The use of speech acts in english business letters a case study at commercial companies in binh duong province

A case study as the main research methodology wasconducted to investigate the use of illocution acts including performative verbs, modalverbs, and socio-cultural factors the recipients,

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HA

THE USE OF SPEECH ACTS IN ENGLISH BUSINESS LETTERS: A CASE STUDY AT COMMERCIAL COMPANIES

IN BINH DUONG PROVINCE

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

BINH DUONG-2023

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HA

THE USE OF SPEECH ACTS IN ENGLISH BUSINESS LETTERS: A CASE STUDY AT COMMERCIAL COMPANIES

IN BINH DUONG PROVINCE

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGESUPERVISED BY Ph.D.HUYNH THI BICH PHUONG

Ph.D TRAN THANH DU

BINH DUONG-2023

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY

This thesis has not been submitted elsewhere and this is my own work Iacknowledge that I took my own responsibility for conducting the thesis and I did notuse others’ work, except for what was “in-text cited and listed in the reference list”

Binh Duong,October 2023

Signature

Nguyen Thi Ha

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Huynh ThiBich Phuong, who devoted much time and effort in supervising me to complete thecurrent thesis If it had not been for such support, I could not have completed theresearch as expected

In addition, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr.Tran Thanh Duwho guided me to complete the thesis, gave me suggestions and wholeheartedly urged

me to complete the thesis on time as desired

On behalf of my friends in the post-graduate program, I would like to thank allenthusiastic lecturers at the university They delivered useful lessons on academicwriting, research methodology, language and culture, and so on, so that I could applythe practical knowledge into the research

Many thanks should be sent to my family and friends, who always encourage

me to overcome many study difficulties to finish the Master’s course

Author

Email has become a ubiquitous means of communication in business contextsdespite some questions regarding its high quality as a fact, which makes a lot offactors taken into serious consideration for successful communication by email Thisstudy highlights the use of illocution acts and socio-cultural factors for their positiveeffects on a business email A case study as the main research methodology wasconducted to investigate the use of illocution acts including performative verbs, modalverbs, and socio-cultural factors (the recipients, related fields, and writing contexts).Particularly, thirty extracted emails were collected from four different commercialcompanies in Binh Duong province-Vietnam, whose writers are all Vietnamese withdifferent backgrounds A formal checklist is suggested to help evaluate the quality ofthese emails, focusing on the illocutionary acts as the main aspect of speech actsrelevant to the study Findings indicate that writers are not seriously aware of the use

of performative and modal verbs, which absolutely prevails in highlighting the speechacts in emails Besides, socio-cultural factors and many lexical and grammatical errorscause a lot of loss of literal and pragmatic meanings and misunderstandings betweenthe writers and the receivers Those findings; as a result, contribute to the study forpractical implications for the more effective writing of business emails

Key words: business letters, business emails, speech acts, illocutionary acts,

socio-cultural factors, commercial companies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 3

1.3 Aims and objectives 3

1.4 Research questions 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Structure of the paper 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Definition of key terms 6

2.1.1 Pragmatics 6

2.1.2 Speech acts 6

2.1.3 Locutionary acts 9

2.1.4 Illocutionary acts and performative verbs 9

2.1.5 Perlocutionary acts 9

2.1.6 Business letters 10

2.1.7 Commercial correspondence 11

2.1.8 Emails 11

2.2 Speech acts and the quality of communication 13

2.3 Business email as a written discourse 15

2.4 Key considerations into using business emails 18

2.4.1 Illocutionary acts 20

2.4.2 Socio-cultural factors 21

2.5 Previous studies 22

2.6 Conceptual framework 25

Summary 26

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 Research methods 28

3.1.1 Quantitative method 28

3.1.2 Qualitative method 29

3.2 Research design 30

3.2.1 Case study 30

3.2.2 The current research design 32

3.3 Research contexts 33

3.4 Sampling and participants 34

3.5 Data collection 36

3.6 Data analysis 37

3.7 Reliability and validity 38

3.8 Ethical considerations 39

Summary 40

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 41

4.1 Results 41

4.1.1 Results from email analysis 41

4.1.2 Results from the interview 50

4.2 Discussions 51

4.2.1 The aspects of illocutionary acts employed in English business emails by Vietnamese writers in Binh Duong province 51

