Microsoft Word ebb 93877609 3527770181 76 i TABLE OF CONTENTS Part A Introduction 1 1 Rationale 1 2 Aims of Study 1 3 Scope of the Study 1 4 Research Question 1 5 Methodology of the Study 2 6 Organiza.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Part A: Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 1 Rationale……………………………………………………………………………… Aims of Study ……………………………………………………………………… Scope of the Study ……………………………………………… Research Question…………………………………………………………………… Methodology of the Study………………………………………… Organization of the Thesis …………………………………………………………… Part B: Development…………………………………………………………………… Chapter – Literature Review and Theoretical Background………………… Literature Review……………………………………………………………… 2 Theoretical Background………………………………………………………… 2.1 General Description of Discourse Analysis……… 2.2 Characteristics of Resignation Letters…………………………………………… Chapter 2: Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters………………………………………………………………………………… 2.1 Detail Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters………………… 2.1.1 Move – Opening…………………………………………………… 2.1.2 Move – Addressing…………………………………………………………… 2.1.3 Move – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Day of Work…………… 2.1.4 Move – Giving the Reason of Resignation Positively……………………….…4 2.1.5 Move – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition…………… 1.1.6 Move – Requesting Interest from the Old Company……………………….… 1.1.7 Move – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success…………………………….….5 1.1.8 Move – Ending……………………………………………………………….…6 2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in Vietnamese Resignation Letters……… ……6 2.2.1 Move 1’ – Opening……………………………………………….………………7 2.2.2 Move 2’ – Addressing……………………………………………………….……7 2.2.3 Move 3’ – Introducing Oneself……………………………………………….….7 2.2.4 Move 4’ – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Working Date……….……8 i 2.2.5 Move 5’ – Stating the Reason of Resignation ………….……………………… 2.2.6 Move 6’ – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition…………… 2.2.7 Move 7’ – Committing Onself to Fulfill One’s Duty……………………………8 2.2.8 Move 8’ – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success…………………………… 2.2.9 Move 9’ – Requesting Interest from the Old Company………………………….9 2.2.10 Move 10’ – Ending…………………………………………………… …… 10 Chapter 3: Comparing and Contrasting discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters……………………………………………………….10 3.1 The Surface Features of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters……… …10 3.1.1Length of Discourse………………………………… …………………… .10 3.1.2 Paragraph, Sentence, Vocabulary…….………………………… ……… ……10 3.2 The ‘Move Analysis’ of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters……….… 11 3.2.1 The Analytical Framework……………………………………………… …… 12 3.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letter… 3.2.1 Opening………………………………………………………………….………13 3.2.2 Addressing………………………………………………………………………13 3.2.3 Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Day of Work…………………… 14 3.2.4 Giving the Reason of Resignation………………………………………………15 3.2.5 Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition……………… ………15 3.2.6 Requesting Interest from the Old Company…………………………………….15 2.3.7 Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success…………………………………………15 3.2.8 Ending……………… …………………………………………………………15 Part C: Conclusion ……………………………… ………………… .16 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………… Recommendations…………………………………………………………………… References……………………………………………………………………………… ii PART A – INTRODUCTION Rationale: A Business Letter, the most popular and the most widely written type of letter, is used to serve as a means of communication written for various commercial purposes These purposes can be a business deal, complaint, warning, notice, invitation, declaration, information, apology and various other corporate matters There are many types of business letters such as Application Letter, Acceptance Letter, Demand Letter, Letter of Complaint, Resignation Letter, Sales Letters, etc Among these types of letters, the Letter of Resignation may receive the least notice because people often think that when they leave their jobs they have nothing to with their old company and old employer However, a good resignation letter can help the employee maintain a positive relationship with his/ her old boss, and pave the way for him or her to move on In addition, the employee might need a reference from the previous employer These show that knowing how to write a good resignation letter is very important Nevertheless, it seems that no researchers concern this kind of letter in English and Vietnamese Hence, in order to help people have better understanding of resignation letters and see the similarities and differences in writing style of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, this study focuses on comparing and contrasting discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters Aims of the Study: The aims of the study are: To review the background knowledge of discourse analysis and resignation letters To point out the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English and Vietnamese resignation letters To give some suggestions for writing resignation letters in English and Vietnamese Scope of the Study: Conducting this study, I not have the ambition to cover everything about discourse analysis of English and Vietnamese resignation letters I only concentrate on analyzing English and Vietnamese resignation letters in terms of discourse structures Research Question: What are the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English and Vietnamese resignation letters? Methodology of the Study: ‘Move analysis’ approach is applied in this research to analyze the discourse structure of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese Besides, in order to find out the similarities and differences between discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, the author uses comparison and contrast method Organization of the Study: the study is divided into five main parts as follows: Part A – Introduction Part B – Development Chapter – Literature Review and Theoretical Background Chapter – Methodology Chapter – Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters Chapter – Comparing and Contrasting Discourse Structure of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters Part C – Conclusion References PART B – DEVELOPMENT: Chapter – Literature Review and Theoretical Background Literature Review Discourse analysis is usually known as the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which it is utilized Harris (1952), Austin (1962), Hymes (1964), Searle (1969), Grice (1975), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Widdowson (1979), Brown and Yule (1983) are linguists who greatly contribute to the overall picture of discourse analysis because they have provided a fundamental theory of discourse analysis In Vietnam, there are many linguists having joined in the trend of researching on discourse analysis as well Among these linguists, Tran Ngoc Them is regarded as the first one studying this new field In terms of genre analysis, there are a number of researches on academic genres such as research article (Swales,1990), sales promotion letters, job applications (Bhatia, 1993), sociology articles (Brett,1994), dissertations (Hyland, 2003), or “Genre Analysis of Personal statements Therefore, it is necessary to have a research in terms of discourse structure of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese Hopefully, this study can bring some contributions to the theory and implications of teaching and learning writing skill, especially writing English and Vietnamese resignation letters Theoretical Background 2.1 General Description of Discourse Analysis: Discourse Analysis: We can say that discourse analysis gives us insight into various aspects of language in use such as: how discourse norms and their realization in language differ from culture to culture; how talk follows regular patterns in a wide range of different situations; or how texts are structured beyond sentence level 2.2 General Description of Resignation Letters: A resignation letter is one kind of business letter which the employee uses to formally inform the employer that he is leaving his job A resignation letter can help the employee keep a good relationship with his employer, and at the same time it helps him make progress in his new career easily Chapter – Analysis of discourse structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters 2.1.Detail Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters 2.1.1 Move – Opening This move can be realized by means of the following two steps Step A: The date of writing resignation letter Step B: The employer’s contact information All of the ten letters in the corpus have move The position of this move is at the beginning of the letters Its steps follow the order – step A step B in which step A is used to state the date when the employee writes the resignation letter and step B contains the employer’s contact information including name, title, company name, and address Some examples are shown as follow: letter no letter no March 2, 2011 Mr John Brown Manager the Wall Street Journal Publisher 22 Cortland Street New York, NY 10007 August 20th, 2012 Mr Ricardo Hession Hospital Administrator Einstein Medical Center 5501 Old York Rd, Philadelphia, PA (215) 456-7890 2.1.2 Move – Addressing: Move also appears in the whole corpus of English resignation letters It follows move and is utilized to address the employer This move always starts with the short and simple structure: Dear + Mr/ Mrs/ Miss + the employer’s surname For instance: letter no letter no letter no Dear Mr Brown, Dear Mr Hession, Dear Mr Branson, 2.1.3.Move – Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Day of Work Move is also considered a compulsory move type in this kind of letter because of its appearing frequency in the corpus This move may be realized by means of two steps: Step A: Stating resignation Step B: Informing the last day of work While step A is used to state resignation, the employees utilize step B to inform the final date when they work in their old companies Step B tends to appear right after step A In the exception of two letters (no.9 and no.10), from letter no.1 to letter no.8, the position of step B is right after step A (80 %) To express step B, the writers often use structure: ‘my last/ final day (of work) will be…’ 2.1.4 Move – Giving the Reason of Resignation Positively In the genre of resignation letters, there are many letters which not give the reasons to resign However, because one of the criteria to select the corpus of this study is based on the reason of resignation, that is pursuing new career Therefore, the move – giving the reason of resignation positively is obligatory in this corpus Move does not necessarily stay right after move For instance, in the letter no.2, 3, and 8, following move is move Move may be realized by means of one or more of two steps: Step A: Stating the resignation reason Step B: Expressing interest in the old job Step A is used to state the reason why the employees give up their jobs This step appears in all the ten letters In some letters, step A appears or times in the same paragraph or in different paragraphs; for example, in letter no.1 this step turns up times in paragraph 4, while the author of letter no.9 uses this step times in paragraphs 3, 4, and 2.1.5 Move – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition Move is used when the employees want to express their willingness to help the old company with the transition Out of the ten letters, this move just appears in letters (letter no.4, 6, 8, 9, 10); thus, it is optional This move is not always after move In letter no.4, 6, 8, and 10, move turns up one time Only in letter no.9 this move appears two times In spite of offering to help the old company, the employees have to choose the expression carefully to demonstrate their goodwill in helping with the transition As we can see in the following examples, the authors usually use some structures: ‘please feel free to…’, ‘please be assured that I will all…’, ‘I’ll help all…’, or ‘I’ll be happy to help…’ 2.1.6 Move – Requesting Interest from the Old Company Move is utilized to request interest from the old company It is not necessarily included in the English resignation letters because its appearing frequency is 10 % In the whole corpus, this move only appears in letter no.10 In this letter, move is even before move In order to contribute to the acquisition of the general communicative purpose of this genre, that is persuading the employers to accept the resignation without feeling unpleasant, the vocabularies used in move are very positive 2.1.7 Move – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success Move is used to express the employees’ deep gratitude to the old employers and companies, at the same time to wish the old companies success This move is considered one of the most important moves in English resignation letters On this account, all of the ten letters in the corpus have move This move may be realized by means of one or more of three steps: Step A: Appreciating the old job Step B: Thanking Step C: Wishing success In step B, the employees give thanking to the employers This step turns up in letters (no.2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10) in which this step has times of appearance in letter no.2 The survey shows that the most used word in step B is ‘thank’ Step C is used when the writers want to give the wishes to the old companies The frequency of this step is 60 % This step can be found in the letters no.1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and To express this step, the authors often use the words ‘wish’ and ‘success’ 2.1.8 Move – Ending Like moves – 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, move is obligatory It is located at the end of the letters and realized by two steps: Step A: Expressing sincerity Step B: Signing In order to express sincerity in step A, the writers often use the words ‘sincerely’ (letter no 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), ‘yours sincerely’ (letter no 10), or ‘yours respectfully’ (letter no 4) Following step A, the employees put their signatures to the letters and give their full names Here are some examples: Letter no.1 letter no.4 letter no.10 Sincerely, Julia Dennis Julia Dennis yours respectfully, Lindsay Luis Lindsay Luis yours sincerely, Joanne Bloggs Joanne Bloggs 2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in Vietnamese Resignation Letters 2.2.1 Move 1’ – Opening This move can be realized by means of the following two steps