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DECLARATION I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “ An investigation into the need to develop writing skill in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant” is the result of my own research for the Bachelor Degree of Business English at Thuongmai University, Hanoi The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research April, 2018 Huyen Dao Thi Ngoc Huyen i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Writing is a form of art and an integral part of language learning It always plays an important role in daily life as well as learning and business Writing, like speaking, is a fundamental form of communication, on which future job opportunities and career advancement will depend A strong economy with business growth and job development needs well-educated employees, and one of the components of a good education is the mastery of strong writing and communication skills The purpose of the study is to examine the reality of writing skill in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant Moreover, the aim of researching and suggesting some methods is to raise members’ knowledge about the importance of practicing writing skill in English To answer the questions of the study, the researcher adopted the experimental approach All members in Sales are the subjects of this investigation especially the study distinguishes the proficiency in writing between normal staff and managerial position The research indicates that there are statistically significant differences at the level on English writing skill among members in this department Based on those findings, the study recommended the necessity of implementing programs for people who have low English level to bring about better outcomes in employees' writing skill of the English language It was also suggested that further researches should be conducted related to other skills of writing ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout my research journey, I have received invaluable assistance from my supervisor, friends, colleagues and family The thesis would have been impossible without their support, encouragement and suggestions They have provided me with not only their expertise but also consideration throughout the research journey I also owe my colleagues and friends special thanks for their sharing and understanding of research life Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude towards teachers at English Department especially my supervisor Mrs Duong Thi Hong Tham for her encouragement and guidance through this thesis She has inspired me to become confident in myself as a researcher I also would like to thank the Sales members at ACP for their advice, expertise and time iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation Meaning ACP Amaccao Concrete Plant No Number CS staff Customer Service staff CC Carbon Copy iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1.5: General information and English levels in Sales Table 3.2.1: The most difficult document when utilizing writing skill in daily tasks Bar chart 3.2.1: Mistakes made when contacting customers in written language Pie chart 3.2.1: The frequency of mistakes regarding syntax made Pie chart 3.2.2: The main difficulties in writing skill in English in Sales at ACP Pie chart 3.2.3: Staffs’ studying plan Table 3.2.3: Reasons for not studying at an English course Table 3.2.4: The effect of writing skill on the turnover in Sales Table appendix 1: Questions for the post-survey Table appendix 2: Questions for the interview guide for the participants Image appendix 3: Example of popular grammar mistakes in writing skill in Sales at ACP v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.6.1 Introduction .8 1.6.2 Research hypothesis 1.6.3 Method of data collection 1.6.4 Method of data analysis 11 1.6.5 Research process .11 1.7 Organization of the study 14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15 2.1 Definition of writing 15 2.2 The Writing Skill .16 2.3 Business Writing 17 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.3.1 Definition 17 2.3.2 Purposes of Business Writing 17 2.3.3 Style of Business Writing .17 2.3.4 Some types of business writing 18 2.4 Steps of writing process .20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21 3.1 Introduction .22 3.2 Findings 22 3.2.1 The reality of writing skill in Sales 22 3.2.2 The main difficulties in writing skill in Sales 25 3.2.3 Reasons for staffs’ poor writing skill in Sales .28 3.2.4 Staffs’ expectation to improve the situation 30 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 32 4.1 Recommendations 32 4.2 Limitations 33 CONCLUSION 34 REFERENCES I APPENDICES II APPENDIX 1: Post-survey questionnaire III APPENDIX 2: Interview guide for the participants IV APPENDIX 3: Mistakes made by staff when contacting potential clients via email V vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale English plays an essential role in our society for two fundamental reasons On the one hand, reality has shown that English is the second most widely spoken language all over the world On the other hand, English not only serves as a means of communication, but also brings people from distinct skin color, region or social status closer together It is associated with our daily life, especially in a growing speed at present, Vietnam has become an appealing destination for businesses and attracted a huge amount of foreign direct investment, followed by a rising