THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF RECEPTIONISTS IN MUONG THANH GRAND HANOI HOTEL Supervisor M A HOANG THI THUY Stude[.]
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY - - GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF RECEPTIONISTS IN MUONG THANH GRAND HANOI HOTEL Supervisor: Student’s name: TRAN THUY DUNG M.A HOANG THI THUY Class: K50N1 Student Code: 14D170008 Hanoi - 2018 Luan van ABSTRACT Research topic: “ A study on how to improve English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel” is meaningful and necessary both in theory and practice when communicate with foreign guest by English This study has systematized the theoretical issues related to English listening and speaking skills, the cause of these problems in communicate by English of receptionists in the hotel The study also analyzed, finds the difficulties of English communication skills that staffs in Reception Department face with based on reasoning andpractical expression of it through the use of data collection methodthe survey questionnaire to all receptionist From above the difficulties, the study has given some useful solutions to mprove English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel to help them feel more confident and professional when communicate with foreign guest from many countries around the world Due to limited time, awareness and practical experience, the study could not avoid shotcomings and errors There fore, I look forward to receiving comments and suggestions in order to perfect the study i Luan van ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of completing the thesis, I have received warmly help from my supervisor, teachers of English Faculty – Thuongmai University, my family and especially are the staffs of Reception Department in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel First of all, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my beloved supervisor – M.A Hoang Thi Thuy, who directly guides me Thanks for her useful advices and detailed comments in the preparation as well as the correction Besides, she always supported and created favorable conditions for me to complete perfectly this graduation paper Secondly, I would like to send my sincerely thank for the FO Manager of Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel – Ms Nguyen Thi Hien Luong, who helped and guided me very enthusiastically during the process of interning and working I also send my special thanks to all staffs at the Reception Department at MTGH in particular of contributing their ideas and experience to help me enrich my graduation paper Lastly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family and friends, especially my parents who always take care of me and encouraage me to complete the thesis Hanoi, April 9th, 2018 Student Tran Thuy Dung ii Luan van TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS .vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .7 2.1 Definition of communication 2.1.1.Definition of communication 2.1.2 Components of Communication Process 2.2 Definition of communication skills .8 2.2.1 The definition of communication skill 2.2.2 Types of communication skills 2.3 Types of Communication & Communication Skills and the role of communication in Hotel & Hospitality industry .11 2.3.1 Types of communication in Hotel & Hospitality industry 11 2.3.2 Types of communication skills in Hotel & Hospitality industry 12 2.3.3 The role of communication in Hotel industry 13 2.4 Reception and its responsibilities at Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel 14 2.4.1 The role of Reception Department in the hotel 14 2.4.2 The task of Front Office Department in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel 15 2.5 The reality of using English in Reception Department at Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel 16 iii Luan van 2.6 Some problems in English communication skill that receptionist always encountered 17 2.6.1 Speaking skill 17 2.6.2 Listening skill 18 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 20 3.2 Data Analysis 20 3.1.1 Receptionist’s education level (See Appendix) 20 3.1.2 The amount of time a receptionist had worked for the hotel 21 3.1.3: How often you use English in workplace? (See appendix) 21 3.1.4: The role of English communication skills in hotel (See appendix) 22 3.1.5 Number of receptionist confident when communicate by English in their job (See appendix) 23 3.1.6 The English skill that receptionist encounter problem most (See appendix)) 24 3.1.7 Level of English communication skills of receptionists(Self-assesment) (See appendix) 25 3.1.8 Question 8: Some common problems that receptionists faced with when communicate by English in workplace? (See appendix) .25 3.1.9: Causes of problems in speaking skill (See appendix) .26 3.1.10 Causes of problems in listening skill (See appendix) .27 3.1.11 The intent of participants (See appendix) 28 3.1.12 In their opinion, how can the hotel help them improve their English communication skills? (See appendix) 28 3.2 Findings and discussion of the findings .28 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .31 4.1 Some solutions to improve English communiction skills of Receptionists at Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel .31 4.2 Some suggestion for the further research 33 4.2.1 Limitations of the study 33 4.2.2 Some suggestions for further studies 33 CONCLUSION 35 REFERENCES vii APPENDIX viii iv Luan van LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations English meaning Vietnamese meaning M.A Master of Art Thạc sĩ văn chương/ Xã hội F O Manager Front office Giám đốc- Trưởng Bộ phận Lễ tân manager MTGH hotel Muong Thanh Khách sạn Mường Thanh Grand Grand Hanoi hotel Hà Nội v Luan van LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Image 2.1 Communication process Chart 1: Receptionist’s education level Chart The amount of time a receptionists had worked for the hotel Chart 3: Frequency of using English in workplace of receptionists Chart 4: The role of communication skills in the hotel Chart 5: Number of receptionists feel confident when communicate by English in their job Chart 6: The English skills that receptionists have encountered problems most Chart 7: Level of English communication skill of receptionists Chart 8: The intent of participants Table 1: Common problems in English communication skills Table 2: Cause of the problems in speaking skill Table 3: Causes of problems in listening skill vi Luan van CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, with the development of the international relationships among countries, English is playing an important role in the world and has become an important part of every enterprise People use English for communication and discussion in different aspects of life It is the key to opening the door, to discovering, exploiting new markets and seeking foreign investors and production scale In Vietnam, English