Step A’: The official name of the country Step B’: The name of the letter Move 1’ appears in all the ten letters in Vietnamese corpus The position of this move is at the beginning of the letters Its steps follow the order – step A’ step B’ in which step A’ is used to state the official name of the country and step B’ includes the name of the letter Because all the ten letters are written in Vietnamese and they have the same genre, so the vocabularies used in move 1’ of ten letters are the same Some examples are shown as follows: letter no.1’ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập_Tự _Hạnh phúc letter no.2’ CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập - Tự - Hạnh phúc -*** -ĐƠN XIN THÔI VIỆC ĐƠN XIN THÔI VIỆC 2.2.2 Move 2’ – Addressing This move also turns up in the whole corpus of Vietnamese resignation letters It follows move 1’ and is used in order to address the employer This move always starts with the structure: Kính gửi + Ban giám đốc cơng ty… + (Trưởng) Phịng tổ chức-hành chính-nhân For instance: letter no.1’ Kính gửi: - Giám đốc cơng ty cổ phần Dược Trung ương Mediplantex - Phịng tổ chức _hành chính_nhân cơng ty letter no.2’ Kính gửi : Ban lãnh đạo Công ty Cổ phần Sơn Tổng hợp Hà Nội Trưởng phòng Tổ chức – Hành – Nhân 2.2.3 Move 3’ – Introducing oneself According to the survey, the frequency of move 3’ is 100% The position of this move is always after move 2’ The employees will use this move to shortly introduce themselves Move 3’ can be realized by one or more of two steps: Step A’: Providing personal information Step B’: Establishing credentials Step A’ is obligatory because it appears in all the letters in Vietnamese corpus In this step, the employees will give their personal information such as: the full name, the date of birth, the identity card number, the place of living, and the working department in which the full name and the working department are paid most attention 2.2.4 Move 4’ – Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Working Date Move 4’ is supposed to be a compulsory move type in this kind of letter because its appearing frequency in the corpus is 100% Except for letter no.1’, in other letters, move 4’ usually turns up after move 3’ This move may be realized by means of two steps: Step A’: Stating resignation Step B’: Informing the last working date The writers utilize step A’ to inform that they will give up their jobs All the letters in this corpus contain this step, even there are more than one time move A’ appears in some letters such as in letter no.2’, 5’, 7’, 9’ There are many ways to express this step Some employees express the regret about their leaving with the structure: ‘tôi lấy làm tiếc khơng làm việc cơng ty….’ 2.2.5 Move 5’ – Stating the Reason of Resignation Based on the result of the survey, move 5’ is one of the obligatory move types in Vietnamese corpus In the exception of letter no.1’ and no.7’, this move is often right after move 4’ This move is utilized to state the reason why the employees give up their jobs Although all the ten letters have the same reason of resignation, that is pursuing a new career, the style is various Those are distinguished examples to express move 5’ The following structures are often used in move 5’: ‘quyết định thay đổi mục tiêu nghề nghiệp’, ‘tìm kiếm/ mở rộng hội phát triển mới’, ‘phù hợp khả chuyên môn/ làm việc’, ‘xin vào vị trí…để học hỏi thêm kinh nghiệm’ 2.2.6 Move 6’ – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition Move 6’ only appears in three letters (no.7’, 8’, 10’) on the purpose of expressing the willingness to help the old company with the transition Thus, this move is optional In letter no.7’, move 6’ follows move 4’ while it is after move 5’ in two letters no.8’ and 10’ In order to demonstrate their goodwill in helping with the transition, the employees often utilize the following structures: ‘tôi hân hạnh/ lấy làm vinh dự giúp đỡ công ty việc tuyển chọn đào tạo/ hướng dẫn/ giúp đỡ nhân viên thay vào vị trí tơi’ 2.2.7 Move 7’ – Committing oneself to fulfill one’s duty The frequency of move 7’ is 70% It turns up in letters - no.2’, 3’ 4’, 6’, 8’, 9’, and 10’ The position of this move is not necessarily right after move 6’ In letters no.2’, 3’, 9’, move 7’ is after move 4’ In letters no.4’, 6’, this move follows move 5’ Whereas in letters no.8’, 10’, move 7’ is put after move 6’ The employees use move 7’ to express their commitment to fulfill their duty before leaving for another job The following examples will help us to see more about how to express this move The above examples indicate that some structures used in move 7’ are: ‘tơi cam đoan hồn thành tốt cơng việc giao’, ‘tôi bàn giao công việc đầy đủ có trách nhiệm cho…’, ‘tơi tiếp tục làm việc nghiêm túc tiến hành bàn giao công việc/ tài sản cho…’ 2.2.8 Move 8’ – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success The employees utilize this move to show their