the business email

2.1 Business corespondence

2.1.1 Definition of BC

To understand what the staff in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd have to deal with when writing English business correspondence, it is essential to consider the definition given by its creator and developer It is necessary to learn about each specific part of the research topic: business English, writing skills, and business correspondence

First of all, according to Johan (2014), Business English is different from international English and it is typically related to international trade It is a part of English for specific purposes It may focus on language and skills needed for typicalbusiness communication, such as presentations, negotiations, meetings, small talks, socializing correspondence and report writing

Secondly, about writing skills, , Frendo (2012) said that Writing is a key part

of day-to-day activities of business We can simply understand that writing skills means the ability to convert thoughts into words, with proper standards and

punctuations, grammar and other important aspects of writing One of the subjects

in the Business English course is Writing Business Letters Gilling (2013) said "All the business writing must be clear and concise with simple straightforward

language It should be noted that in writing business emails should be clear, concise,and avoid of slang and jargon"

Lastly, communication aims to conveying feelings, thoughts, etc through exchange of letters is known as correspondence A businessman also writes and receives letters in his day-to-day transactions, which may be called business

correspondence Business correspondence or business letter is a written

communication between two parties Businessmen may write letters/emails to

suppliers of goods and also receive letters from the suppliers Customers may write letters/emails to businessmen seeking information about availability of goods, price,quality, sample ete or place order for purchase of goods Thus, business

letters/emails may be defined as a media or means through which views are

expressed and ideas or information is communicated in writing in the process of business activities

2.1.2 The purposes of BC

Each person will have different purposes when writing business emails The most basic and essential purpose is that business letters are written to gain an effect that will promote the business interests of the writer (Harrison McJohnston, 1918).Along with the development of the world, the business is also becoming more modern and faster thanks to a series of support tools Business email is one

according to a wealth of analysis, business letters are used for these following aims:

Firstly, for conveying information Business emails are written to share

information regarding the business activities of a company Information can be transmitted through business emails to customers, suppliers, financial institutions, banks, and insurance companies, and any other parties related to the business Through business email, business organizations collect and exchange business-related information It is a handy tool if you need to inform all employees of a new office policy or to inform the partner of the changes of the coming launching

program No one can deny that a business letter is such a quick and effective means

of communication

Secondly, for negotiations Email is a useful method of communication for

sharing figures and negotiating with another party It is a convenient method

because it is quicker than regular mail and provides an easy way to keep a record of the proceedings If you want to see exactly what is included in a quote, it's easy to sort through your e-mail archives to find the information you need And you know that both parties have a copy of the same information All these things can be done without wasting any time moving from here to there

Thirdly, for marketing and advertising Business correspondence, especially,

commercial email often beats out print media marketing and advertising You can easily reach your audience, personalize the email message with the recipients' names, and include a link to your organization's Web presence These emails are

called sales emails and it is a form of new advertising It's quick, convenient, and effective when a businessman wants to use a business email to introduce customers

to a new product This new advertising form can create new markets for their

products

2.1.3 Parts of the formal business correspondence

“The quality of a good business letter will be maintained if we give proper attention to each and every part of the letter There are some different parts of a business letter According to Ashley, (2007) The essential parts of a business letter are as follows:

- Heading: The heading of a business letter usually contains the name and

postal address of the business, E-mail address, Web-site address, Telephone

Number, Fax Number, Trade Mark or logo of the business (if any)

- Date: The date is normally written on the right hand side corner after the

heading as the day, month and years Some examples are 15th Feb., 2020 or Feb

15, 2020

- Reference: It indicates letter number and the department from where the

letter is being sent and the year It helps in future reference This reference number

is given on the left hand corner after the heading For example, we can write

reference number as AB/FADept./2019/27

- Inside address: It includes the name, full address of the person or the

company to whom the letter is to be sent It is written on the left side, below

reference number Letters should be addressed to the responsible head e.g., the Secretary, the Principal, the Chairman, the Manager etc

- Subject: The subject is a brief statement and indicates the matter of the latter.