4.2.2 The social-cultural components presented in the English business email by Vietnamese writers in Binh Duong province 53

Summary 57

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 58

5.1 Conclusion 58

5.2 Implications 59

5.2.1 For email writers 59

5.2.2 For companies 62

5.3 Limitations of the research 62

5.4 Recommendations for further studies 63

REFERENCES 64

APPENDIX A: THE INTERVIEW SCRIPT 68

APPENDIX B: THE CHECKLIST 70

APPENDIX C: THE RETRIEVED EMAILS 72

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Kinds of speech acts ……….7

Table 3.1 Statistics of the emails’ settings 32

Table 4.1 Politeness markers used in the emails……… 39

Table 4.2 Openings and closings of the emails ……… 44

Table 4.3 Writing styles of the emails ……… 44

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 An email screenshot ……….… 12

Figure 2.2 The framework of assessing the quality of a written text………15

Figure 2.3 The current conceptual framework ……….25

Figure 3.1 The research procedure 30

Figure 4.1 Proportion of the errors………40

Figure 4.2 The target recipients……….43

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASAP: as soon as possible

CV: curriculum vitae

e.g.: for example,

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment

HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces the current research, in terms of its background,statement of the problem, aim and objectives, research questions, scope of the study,significance of the study, and structure of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

When corporate professionals are tasked with communicating with individualswhose primary language differs from their own, it is crucial that they possess athorough comprehension of the recipients' language, as well as their cultural customsand behaviors The possession of verbal communication skills alone does not ensurethe attainment of efficient communication, as stated by Malyuga, Maksimova, andIvanova (2019) The appropriateness and effectiveness of a communication artifact inVietnam may vary from that in the UK or US owing to the unique preferences of theauthors and recipients with respect to the organization, tone, and substance of thecommunication Attaining successful international business communicationnecessitates business writers to possess a thorough comprehension of thecommunication practices that are specific to the countries of their targeted recipients

The significance of business correspondence in the business realm has beenwidely acknowledged However, written communication has been disregarded invarious academic works, as noted by Malyuga et al (2019) and Trosborg (1995) Inaddition, the practice of composing electronic mail has become pervasive in numerousprofessional settings (Fritz et al., 2022) In the realm of written communication, it iscrucial to underscore the significance of a concept that is grounded in pragmatics,namely, speech acts The utilization of language for a specific purpose is denoted asfunctional language (Richards & Schmidt, 2010) While the categorization of speechacts into five main types, namely “directive”, “commissive”, “declarative”,

“expressive”, and “representative” (Richards & Schmidt, 2010), is widely accepted,the practical implementation of speech acts in business communication is intricate(Ewald & Stine, 1983) The challenges of composing written communication in abusiness context are multifaceted, stemming from both the intricate nature of thewriting process (Matsuda & Silva, 2020) and the numerous prerequisites for achieving

efficacy in this domain (Archer, 2010; Chiappini & Harris, 1996; Chiappini & Harris, 2003; Eward & Stine, 1983) Hence, comprehending the issues inbusiness correspondence can aid business correspondents in enhancing their writingtactics and conveying their message more efficiently in the written language ofbusiness.

Bargiela-In the temporary business world, email written communication becomesubiquitous (Ashley, 2007) thanks to the Internet-based technologies facilitation Emailhas been popular in many business workplaces (Qian, 2009) and has been used to notonly send important messages but also attach business contracts and other “HR-relateddocuments” like “curriculum vitae (CV)”, “application letter”, “request”, “order”, and

so on Email has many benefits, according to Ashley (2007) It's simple andcustomizable This communication tool can be used intra- and inter-organizationallyfor fast, seamless global communication This communication method is ideal forbrief messages and routine communications, such as scheduling a meeting, providinginformation, or making a request Laptops allow remote email access while traveling.Compatible systems let users access spreadsheets, text, and graphics Transferred datacan be archived quickly

However, Ashley (2007) reported that email has limitations such technologicalfaults that might result in messages not being delivered or attachments being illegible.The simplicity of conveying messages can result in paradoxes “Junk” communicationcan waste time Like faxes, confidentiality and protection are lacking Emailingsensitive data is not advised Emails are sometimes compared to postcards becauseanyone may read them Digital signature and encryption protect email communication

by encrypting data Similar approaches improve email security Furthermore, businessemail writing is much more demanding than traditional letters (Wallwork, 2014) Inaddition to certain rules to ascertain the writing quality and business writtencommunication, emails have their own unique layout and specific writing conventionsthat writers cannot use their creativity to violate certain rules, especially for the veryfirst email contact