deep gratitude, and to give the wishes to the old companies as well This move plays an important part in Vietnamese resignation letters because its frequency is 90% Move 8’ is not necessarily after move 7’ This move may be realized by means of one or more of three steps: Step A’: Appreciating the old job Step B’: Thanking Step C’: Wishing success The order of these three steps can be changed The writers will use step A’ to appreciate their old job This step can be found in letters - no.1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 7’, 8’, and 9’ The result of analysis demonstrates that the most frequent used structures in this step are ‘thực hài lòng’, ‘lấy làm vinh dự làm việc công ty…’, ‘được may mắn làm việc với đồng nghiệp tốt/ chân thành/ chuyên nghiệp môi trường làm việc tốt’ While step A’ is used to appreciate the old jobs, step B’ is utilized to give thanking to the employers This step turns up in letters They are letters - no.1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 6’, 7’, 8’, 9’ and 10’; and in letter no.2’, this step appears two times The survey shows that the most used word in step B’ is ‘cảm ơn’; and to make this step more positive, some writers use the word ‘xin chân thành’ In step C’, the employees wish their old companies success There are five letters having this step in which step C’ repeats in letter no.7’ To express this step, the authors often use the phrases ‘(chân thành) cầu chúc….thành công mong muốn/ thịnh vượng phát triển’ 2.2.9 Move 9’ – Requesting Interest from the Old Company Move 9’ is used to request interest from the old company In Vietnamese corpus, it is only included in letters - 1’, 2’, 3’, 8’, and 9’ In letters no.3’, 8’, and 9’, this move appears after move 8’ However, it follows move 4’ in letter no.1’; and it is put right after move 7’ in letter no.2’ Only in letter no.1’, the writer gives the request clearly so it is easy to find out the communcative purpose of this move Để đảm bảo quyền & lợi ích cơng ty thân, tơi kính đề nghị cơng ty xem xét, chấp thuận & giải quyền lợi cho tơi theo trình tự, thủ tục quy định công ty & pháp luật lao động (letter no.1’) In other letters, the employees not give the requests clearly Instead of this, they use the structures such as: ‘mong giúp đỡ’, ‘kính đề nghị Ban Giám đốc xem xét giải quyết’ However, the communicative purpose of these sentences is still persuading and requiring the employers to deal with resignation by law Rất mong giúp đỡ Ban lãnh đạo Công ty (letter Kính đề nghị Ban Giám đốc xem xét giải no.2’) (letter no.3’) 2.2.10 Move 10’ – Ending Ten letters have this move It is put at the end of the letters and realized by two steps: Step A’: The place and date of writing resignation letter Step B’: Signing The positions of step A’ and step B’ of this move are not reversed in the whole corpus of Vietnamese resignation letters That means this order is fixed In step A’, the employees state the place and date that they write the letters Step A’ is located in the right corner of the letters Following step A’ is step B’ which contains the signatures and full names of the employees, and sometimes step B’ also includes the ideas and the signatures of the employers to express their agreements In the survey, the names of the employees tend to appear in the right corner of the letters; whereas, the names of the employers are in the left corner (except for letter no.3’ and no.4’) Here are some examples: Chapter – Comparing and Contrasting Discourse Structure of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters 3.1 The Surface Features of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters: 3.1.1 Length of Discourse: Diagram 1: The length of English and Vietnamese resignation letters 10 400 350 300 250 English 200 Vietnamese 150 100 50 10 From the diagram we can see that both English and Vietnamese resignation letters are less than 400 words each English letters range from more than 100 words to more than 300 words; whereas the range of Vietnamese letters is between more than 150 words and more than 350 words Most of English letters are less than 200 words, but the average length of letters in Vietnamese is more than 200 words These indicate that Vietnamese resignation letters tend to be longer than English ones 3.1.2 Paragraph, Sentence, and Vocabulary: According to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/paragraph , a paragraph is “a distinct division of written or printed matter that begins on a new, usually indented line, consists of one or more sentences, and typically deals with a single thought or topic or quotes one speaker's continuous words” Based on the definition of a paragraph, the format of paragraph in the body of Vietnamese resignation letters is not as clear as the one in English The number of paragraphs in the body of Vietnamese letters is more than the English ones However, the number of sentences in each paragraph in Vietnamese