The Chief Manager,State Bank of IndiaUtkal University CampusBhubaneswar,

It can help the reader know the main content of the letter and attract the

receiver’s attention immediately For example:

Subject: Quotation of Homeware crafts lampshade

Subject: Inquiry about hot trend coconut bowls

- Salutation: This is placed below the inside address It is usually followed by

a comma (,) Various forms of salutation are:

+ Sir/Madam: For official and formal correspondence

+ Dear Sir/Madam: For addressing an individual

+ Dear Sirs/Dear Madam: For addressing a firm or company

- Body of letter: This comes after salutation This is the main part of the letter

and it contains the actual message of the sender It is divided into three parts

+ Opening part: It is the introductory part of the letter In this part, attention of the reader should be drawn to the previous correspondence, if any For example- with reference to your letter no 326 dated 12th March 2003, I would like to draw your attention towards the new brand of television

+ Main part : This part usually contains the subject matter of the letter It should be precise and written in clear words

+Concluding Part : It contains a statement the of sender's intentions, hopes or expectations concerning the next step to be taken Further, the sender should alwayslook forward to getting a positive response At the end, terms like Thanking you, With regards, With warm regards may be used

- Complementary close: It is merely a polite way of ending a letter It must be

in accordance with the salutation

Dear Sir/Dear Madam Yours faithfully

My Dear Akbar Yours very sincerely (express very informal

relations)

Table 2.1 Complementary close in business correspondence

- Signature: It is written in ink, immediately below the complimentary close

As far as possible, the signature should be legible The name of the writer should be

typed immediately below the signature The designation is given below the typed name Where no letterhead is in use, the name of the company too could be includedbelow the designation of the writer

- 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 by one in serial numbers

- Copy circulation: This is required when copies of the letter are also sent to

persons apart of the addressee It is denoted as C.C

- Post script: This is required when the writer wants to add something, which

is not included in the body of the letter It is expressed as P.S

Format of a business letter

2.2.1 The definition of complaint letters

A complaint letter is a type of business letters written by purchasers when

purchasers do not find the goods up to his satisfaction It is used to inform the seller and complain that he/she has receives wrong, detective, damaged goods or receives incorrect quantity of goods Complaint letters are used to raise the supplier’s concern orany parties or announce of detective or damaged goods and seek a productive outcome

2.2.2 Some types of complaint letters

 Depending on the level of an organization or an individual, complaint letters can be divided into two types:

 Personal complaint letters: when a letter written at a personal level by an individual it is called Personal complaint letters These letters are written by

consumers to get a refund, replace a product etc

 Professional complaint letters: when letters which are written on behalf of

an organization are called Professional complaint letters These letters are mostly related to professional items and services

 Depending on the content of complaint letters, complaint letters can be divided into some following types:

 Complaint letters of wrong delivery

 Complaint letters of damage: when the goods are damaged, customers want

to know the main reason for this problem as well as want to receive a solution to deal with this Complaint letters in this case are used frequently

 Complaint letters of bad workmanship: When bad workmanship is involvedthe customer can only complain as the fault occurs But they still should complain immediately

 Complaint letters of non-delivery: Sometimes, the delivery is not on time astwo parties discussed Therefore, when non-delivery happens, the customer can write a letter to complain about this (according to Ashley, 2007)

2.2.3 Replying to letters of complaints

+ Opening

In this part, you have to acknowledge that you have received the complaints ofcustomers Therefore, at least, before mentioning other things, you should thank your customers for informing you

“Thank you for your letter of 7 April informing us that…”

“We would like to thank you for informing us of damaged lampshades you bought from us last month.”

+ Body part

+ Getting time to investigate the complaint

Customers can complain about many things such as damaged good, delivery, late delivery, etc Meanwhile, there are some matters you cannot deal with immediately, so do not leave your customer waiting, but tell him what you are doingstraight away

non-“Due to the complicatedness of this matter, I have to check with logistics company and promise to reply you immediately once having answer.”