demand of English learners General English includes four skills: foreign listening, speaking, reading and writing All of which are indispensable and cannot be separated Regarding business, especially at Amaccao's sales department, writing skill is more important than other English skills During my internship, the researcher was given the valuable advice from colleagues and found that their writing skill were substandard, especially when exchanging emails as well as in quotes and matching There are still some errors in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, etc As a result the thesis will be like a miniature picture to have a more objective look and recognize the importance of business writing skill in Sales at ACP 1.2 Previous studies Nowadays, English is very popular at different ages There are four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing They are so important in our life because Vietnam is developing significantly All sectors in our country are attracting investment from foreign investors Therefore, apart from Vietnamese, the second language is very essential It is a way of linking people together To connect LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com conveniently, speaking and writing skill are concentrated on so much People can communicate either by speaking or by writing through email, message, comment on facebook, etc However, in this research, the author wants to focus on the studies that related to writing skill In the world, there are a lot of researches related to this skill especially in European countries, America and Asia countries Rosenbluth and Michael Reed (2002): They had a study on English writing skill in a enterprise It is a real estate firm in France These researchers proceeded an investigation in Sales of this company In Sales department, there are ten people who have various English levels and are from different countries such as France, China, Japan, Korea, etc It is well-known that the French, the Chinese or the Japanese utilize English not well According to a report in November, the French has the poorest level of English in European Community They are not good at both four English skills: speaking, writing, reading and listening However, it is a fact that the French always try to improve English every day In this study, Rosenbluth and Michael Reed divided into two groups: group consists of members who have better English ability than other groups, group includes members who not have good English skill Manager and vice manager in Sales belong to group They graduated from well-known universities such as Paris Diderot - Paris University, Paris-Sud University, etc They are good at four English skills especially when contacting customers via email or on phone, they rarely make mistake In group 2, members are not good at English who make grammar mistakes regularly The author applied quantitative method only in this paper All data are collected through some questions that members in Sales here have to answers such as “Do you make a mistake in writing?”, “How you feel writing skill in English?” “Which is the greatest problem when contacting client by writing?”, etc Data was analyzed and not calculated and tabulated Because Rosenbluth worked at here nearly months, he had objective and subjective view about the reality of using English in Sales However, Michael Reed did not chance to work here, he described not deeply all aspects A total of 20 documents related to exchange between salesperson and LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com customer on September 2001 by writing They were gathered by the authors based on daily transaction that he observed during working time Charles_Bazerman (2008)– in his study described deeply the reality of using writing skill in English in a business that specializes in construction field It is a big scope which are nearly 50 people, including both employees and managers Through this research, the readers see clearly study’s purposes, the author wants to point out the problem related to writing skill in his subject He also recommended some solutions to improve their writing skill The population of the study included 35 staff in all departments and 15 people in management division In this business, there are five main departments, they are accounting, personnel, planning, material, architecture department, in each department, employees have a variety of English levels Correspondingly, the author had to spend three months observing and investigating Because scope of this study is so wide, conducting a thorough research is not a simple task The author divided researched targets into groups: the graduated from Linguistics Faculty and the graduated from other faculties Surprisingly, the results show that the graduated from Linguistics Faculty make more mistakes in writing than the others, which is hard to believe In addition, collected data showed lack of use of progress writing skill because there was a lack of skills related to organization and revision in the writing process The study also suggested some solutions for the problem such as organizing an advanced English course, inviting specialists to share 23 nights/week, utilizing available sources (e-learning, read books and documents in English, organizing some lessons to share about learning English experience, etc.) The results of the research illustrated a remarkable improvement in English writing skill for staff and employers In the study “ Improving writing skills in Customer Service