letters is less than those in English (Vietnamese: from to sentences per paragraph, English: from to sentences per paragraph) The total number of sentences in the body of Vietnamese corpus 11 approximates to the one in English corpus Nevertheless, the number of words in each sentence in Vietnamese letters is more than those in English The longest sentence in Vietnamese letters has 71 words, whereas the longest sentence in English one only has 48 words The types of sentences which are used in English and Vietnamese letters have a common characteristic, that is they are usually complex, compound, or extended simple sentences In addition, in terms of vocabulary, the word ‘I’ is often utilized in English resignation letters and the word ‘Tôi’ is also put at the beginning of the sentences in Vietnamese ones Moreover, both English and Vietnamese letters use formal words to convey their messages more effectively and achieve the communicative purposes in this kind of letter 3.2 The ‘Move Analysis’ of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters 3.2.1 The Analytical Framework: The following table will show the similarities and differences between the analytical framework of English resignation letters and the one of Vietnamese resignation letters Table 10: The analytical frameworks of English and Vietnamese resignation letters English Move 1: Opening Vietnamese Move 1’: Opening Step A: The date of writing resignation letter Step A’: The official name of the country Step B: The employer’s contact information Step B’: The name of the letter Move 2: Addressing Move 2’: Addressing Move 3: Stating resignation and informing the Move 3’: Introducing oneself last day of work Step A: Stating resignation Step B: Informing the last day of work Step A’: Providing personal information Step B’: Establishing credentials Move 4’: Stating resignation and informing the Move 4: Giving the reason of resignation last working date positively Step A: Stating the resignation reason Step B: Expressing interest in the old job Step A’: Stating resignation Step B’: Informing the last working date Move 5’: Stating the reason of resignation Move 5: Expressing the willingness to help Move 6’: Expressing the willingness to help with with the transition the transition 12 Move 6: Requesting interest from the old Move 7’: Committing oneself to fulfil one's duty company Move 8’: Showing gratitude & wishing success Move 7: Showing gratitude & wishing Step A’: Appreciating the old job success Step B’: Thanking Step A: Appreciating the old job Step C’: Wishing success Step B: Thanking Move 9’: Requesting interest from the old Step C: Wishing success company Move 8: Ending Step A: Expressing sincerity Step B: Signing Move 10’: Ending Step A’: The place and date of writing resignation letter Step B’: Signing The table 10 indicates that the move types in English resignation letters are basically similar to those in Vietnamese, but the number of move types in Vietnamese letters is more than those in English ones While the English corpus has move types, the Vietnamese corpus has 10 move types There are two moves which not appear in English letters; that is ‘Introducing oneself’ and ‘Committing oneself to fulfil one's duty’ Moreover, there is a difference in move ‘Opening’ between two corpuses In English letters, this move is used to provide the date of writing letter and the employer’s contact information However, this information is put in move ‘Ending’ in Vietnamese letters, and move ‘Opening’ of Vietnamese resignation letters is utilized to give the official name of the country and the title of the letter One more difference between these two analytical frameworks is that move ‘Giving the reason of resignation positively’ in English corpus has two steps (‘Stating the resignation reason’ and ‘Expressing interest in the old job’), but the equivalent move in Vietnamese corpus has no steps 3.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters Synthesizing table and table 7, we can see that both English and Vietnamese resignation letters have obligatory moves each In English corpus, these moves are: ‘Opening’, ‘Addressing’, ‘Stating resignation and informing the last day of work’, ‘Giving the reason of resignation positively’, ‘Showing gratitude & wishing success’, and ‘Ending’ In Vietnamese corpus, these moves are: ‘Opening’, ‘Addressing’, ‘Introducing oneself’, 13 ‘Stating resignation and informing the last working date’, ‘Stating the reason of resignation’, and ‘Ending’ While move ‘Showing gratitude & wishing success’ is compulsory in English letters, it is optional in Vietnamese ones In term of the order of move types in the whole corpus (both English and Vietnamese letters), the first three moves are always at the beginning of the letters, the last move is always put at the end of the letters, and the rest moves can change their orders Besides, moves and steps not necessarily coincide in the