communication skills are very essential for work place Therefore, English communication skills have become more necessary than ever However, there are still some problems about using English in communication activities, particularly in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel, especially in Reception Department As a company operates in the tourism – hospitality sector, as well as other hotels, everyday, Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel has to work with visitors who come from many countries using different languages, including English English is the most language that is used in the hotel According to the recruitment process of Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel, it focuses on the work of the interview through English, checks the qualifications related to English Most hotel staffs, especially receptionists, have quite good English, use English fluently, however, only in non-professional English English majority of almost the receptionists is still weak Some of the receptionists in the hotel have poor English skills, which is a barrier to dealing with foreign guests This study will explore the reality of using English in Recepion Department at Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel and suggest some solutions or suggestions to help the staffs enhance their English communication skills Only in this way, the receptionist can communicate in English fluently and professional In order to help the staffs, especially the receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel improve their English communication skills, after one-month internship at Reception Department at the hotel, I carry on this study with the tittle: “ A study on how to improve English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel” The study is expected to help the staffs, especially the Luan van receptionists in the hotel improve their English communication skills to work with foreigns guests more effectively 1.2 Previous study There have been lots of researches at abroad and at home which have been donein recently on the topic of “How to improve English communication skills “, for example: “A study on techniques to improve the first year english majors’ speaking skill at HPU (2013)” By Phung Thi Son, student at Department of Foreign Languages, Haiphong private university The study explored the reality of teaching and learning English speaking of the first year’s English majors in HPU and suggested some main technique with include the methods of stengthening the teaching of English speaking to help students enhance their English speaking skills.The author put forward a number of measures to change the student’s attitude on speaking English and let them find English speaking more interesting Pham Thi Huyen Huong’s research on technique to improve speaking skill for secondary student in Quang Ninh (2012) The researcher takes a survey of collected data and gives comments on real situation of teaching speaking in Secondary School in Quang Ninh After surveying, she realized that the teacher rarely give the student a chance to free talk They still get many difficulties when speaking English The least frequently used activities such as story telling, information gap are not applied At abroad, there are also a lot of researches relate to the topic of communication skills, for example, according to Piamsak Uraipan, M.A in Business English for International Communicationn at Srinakharinwirot University, the author studied and pointed our the problems with English speaking and listening of THAI flight attendances in economy class in 2011 This study was to examine listening-speaking problems of THAI flight attendants who work in economy class This study attempted to examine various problems with English in listening and speaking which occurred in economy class The data for this study were collected from 50 THAI flight attendants who were working in economy class According to this study, it was found that most THAI flight attendants in economy class thought pronunciation of specific consonants correctly and perceiving various accents were Luan van moderate problems Regarding the language functions, using proper language in miscellaneous situations excluding in-flight service were also moderate The majority of the flight attendants in the sample believed that they were good at English listening and speaking Studying the factors that cause problems and difficulties of speaking that encountered by English Language Students at Al Quds Open University in 2014, Dr Ahmed Maher Mahmoud Al Nakhalah has noticed during his career and teaching the course of Graduation Project and other courses at AlQuds Open University that the students face some difficulties and problems in speaking while they introduce and talk about their projects and during discussions in the lectures of different courses Then he suggested carrying out more studies and researches about speaking difficulties encountered by English language students However, in these topics, there is no study on how to improve English communication skills in hotel and hospitality In reality, the hotel staffs still have som difficulties in English communication skills and have significant impacts on communicating with foreign guests That is the reason why I choose the thesis “A study on how to improve English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel” 1.3 Aims of the study The aim of this study is to identify problems in English communication and find out some appropriate solutions to improve English communication skills of receptionist in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel in which, the study focuses on finding the reality of the staffs in Reception Department ‘s using English in communicate with foreigns guests and giving them the suggestions for better communication The expectation is that the receptionists at MTGH hotel can communicate in English confidently and fluently to achieve high efficiency at work 1.4 Research subjects Hotel business is a highly competitive one Every hotel requires professional personnel to provide proficient service Thus, communication between receptionist and guests must be clear and understandable To enhance English language skills and the effectiveness of their interaction with guests, MTGH hotel’ s receptionist Luan van ...ABSTRACT Research topic: “ A study on how to improve English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi hotel? ?? is meaningful and necessary both in theory and practice... That is the reason why I choose the thesis ? ?A study on how to improve English communication skills of Receptionists in Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel? ?? 1.3 Aims of the study The aim of this study. .. communication, Nonverbal communication, Written communication, Visualization and so on Communication is a vital part of personal life and is also important in business, education, hotel- hospitality