Regardless of any email type (“internal” or “external”), business email should

be improved in terms of its “illocutionary acts” consisting of “language in use” which

is influenced by many “socio-cultural factors” (i.e., “social distance and powerbetween senders and receivers”, “purposes of writing”, and “writers’ and recipients’identities”) As noted by Uskova and Le (2020), understanding all about the context ofthe business writing can help the writers and recipients achieve the goal of thecommunication As a result, studying how to write a business email suitably becomes

an important matter

Because of such theoretical foundations, understanding how Vietnamesewriters of English business emails use speech acts in their emails can be a feasibletopic Moreover, to have a successful email, typical writing strategies and linguisticexpressions could be also learned to enhance email writing experience This researchtheme seems to be underexplored in Vietnamese past research

1.2 Statement of the problem

While emails have become a popular tool in written communication at mostworkplaces, it is demanding that this type of communication needs to be qualifiedenough In many foreign businesses in Vietnam, email is written in English byVietnamese writers Because of different languages and cultures, errors areunavoidable (Ngo, 2009) As a result, the current researcher wanted to analyze the use

of speech acts in a collection of English business emails in Vietnamese companies.This helps describe the effects of the socio-cultural factors on the quality of speechacts in these emails

In detail, this is a case study to investigate the use of performative verbs, modalverbs, and socio-cultural factors including the recipients, related fields, and writingcontexts Thirty extracted emails were collected from four different foreigncompanies in Binh Duong province- Vietnam, whose writers are all Vietnamese withdifferent backgrounds A formal checklist is designed by adapting from Uskova and

Le (2020) to help evaluate the quality of these emails, focusing on the illocutionaryacts as the main aspect of the study relevant to speech acts

1.3 Aims of the study

This study aims at examining the utilization of speech acts generally, and theillocutionary acts in English business emails particularly by Vietnamese from fourdistinct commercial enterprises located in Binh Duong Province Besides, the socio-

cultural aspect and other components such as linguistic devices, writing context arealso the focus of the study for more effective business emails.

To address the aims of the study, the following objectives are seriously taken:+ to investigate the use of illocutionary acts in English business emails byVietnamese writers

+ to study the socio-cultural factors in relevance to their contributions to thequality of English businesses emails

+ to give suggestions for more effective English business emails

1.4 Research questions

Two following questions are to address the aims and objectives of the study:

Research question 1: What are the aspects of illocutionary acts employed in

English business emails by Vietnamese writers in Binh Duong province?

Research question 2: How do important socio-cultural factors affect the quality

of English business emails?

1.5 Scope of the study

This study restricts its scope by concentrating on two fundamental componentswithin the speech acts of business emails, including (1) “illocutionary acts” (use ofperformative verbs and politeness markers – modal verbs, tentative structures,conditionals, and wishes, and specific errors in the language use and (2) “socio-cultural factors” mainly contributing to the quality of the speech acts, particularly therecipients, writing contexts, and the writer’s intention The study is restricted because

of a small sample of 30 email texts, retrieved from 4 different companies in BinhDuong province

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study helps shed light on the impact of socio-cultural factors

on the illocutionary acts inside business emails The study also reveals theinterrelationship between illocutionary acts and socio-cultural factors in businessemails It can be one among a few Vietnamese studies working on this topic

Practically, it helps the local companies in the province reconsider the quality

of their business emails so that further improvement can be made The study alsohelps propose some solutions for the business email writers to improve their

illocutionary acts in the emails and the companies find best policies to deal with theissue of unqualified emails.