same paragraph or part 3.2.3 Detail Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters Because there are some differences between the two analytical frameworks of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, so this part only focuses on comparing and contrasting the common move types which are included in both English and Vietnamese letters 3.2.4 Opening This move is obligatory in both English and Vietnamese resignation letters Its position is always at the beginning of the letters in the whole corpus However, while in English letters move ‘Opening’ is realized by two steps – ‘The date of writing resignation letter’ and ‘The employer’s contact information’; in Vietnamese letters this move is realized by two different steps, that is ‘The official name of the country’ and ‘The name of the letter’ 3.2.5 Addressing According to the survey, ‘Addressing’ is also compulsory in the whole corpus This move always follows move ‘Opening’ In both English and Vietnamese letters, the writers use this move to address the employers with the formal words – ‘Dear…’ in English and ‘Kính gửi…’ in Vietnamese 3.2.6 Stating resignation and informing the last day of work Stating resignation is the main communicative purpose of this kind of letter Therefore, the frequency of this move is 100% in the whole corpus Nevertheless, the position of this move in English letters is different from Vietnamese ones In English corpus, this move is right after move ‘Addressing’; whereas, it is usually after move ‘Introducing oneself’ in Vietnamese letters In terms of steps included in move ‘Stating resignation and informing the last day of work’, in both English and Vietnamese letters this move contains two common steps – ‘Stating resignation’ and ‘Informing the last day of work’ The writers 14 also utilize formal words to express step ‘Stating resignation’ such as: ‘deep regret’, ‘please accept’ in English corpus, and ‘rất lấy làm tiếc’, ‘kính xin…chấp thuận’ in Vietnamese one However, while in English corpus step ‘Stating resignation’ separates from step ‘Informing the last day of work’; in Vietnamese corpus these two steps tend to be combined with each other in one sentence 3.2.7 Giving the reason of resignation As mentioned above, one of the criteria to select the corpus of this study is based on the reason of resignation Thus, ‘Giving the reason of resignation’ is an obligatory move in the whole corpus This move is usually after move ‘Stating resignation and informing the last day of work’ in both English and Vietnamese resignation letters This move is realized by two steps - ‘Stating the resignation reason’ and ‘Expressing interest in the old job’ in English corpus, but it has no steps in Vietnamese one 3.2.8 Expressing the willingness to help with the transition This move is optional in the whole corpus It makes up 50% in English letters and 30% in Vietnamese ones It is not necessarily right after move ‘Giving the reason of resignation’ Besides, although the writers offer to help their old companies, they express their goodwill and happiness in helping through some structures like ‘I’ll be happy to help…’ or ‘tôi hân hạnh/ lấy làm vinh dự giúp đỡ…’ 3.2.9 Requesting interest from the old company This move is also optional in both English and Vietnamese resignation letters The frequency of this move in English corpus is less than in Vietnamese one It makes up 10% in English letters and 50% in Vietnamese ones Moreover, the position of this move in these two corpuses is different from each other In English letters, this move appears before move ‘Showing gratitude and wishing success’ while it tends to turns up after move ‘Showing gratitude and wishing success’ and before move ‘Ending’ in Vietnamese letters On the other hand, the way to express the request in English corpus is clearer and more direct than in Vietnamese corpus 3.2.10 Showing gratitude & wishing success ‘Showing gratitude & wishing success’ is one of the most important moves so as to meet the general communicative purpose in this kind of letter However, there is still a small 15 difference of its frequency in English and Vietnamese letters It is obligatory in English corpus, but it makes up 90% in Vietnamese one In the whole corpus, its order is changeable This move can be realized by one or more of three steps – ‘Appreciating the old job’, ‘Thanking’, and ‘Wishing success’ The orders of these three steps can be changed and they are optional in both English and Vietnamese resignation letters In addition, there are many similarities in expressing these three steps between English and Vietnamese corpuses In step ‘Appreciating the old job’, the writers often use the words like ‘appreciate…’ in English and ‘lấy làm hài lòng/ vinh dự/ may mắn làm việc…’ in Vietnamese In step ‘Thanking’, the most frequent word used in English letters is ‘thank’, and the one in Vietnamese letters is ‘cảm ơn’ In step ‘Wishing success’ in both English