“Would you please return damaged products you received yesterday, and I will send them to our factory for tests?”

+ Explaining the mistake

After justifying the complaint, you should explain why and how the mistake happened It is important to remember that you should not blame your staff and takeresponsibility for their actions

“The mistake occurred during the process of delivery…”

“It is unusual for this kind of error to arise but we have dealt with that

problem.”

+ Solving the problem

Having acknowledged your responsibility and explained the reason of the mistake, you must suggest solutions to tackle the problem

“The bamboo bowls have been painted with the colors you want, and I will send them to you within this week.”

“The material you complained about has now been withdrawn We have replaced by a new brand material which is popular in the market.”

+ Rejecting a complaint

In case you think the complaint of customers is unjustified, you can be firm and polite to inform customers Although the mistake is not your responsibility, you should try to explain the reason customers to understand

“After checking with our factory, we inform you that the mistake occurred due

to the wrong maintenance If you look at instruction booklet on machine that we sent you, you will see that it is vital to take care of….”

2.2.4.Points to be kept in mind while writing reply letters to complaints.

Firstly, the main purpose of complaint letters is the request of correcting

mistakes or faults as well as knowing the reason why the problems happened Therefore, you should write calmly, clearly and present all the information related

to customers’ complaints and make some suggestions to put the matters right

Secondly, when answering a complaint, it is necessary to apologize for the

mistake and thank customers for informing you Besides, you must explain the reason why the mistake occurred but do not blame for your staff

In case you need more time to find out the reason and solutions, please let

your customers know If the complaint is unjustified, you should inform them in a polite way but sympathize with the inconvenience it has caused

 More importantly, whether your customer’s complaints are right or wrong,

they are still your customer and their comments about you to other people when working with you can either improve or damage your reputation (according to Ashley, 2007)

2.3 Error

According to Merriam Webster, error is the amount of deviation from a

standard or specification Error is the state or condition of being wrong in conduct

or judgment Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors

that learners make (Faisyal, 2015) Moreover, Saville-Troikke (cited in Faisyal, 2015) stated that error analysis is the first approach to the study of the second language acquisition which includes an internal focus on the learner’s creative ability to construct language Ellis and Barkhuizen, (cited in Sychandone, 2016) described error analysis as a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learner’s errors; it is like the process of determining the incidence, nature, cause, and consequences of unsuccessful in language.

2.3.1 Errors in the Use of Punctuation

According to Byrne (1988: 16), the fact that punctuation has never been standard to the extent as spelling, makes it is problematic Similarly, Carrol and Wilson (1995: 191) state "students' writing

encounter punctuation problems as there are no universal rules of

punctuation."

Punctuation is the set of marks used to regulate texts and clarify their

meanings, mainly by separating or linking words, phrases, and clauses The word comes from the Latin word punctuare meaning "making a point."

Marks of punctuation include ampersands, apostrophes, asterisks, brackets, bullets, colons, commas, dashes, diacritic marks, ellipsis, exclamation points, hyphens, paragraph breaks, parentheses, periods, question marks, quotation marks, semicolons, slashes, spacing, and strike-throughs

The use (and misuse) of punctuation affects meaning—sometimes

dramatically—, as seen in this "Dear John" letter, where the change in punctuation from one to the next drastically alters the meaning

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is all about You are generous, kind, thoughtful People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior You have ruined me for other men I yearn for you I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart I can be forever happy—will you let me be yours?

Jane

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you Admit to being useless and inferior You have ruined me For other men, I yearn For you, I have no feelings whatsoever When we're apart, I can be forever happy Will you let me be?