1.7 Structure of the paper

Chapter 1: Introduction - serves as an introduction, providing an overview ofthe background, problem statement, research objectives, inquiries, scope, andsignificance of the research

Chapter 2: Literature Review - comprises a comprehensive literature reviewthat delves into the fundamental theoretical underpinnings of speech acts and theirassociated categories Additionally, the review examines the essential pragmaticfeatures of business correspondence, the established rules of written communication inthe business context, and the various factors that influence the use of speech acts inbusiness correspondence

Chapter 3: Research Methodology- outlines the methodology employed in thestudy, including the research method and designs, sampling and participants, datacollection and analysis, ethical considerations, and proposed timeline

Chapter 4: Results and Discussions- reports main results obtained from the dataanalysis process Then discussions about these findings are held

Chapter 5: Conclusion - restates the results of the thesis, states thecontributions of the research, describes its limitations, and recommends a few ideasfor further studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews important relevant theories used in this study It startswith the working definition of each key terms – pragmatics (the main domain of theresearch), speech acts and its related theories of illocutionary acts, locutionary acts,and perlocutionary acts, business letters, performative verbs, and commercialcorrespondence, and email Then the chapter reports fundamental theories related tospeech act and the quality of communication through four maxims, business email as awritten discourse, and key considerations into using business emails, in terms ofillocutionary acts (the language use) and socio-cultural factors After that, keyfindings from a few related past studies are summarized before the conceptualframework

2.1 Definition of key terms

2.1.1 Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of “meaning in context” (To, 2011, p.9) It is stronglyrelated to the setting of language in use, rather than the “context-free” meaning assemantics

For example, when we take the following example into consideration, thereexist two kinds of meanings: “semantic meaning” and “pragmatic meaning”

“A: Would you like a piece of cake?

B: I’m on a diet” (To, 2011, p.9)

In this example, the utterance “I’m on diet” has the pragmatic meaning – “Idon’t want to have a piece a cake” while its semantic meaning is just “I’m on a diet”

In brief, the study of “pragmatics” helps analyze the language used in specificcontexts

2.1.2 Speech acts

2.1.2.1 Definition

To (2011, p.146) reported that “a speech act is an important part of the meaning

of utterances is what speakers do by uttering them” A speech act is also considered as

“an utterance” with “a functional unit in communication” (Richards & Schmidt, 2010,p.542)

Take the following example from To (2011, p.146) into consideration.

“Sam: “I am thirsty”

(= “Give me something to drink, please.”)

Annie: “I’ll bring you a glass of water.”

The act of uttering “I am thirsty” by Sam to describe the present “state ofbeing” (“being thirsty”) is called “a speech act” Also, the utterance “I’ll bring you aglass of water” by Annie is also a speech act In other words, Sam and Annieperformed their actions through those words

2.1.2.2 Types

To (2011) noted that speech acts can be grouped in different ways: (1) by itslinguistic elements and meanings and (2) by its functions

In terms of the connection between the “language use and meaning”, it includes

“indirect” and “direct speech acts” While “direct speech acts” are ones in which “thespeaker utters a sentence which means exactly what he or she says” (To, 2011, p.151),

“indirect speech acts” are not An indirect speech act can imply a polite manner toperform the speech act (To, 2011, p.152) For instance, the utterance “Kill me rightnow” is a direct speech act because this is an order with explicit meaning “kill me”.The utterance “Why don’t you go to the doctor?” (To, 2011, p.152) signifies anindirect speech act because this is an implicit suggestion or advice rather than a directquestion

Regarding the functions, To (2011, p.151) reported five main kinds: (1)

“declaratives”, (2) “representatives”, (3) “expressives”, (4) “directives”, (5)

“rogatives”, and (6) “commissives”

Table 2.1 Kinds of speech acts

“Speech-act

category” “Typical expression” Example

“Declaratives”

“declarative structurewith speaker as subject and

a performative verb

in simple present tense”

“We find the defendant guilty.”

“I resign.”

“Representatives” “declarative structure”

“Tom’s eating grapes.”

“Bill was an accountant.”

“Expressives” “declarative structure with

words referring to feelings”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“This beer is disgusting.”

“Directives” “imperative sentence”

“Sit down!”

“Fasten your seat belts.”

“Interrogatives” interrogative sentence

“Where did he go?”

“Is she leaving?”

“Commissives”

declarative structurewith speaker as subject andfuture time expressed

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“We ’re going to turn you in.”