and Vietnamese corpuses, we can see that some words such as: ‘wish’, ‘success’, ‘cầu chúc’, ‘thành công’, ‘thịnh vượng’, and ‘phát triển’ have the most frequency 3.2.11 Ending ‘Ending’ is an essential move in the whole corpus On this account, its frequency in both English and Vietnamese letters is 100% Its position is always at the end of the letters However, the steps used to realize this move in English letters differ from those in Vietnamese ones In English corpus it can be realized by two steps: ‘Expressing sincerity’ and ‘Signing’; whereas, in Vietnamese corpus it can be realized by two steps: ‘The place and date of writing resignation letter’ and ‘Signing’ The order of these two couples of steps is fixed In step ‘Expressing sincerity’ of English letters, the writers often utilize the word ‘sincerely’ In step ‘The place and date of writing resignation letter’ of Vietnamese letters, the writers provide the place where they write and the date when they write their letters In step ‘‘Signing’, if English corpus only gives the employees’ signatures and their full names, Vietnamese one often gives both the signatures and full names of the employees and employers at the same time PART C – CONCLUSION Conclusions 16 All in all, due to a limited corpus this study gives a brief description of discourse structure analysis in English and Vietnamese resignation letters; and at the same time this thesis shows the similarities and differences between these two letters From the analysis, comparison and contrast between English and Vietnamese resignation letters, we can see that the structure of English resignation letters is basically similar to that of Vietnamese ones They only have some differences in the length of the letters and the kinds of moves In the detail, the letter of resignation in English tends to be shorter than the one in Vietnamese The English letter has moves including ‘Opening, Addressing, Stating resignation and informing the last day of work, Giving the reason of resignation positively, Expressing the willingness to help with the trasition, Requesting interest from the old company, Showing gratitude and wishing success, Ending’, while Vietnamese letter has 10 moves such as ‘Opening, Addressing, introducing oneself, Stating resignation and informing the last working date, Stating the reason of resignation, Expressing the willingness to help with the trasition, Comitting oneself to fulfil one’s duty, Showing gratitude and wishing success, Requesting interest from the old company, Ending’ Although selected samples for this study seem to be out-of-date since they are dated sometimes in the past Nevertheless, they will be all new to those who intend to give up their jobs without making their old boss unpleasant, and at the same time pave the way for them to move on With all the enthusiasm for the thesis, the author hope that this research to be useful to them Recommendations We should be aware of the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese resignation letters so that we know how to use structures and vocabularies properly, and select the right tone which is suitable to English or Vietnamese All the points mentioned above are given in the process of doing this research with the hope that these suggestions will be useful for the people who intend to write a successful resignation letter or the people that pay attention to this kind of letter as well 17 REFERENCES Vietnamese: Diệp Quang Ban (1999), Văn liên kết tiếng Việt, NXB GD, Hà Nội Nguyễn Hịa (2003), Phân tích diễn ngơn: Một số vấn đề lý luận phương pháp NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Hà Nội Trần Ngọc Thêm (1985), Hệ thống liên kết văn tiếng Việt, NXB ĐH THCN, Hà Nội English: Austin, J H (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press Bhatia, V (1993), Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings, London: Longman Biber, D., Connor, U and Upton, T (2007), Discourse on the Move: Using Corpus Analysis to Describe Discourse Structure, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Brett, P (1994), “A genre analysis of the results section of sociology articles”, English for Specific Purposes, 13(1), 47–59 Brown, G and Yule, G (1983), Discourse Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, R (2004), “Self-composed: rhetoric in psychology personal statements”, Written Communication, 21(3), 242–260 Cook, G (1989), Discourse, Oxford: Oxford University Press Crystal, D (1992), Introducing Linguistics, London: Penguin Ding, H (2007), “Genre analysis of personal statements: Analysis of moves in application essays to medical and dental schools”, English for Specific Purposes, 26 (3), 368-392 10 Duszak, A (1994), “Academic discourse and intellectual style”, Journal of Pragmatics, 21(3), 291-313 11 Halliday, M A K and R Hasan (1976), Cohesion in English, London: Longman 12 Harris, Zellig S (1952), “Discourse Analysis”, Language, 28 (1),1-30 18