Learners have a number of problems in their attempts to write in the second language “As verbs take different forms depending on tense and subjects they are used with, they create problems for second language writing students” (Tyner, 1987) Similarly, Kharma (1987) in Melese (2007: 12) states that students have problems with subject verb agreements, pronoun references, and connectors

Sentences reflect various syntactic structures (Reid, 1983) However,

incapable learners use runon, incorrect, and fragmented sentences (west 1966, in Tsegaye 2006:16) Kharma (1986) states that those students who have the problem

of writing good sentences structures are unable to produce longer sentences

requiring subordination and coordination According to Zamel (1983:22), cohesive devices are crucial in writing However, the linking devices have been found to be problematic for English language students

2.3.2 Lexical errors

Lexis is an important aspect of creating a suitable style or register It means the lexis of a language as opposed to other aspects such as the grammar of the text (According to Richard, Platt (1992), lexis is “a set of lexemes, including single

words, compound words and idioms.”(p 40) Whereas, the Advanced Learners Dictionary (1995:1331) offered its own definition Lexis here is simply understood

as “the total number of words in a language.”

2.3.3 Collocation errors

Collocation is a familiar grouping of words, especially words that habitually appear together and thereby convey meaning by association A collocation is two or more words that often go together These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time (according to Kenneth Beare, 1995)Collocation errors abound in the writings and utterances of English languagelearners Two major factors that contribute to mis-collocations are learners’ lack

of exposure to the English language and the interference of their mother tongue Collocation errors are of different types, with lexical mis-collocation and

prepositional mis-collocation being the two common types

2.3.4 Other Errors

+ Spelling Problem Due to the influence of other languages, variant

pronunciations and other historical reasons, the English spelling system which has become inconsistent is complex for students (Gowere et al, 1995)

+ Fused (run-on) Sentence

A fused sentence (also called a run-on) joins clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence with no punctuation or words to link them Fused sentences must be either divided into separate sentences or joined by adding words or

punctuation (according to Richard, Platt (1992)

The house was flooded with light, the moon rose above the horizon

He wondered what the decision meant he thought about it all night

+ Unnecessary or Missing Capitalization

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives, the first words of sentences, and important words in titles, along with certain words indicating directions and family relationships Do not capitalize most other words When in doubt, check a dictionary

2.4 Essential techniques in writing English reply customer-complaint

Writing a customer-complaint response letter is not much different from writing a general business letter In the developed Internet age, emails also representthe new technology we must master Therefore, some tips for writing emails are given to help businessmen have a professional and efficient email According to L.V Nyzhnikova (2011), there are some techniques that improve customer-

complaint response writing skills

First, avoid sloppiness, it is unprofessional We shouldn't have poor grammar, spelling, and sentence structure These are no more acceptable in an English

Fourth, avoid using a lot of abbreviations that the reader can’t understand.Fifth, avoid using emoticons They aren't suitable for serious business emails

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

Throughout chapter II of this research, we have had an overview of the

concept, the definition, and importance of business Correspondence, and errors related and some tips of techniques

In this chapter, the author collected fifty business emails were written by staff

in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd Many errors have been found in these emails Then the author will analyze and find out the common errors of staff

in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd when writing customer complaint response letter As mentioned in part 1.6 of Chapter I, I will conduct a collection of fifty business emails of staff in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd

3.1 Research methods

3.1.1 Participants

The study is based on English business emails written by staff in the Sale Department at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd The company is in which I and my friends have an opportunity internship during one month before doing this graduation paper In fact, almost all staff in these companies have to use business emails to work exchange and contact customers Generally speaking, most of the staff in eachcompany have graduated from different departments in Vietnamese universities They have to pass the B or C level English test or have English certifications at the request to enter the company Although they have to write emails every day, they still get some problems Furthermore, they always think that sending emails is not only for general communication but also for their work efficiency Therefore, emailsare written without tidiness and carefulness As a result, a lot of errors have been found in these emails

3.1.2 Research instruments

The main instrument used to carry out the study is a survey based on fifty gathered customer complaint response letter written by staff in the Sale Department

at JDL Vietnam Co., Ltd