In detail, “The representative describes a state of affairs in the world: asserting,stating, claiming, affirming, making hypotheses, describing, predicting, reporting, etc.The representative can generally be characterized as being true or false” (To, 2011,p.147) For example, “Bill was an accountant” is a representative because thisutterance describes a fact “The commissive commits the speaker to a course of action:promising, vowing, threatening, offering, etc.” (To, 2011, p.148) For instance, “I’llcall you tonight” is a commissive as this utterance expresses a promise “Thedeclarative changes the world by bringing about or altering the state of affairs it names:dismissing, sentencing, naming, announcing marriage, etc.” (To, 2011, p.148) Toillustrate, by uttering “I resign”, the speaker declares that “the act of resigning” isdone now “The directive intends to get the listener to carry out an action:commanding, requesting, begging, warning, challenging, inviting, suggesting, givingadvice, etc.” (To, 2011, p.149) For example, the utterance “Fasten your seat belts” is

an order, so this is a directive “The expressive indicates the speaker’s psychologicalstate(s) or feeling(s)/attitude(s) about something: greeting, apologizing, complaining,

thanking, etc.” (To, 2011, p.150) For instance, “This beer is disgusting” is acomplaint of the beer, so this is an expressive Lastly, “the rogative refers to a specialkind of directives which deals with requests for information and which is typically inform of a question” (To, 2011, p.150) Thus, the question “Where did he go?”performs the rogative as this question aims to get more information about thedestination where he went.

2.1.3 Locutionary acts

“A locutionary act” is an element of any speech act It is defined as “the saying

of something which is meaningful and can be understood.” (Richards & Schmidt,

2010, p.347, To, 2011, p.162) It can be seen that in the previous example, theutterance “I am thirsty” has its “locutionary meaning” as “I am suffering from mythirst”

2.1.4 Illocutionary acts and performative verbs

“An illocutionary act is using a sentence to perform a function” (Richards &Schmidt, 2010, p.347; To, 2011, p.162) In the prior example, Sam’s utterance has theillocutionary act as “I need to you to bring me some water to drink” (to request tohave the listener bring some water to drink) An “illocutionary act” is strongly related

to the language use in which the speaker or writer chooses linguistic elements (i.e.,grammar, vocabulary, etc.) to express meanings in particular contexts To (2011)stressed that the speaker or writer needs to understand the context of communicationvery well before performing the illocutionary act so that the language soundsappropriate for the intended settings

In brief, “performative verbs” are typical verbs shown in illocutionary acts.These verbs indicate an action rather than “a state of being or affairs” (Richards &Schmidt, 2010) Some examples for these verbs are “run”, “jump”, “kick”, “punch”,

“clap”, “click”, and so on

2.1.5 Perlocutionary acts

“A perlocutionary act is the results or effects that are produced by means ofsaying something” (To, 2011, p.162) Thus, the utterance “I am thirsty” has theperlocutionary act as “the request to bring some water for me to drink” The

“perlocutionary acts” can be influenced by the “illocutionary acts” (Richards &

Schmidt, 2010) It is because the varied use of language can induce many differenteffects on listeners or readers For example,

“A: Would you like a piece of cake?

B: I’m on a diet” (To, 2011, p.9)

The utterance “I’m on a diet”, the “perlocutionary act” is that “Speaker A” willnot give “a piece of cake” to “Speaker B” as he or she understands that “B” would notlike it

2.1.6 Metalocutionary acts

A “metalocutionary act” is “a speech act that mentions the forms and functions

of the discourse itself rather than continuing the substantial development of thediscourse” (Gibbon, 1983)

2.1.7 Business letters

As noted by Ashley (2007), business letters are the most basic means ofbusiness written communication The uniform structure is consistently maintainedthroughout the entirety of the subject matter Initially, a formal letter comprises a

“heading” section that includes the address of the letter writer and the date ofcomposition The second element in a standard business letter is the “inside address,”which denotes the recipient's name and mailing address Thirdly, the “salutation”encompasses the explicit addressing of the recipient, such as “Dear Sir/Madam.” Ininformal situations, the placement of a comma after a greeting is customary, whereas

in formal contexts, a colon is typically utilized The term “the subject” denotes theintended objective of the written work The primary component of a business letter isthe “body,” which encompasses the central message The subsequent segment pertains

to the “complimentary close,” which encompasses brief phrases used to conclude amessage (such as “Sincerely yours,” “Truly yours,” “Respectfully,” among others).The signature block typically includes the name and signature of the writer Precedingthe ultimate conclusion of this correspondence, it is possible that “the enclosures” may

be included, denoting the attachment to the letter (e.g., “Enclosure: Resume”) In theevent that additional copies of the letter are required, the abbreviation “cc:” denoting