department at Shang Zheng Logistics Co., Ltd ” Huang (2009) cited in Huang (2010) concentrated on the ways to enhance writing skill in an accounting department of a logistics company in China Chinese people use English quite bad, they always want to use their language LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com “All documents in writing shall be mail at the address of the Contracting Parties set forth in the heading of this Contract unless either of the Contracting Parties shall give a written notice to the other Party on changing its address “ Or “The Contracting Parties hereby agree that entering into this Contract and performing duties under this Contract has been duly approved by the relevant company bodies of the Contracting Parties in a compliance with legal regulations” Two grammar errors that are underlined and bolded so popularly, they make the tenses in English In example 1, the readers are easy to find out this error, it must be corrected to “shall be mailed” because the writer used the passive voice of modal verbs In example 2, because subject of this sentence is shown and connected by “and”, the writer should amend to “have been duly approved” Furthermore, in contacting client via emails, staff here made a lot of grammar errors like using incorrect tenses and identifying receivers For instance, “Dear Mr Kavin” in salutation part, but in the close the writer uses “Your faithfully”, it is difficult to accepted due to making grammar and spelling error Traditionally, “Yours faithfully” has followed “Dear Sir”, and “Yours sincerely” has followed an address to a specific person Besides, it is not correct when using “your”, the writer has to add “s” for this, it is the spelling error The author combined between the brief interviews and documents collected, the result points out grammar makes up more than sixty percent in common mistakes in writing, it also shows the number of staff who suppose grammar is the most difficult It is described carefully in pie chart 3.3.1.2, the common rest mistakes make up a small rate, especially syntax and vocabulary Because ACP specializes in construction section, specific terms are so familiar with them, it is rare to make this mistake Sometimes, staff here still make misspellings, for example “colun foundation plan”, in this example, “colun”- it is not correct word, correct one is “column” (“cột” 28 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com in Vietnamese) or “natual soil layer”(“lớp đất tự nhiên”in Vietnamese), “natual” must add “r” between “u” and “a” These examples are collected from emails, contracts and quotation by the researcher They also point out the main difficulties or factors which staff are confronting when using written language in daily tasks 3.2.3 Reasons for staffs’ poor writing skill in Sales Through the small talks, the participants also share about their studying plan in order to enhance writing skill at the moment Pie chart 3.2.1.2 will describe about staffs’ intention more clearly, it means that this pie chart will answer for the question “Do you intend to take an English course in writing skill?” Pie chart 3.2.3.: Staff‘s studying plan 75% of participants said they did not intend to take the English course in writing, the rest of them had intention to take part in this course at some English centers that were near and convenient for them The purpose of the English course is to 29 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com help enhance staffs’ writing skill and in the future, ACP will spend a small amount of money on supporting tuition fee for participants To understand about the reasons why staff did not have intention to take the English courses especially in English grammar course at the English centers, the author conducted a short survey, the results were presented in detail as the table 3.2.3 Degree Number of respondents Percentage (%) (No./12) A Tuition fee is high 8.33% B Do not have time 41.67% C Age matter 33.33% D Other factors………… 16.67% Table 3.2.3: Reasons for not studying at an English course The readers are easy to realize the striking difference from options that are showed in the table 3.2.3 Many factors impact on the staffs’ decision when taking an English grammar course at the English center, the author chose the main factors like tuition fee, time, age Most staff are busy with the daily tasks, sometimes they have to go on a business trip abroad, go out to meet and negotiate with potential clients Therefore, time is too limited for them to take an English course after work, their family, age also has a direct effect on their decision Time makes up more than 40% and age makes up more than 30%, they seem to be the main factors According to this table, tuition fee accounts for the smallest rate, it is not difficult to understand because staff in Sales have high salary Consequently, money is not the main problem 30 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3.2.4 Staffs’ expectation to improve the situation In the current economic situation, most businesses need candidates who are good at English, they also propose policies to attract or encourage staff to enhance the English skills when working at the company Practically, employees are aware of this and they also expect to improve English ability soon In Sales at ACP, the researcher carried out small talks in order to survey staffs’ opinion about effect of English especially writing skill on the turnover in Sales Through these surveys, staff shared the importance