“carbon copy” will be utilized alongside the name of the recipient (e.g., “cc: Ms.Petty”)

2.1.8 Commercial correspondence

“Commercial correspondence” refers to the written communication in

commercial fields (Ashley, 2007), including two ubiquitous tools – “business letters”and “emails” Any commercial correspondence should reflect suitable information thatneeds exchanging between business partners and has its own typical structure andconvention Additionally, “commercial correspondence” can have “positive” and

“negative” writing events, according to the real writing purposes For regularsituations and long-term negotiations, a business can select positive writing styles Incontrast, in very serious and immediate situations, more negative writing style incommercial correspondence can be seen The message can be emphasized, whichsignifies a need of immediate responses

“electronic mail”) as “the exchange of computer-stored messages from one user to one

or more recipients via the internet Hence, thanks to the Internet boom these days,email has become a ubiquitous tool of business written communication, besidestraditional methods like “letters” and “faxes” (Ashley, 2007; Yasar, 2022) Moreover,the disparity between a business letter and a formal email is minimal The primarydistinctions between the two documents are as follows: firstly, the official letter bears

a letterhead, thereby lending it a more formal appearance Secondly, it is intended to

be printed Thirdly, it features a distinct layout that typically incorporates additionalinformation such as the address and date Lastly, the language employed in the officialletter is generally more formal in nature In brief, email is the target object of thecurrent study as it has nearly all features similar to business letters Typically, itcomprises an authentic handwritten signature

The current study considers email as “the message sent by the email systemlike Google Mail, Outlook, etc.” Because the research focuses on the use of speechacts inside these electronic letters, their content is prioritized.

2.1.9.2 Categories

As reported by Wijayanti (2017) email used in business workplaces mainlycomprise of “internal” and “external” email The former refers to emailcommunication within the organization, namely personnels to personnels, managers toemployees, etc The latter refers to the use of email to deliver information frombusiness to business “Internal email” can occur very often in business workplaces,namely “reply to an employee’s request”, “report about a case at the current company”,

“inform an important new policy”, and so forth For “internal emails”, it is often to see

“job roles” in the salutation among members at the same job position, such as “DearHead of Department of HR” “External email” includes written communicationbetween companies or organizations, so they tend to include more “illocutionary acts”

to maintain or develop a business relationship or to deal contracts

2.1.9.3 Email layout

With regard to the structure of an email, Ashley (2007, p.26) showed thefollowing example Any email has its “header information” including “basic detailsabout the senders, the recipients, subject (or title), and the attachments if any” Afterthis section, the message text delivers all necessary information inside the email Themessage text normally starts with a “salutation” or “greeting” formally or informallyaccording to the writing context (writing goals, the social distance between the senderand recipient, etc.) The main body including all important messages follows that Theclosing can include a formal expression like “Yours faithfully,” or less formal like “I

am looking forward to hearing from you.” At the end of the email, there is normally asignature which can be stored online, consisting of names, positions, and contactinformation

Figure 2.1 An email screenshot

2.2 Speech acts and the quality of communication

According to Strawson (1968), there exist specific regulations that govern theefficacy of speech acts in the context of communication Ewald and Stine (1983)reported that Grice proposed the most notable framework for the rules governingspeech acts The principles governing speech acts are categorized into four distinctrules, namely the “Maxims of Quantity,” “Maxims of Quality,” “Maxims ofRelation,” and “Maxims of Manner.” The initial statement posits that each speech actought to effectively communicate sufficient information to its intended audience,whether they be listeners or readers The second concept pertains to the utilization ofdependable verbal expressions, supported by unambiguous substantiation The thirdaspect pertains to the pertinence of speech acts, wherein they must be connected toboth the contextual framework and the intended message of the communication Thefinal aspect pertains to the methodical arrangement of a verbal expression