of writing skill and their suggestions with a view to improve the situation Degree Number of respondents Percentage (%) (No./12) A No effect 0% B Normal effect 16.67% C Strong effect 75% D A little 8.33% E Other 0% ideas…………… Table 3.2.4: The effect of writing skill on the turnover in Sales Table 3.2.4 shows that writing skill plays an essential role in business, it has strong effect on the revenue and profit in the company Through daily contacting especially via emails, the prospective partners or customers will evaluate the professionalism and reliability, then they will also lead to the contract’s success or 31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com failure in negotiating due to the subjective reason Most of the staff in Sales awake to a sense of the importance of writing skill; however, there are many factors that affect their intention and effort Furthermore, staff in Sales also shared their own recommendations so as to enhance and change the situation The author collected and summarized them as the following below o Taking the course about writing skill at English centers o Studying over the Internet when not having time to take the English course at the English centers o Holding meetings to discuss and share experiences about learning English o Learning from the experience and note the mistakes that made in the previous time o Creating bonus and incentive programs for employees such as raise salary, support tuition fee, hold the quarterly writing skill exams, etc 32 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Recommendations In this investigation, the writing project lasted eight weeks, with this short period of time, the focus of the study was on participants’ reflections and effective strategies for improving writing skill in Sales at ACP In the light of the study results, and based on the investigation of the writing skill importance and its requirements, the author suggests some recommendations to develop and improve the writing skill at here The researcher’s suggestions are given as below: o Evaluating writing courses in the light of the important skills determined by specialists o Inviting language professional to teach and guide about all aspects in writing skill especially email o Creating an international working environment by buying many English books that include the various fields such as: economy, construction, culture, etc o Suggesting some English centers which specialize in writing skill in business, combining between sales knowledge and English skills o Attending the distant learning (may be the most convenient method in case of limited time) o Spending at least 30 minutes consolidating learned knowledge, then applying to practical practices after each lesson 33 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4.2 Limitations The investigation has significantly contributed to raising the knowledge of people about the important role of writing skill, pointing out the disadvantages of using it in Sales at ACP However, limitations and shortcomings are inevitable Firstly, this research only investigated the members’ evaluation in Sales, not included other departments at ACP, therefore the author did not have a deep overview of the whole company Secondly, in terms of study design, the time of finishing between the chapter three and chapter four was one week, which was a short period for the participants to have a reflection on the effectiveness of the adjustments made for chapter four To collect and gather the findings in chapter four, the researcher encountered with difficulties because most staff in Sales were out of office in office hours, they had the important appointments with potential clients Sometimes, there were only three employees in the department, it would have been more effective if the staff had been able to work and discuss more Additionally, when carrying out the interview with the questionnaire and questions in English, sometimes the participants could not understand the meaning of these questions and ask for help to translate into Vietnamese 34 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CONCLUSION This study investigated the reality of applying writing skill, the staff’s reflections, efficient strategies as well as suggested some potential recommendations for employees in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant The participants in this investigation took part in and cooperate efficiently The researcher conducted the unstructured interviews and daily small talks, the results achieved surprisingly and usefully Although time was limited, the researcher took advantage of it and completed the investigation as well as possible Qualitative method was employed, the related questions were chosen carefully and were easy to understand and follow Due to the small scope, the author rarely met with the difficulty when collecting and recording the data The findings show that participants had positive attitudes when discussing and answering these questions that the author asked They understood the role of writing skill in Sales as well as business which had an effect on the turnover and profit Additionally, the staff considered taking short business writing skill courses and committed to enhancing writing skill in the most efficient ways During this investigation, due to the limited time and knowledge, making some mistakes is inevitable The researcher looks forward to receiving the valuable comments and recommendations from teachers and the supervisor Duong Thi Hong Tham so that this investigation becomes more perfect Once again, the author would like to express the deeply gratitude to all staffs in Amaccao Concrete Plant and the supervisor who have helped and guided the researcher during the investigation 35 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com REFERENCES Archibald, A.(2004) Writing in a Second Language Cambridge University Press Bangert-Drowns, R (1993), “The word processor as an instructional tool: A meta-analysis of word processing in writing instruction Review of Educational Research”, 63(1), 69-93 Barly,Bram Write Well, Improving Writing Skill.(Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 1995) Bazerman, C (2008) Handbook of research on writing New York: L Erlbaum Associates Boscolo, P., & Hidi, S (2007) The multiple meanings of motivation to write In G Rijlaarsdam (Series Ed.), “Studies in Writing Writing and Motivation” (pp 1-16) Englert, C., Mariage, T., & Dunsmore, K (2006) Tenets of sociocultural theory in writing instruction research In C MacArthur, S Graham & J Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of Writing Research (pp 208-221) New York: The Guilford Press Graham, S., Gillespie, A., & McKeown, D (2013) Writing: importance, development, and instruction Reading and Writing, 26(1), 1-15 Huang (2009) “ Improving writing skills in Sales department at Shang Zheng Logistics Co., Ltd ” Morris, Rupperd, smith Hurried (1999), Bussiness writing (Orienbussisness book, Great Britain Class, Ltd) I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 Oxford Dictionaries: English Dictionary, Thesaurus, and grammar help from https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ 11 Pincas (1998), Teaching English Writing- Essential Language teaching Series (London: The Macmilan Publisher ,Ltd,)) 12 RMIT University (2008), Writing skill for Business online training 13 Siedle, R 1996, Writing for Business Success, Prentice Hall, Sydney 14 Lauren Weisberg Kaufman (November, 2004) "The Importance of Writing from a Business Perspective", CBIA News II LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Post-survey questionnaire (For twelve members in Sales at ACP) This questionnaire is designed to collect information about the all members’ evaluation of writing skill in business, it consists of advantages, disadvantages of using writing in English when contacting the customers and possible solutions for those difficulties Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated It can be assured that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data because the data gathered are used in the investigation paper only, not for any other purposes To complete these questions, please choose the answer by circling A, B, C or D for your choice or expressing your ideas, opinions in the blanks Thank you for your cooperation! Personal Information Male Age: … Female Position:… III LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Question No Question content Which types of document is your greatest difficulty when utilizing writing skill in daily tasks? A Emails B Business contracts C Quotations D Other types………………………………………………… Which factor is your greatest difficulty when contacting customers by using writing skill in English? A Grammar B Vocabulary C Other factors: ……………………………………………… How often you make syntax mistakes when working or contacting the clients via email in English? A Once a day B Twice/ day C More than twice/day In your opinion, does writing skill have an effect on the turnover in Sales? A No effect B Normal effect IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com C Strong effect D A little E Other ideas:……………………………………………… Do you intend to take an English course in writing skill? A Yes, I B No, I not Why don’t you want to take an English grammar course at a well-known English center? A Tuition fee is high B Do not have time C Age matter D Other factors………………………………………… Table appendix 1: Questions for the post-survey V LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 2: Interview guide for the participants (For twelve members in Sales at ACP) Please answer the following questions in detail: Question No Question content What are the difficulties in writing skill in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant? In your opinion, how important to business is writing skill in English? How often you make mistake when composing the economic contracts? What will you to improve your Business writing skill? Table appendix 2: Questions for the interview guide for the participants VI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 3: Mistakes made by staff when contacting potential clients via email Image appendix 3: Example of popular grammar mistakes in writing skill in Sales at ACP VII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... They also mean that the study will answer the following questions: o What is the reality of writing skill in Sales? o What are the difficulties in writing skill in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant? ... chapters that aimed to point out the importance of writing skill in business, the reality of using writing skill in English in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant, recommendations to improve this skill. .. difficulties in writing skill in Sales at Amaccao Concrete Plant? ” Pie chart 3.2.2: The main difficulties in writing skill in English in Sales at ACP Through the samples collected, the researcher points
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