In details, in cases where the objective of writing as a form of communicationpertains to conveying lucid written messages to the audience, a writer may contravenethe principle of speech act quantity owing to the absence of essential written details(Matsuda & Silva, 2020) According to Ewald and Stine (1983), the “maxims ofquality” are breached in instances of written business communication whereinformation is presented without supporting evidence As an illustration, a corporationhas declared a substantial decline in their earnings without providing anysubstantiating proof The quality of the speech act (declarative) appears to besubstandard in this scenario According to Ewald and Stine (1983), the violation of the

“maxims of relation” occurs when the communication is deemed irrelevant orinappropriate to the current context or discourse For instance, in a corporatecorrespondence exchanged between two affiliated entities, there is a tendency toutilize imprecise language or even colloquial terms instead of employing appropriatespeech acts for formal directives This situation could suggest that the speech act inquestion is not in a favorable relationship The ultimate aspect to be taken into accountwith regards to the quality of a speech act pertains to its manner According to Ewaldand Stine (1983), a well-structured speech act is deemed necessary If the speech actintended to propose a resolution to a business issue lacks organization and coherence,

it may result in audience confusion and hinder effective communication of theintended message

To improve the quality of written communication at work, the “illocutionaryacts” whose linguistic elements should be concentrated Bargiela-Chiappini and Harris(1996, p.637) posit that the language employed in communicating a request, whichhas the potential to threaten one's face, is indicative of the speaker's perception of theirown status and that of the recipient From this perspective, it is significant to considerthat the language utilized in business correspondence ought to be commensurate withthe respective statuses of both the sender and the receiver Typically, writtencommunication pertains to the utilization of syntactic structures and semanticproperties within written discourse In essence, the pragmatic aspects of writing holdsignificance (Matsuda & Silva, 2020) The appropriate choice of language, whetherformal or informal, should be made with careful consideration of hedging devices

such as modal verbs and tentative structures, standard grammatical structures, relevantlexical choices, and other factors to ensure the effectiveness of the speech act Thishas been noted by various scholars such as Brown et al (1987), Lenassi (2015), andMalyuga et al (2019) Politeness markers are significant indicators of businesscorrespondence, particularly in letters pertaining to very formal situations, as stated byLenassi (2015) Finally, as asserted by Roshid and colleagues (2022), it is imperativefor business letters to incorporate a greater number of “affirmative action verbs” thatunequivocally convey the intended business communication objectives There exists acultural difference in communication styles, whereby certain cultural groups, notablyAsians, tend to employ extended discourse and a greater frequency of indirect speechacts, while Westerners tend to prioritize the conveyance of primary information andemploy more succinct writing styles.

In brief, speech acts may be regarded as a meticulously organized actionexecuted with language To ensure effective communication objectives, it isimperative that any given speech act adheres to established standards of reliability andvalidity Illocutionary acts should follow certain standards regarding its language use,meaning, and functions to induce a correct influence on the audience as targeted (To,2011) It is also necessary to use speech acts according to a specific context Thecurrent study aims to employ business written communication – the act of usingwritten language to express meanings and exchange information relating to businessaffairs, as the main context

2.3 Business email as a written discourse

Basically, email writing refers to written communication Thus, the qualityassessment of this communication can be based on a framework by House (1997) Themodel presented by House (1997) was derived from the framework of “Field, Tenor,and Mode” and was subsequently modified to enhance its simplicity The subject ofthe discussion pertains to the “text field” The term “tenor” encompasses theindividuals involved in a communication event, including the participants, author,audience, and their interrelationships The concept of “mode” encompasses both themedium and the level of participation, which may vary in complexity The genre of awritten text can determine its level of informativeness, with some genres such as laws

being more informative, while others like letters may be more involved The writtenform of language is characterized by greater clarity and reduced contextualdependence compared to its spoken counterpart As a result, it is capable of conveyinginformation in a more abstract and detailed manner Texts often do not conform to asingle dimension, so the writer may become flexible in their written communication

so that the goal of such communication can be achieved This framework is adapted inthe following diagram

Figure 2.2 The framework of assessing the quality of a written text

According to Roshid, Webb, and Chowdhury (2022), a business letter iscommonly written using a formal register and is often utilized for inter-businesscommunication A formal document known as a business letter is commonlyemployed for communication between business entities, as well as between theseentities and their clients and external stakeholders Academic writing is distinguished

by its utilization of formal language and adherence to established conventions Thetone and structure of a business letter are distinct from those of a personal letter.Observing the conventions of courtesy and decorum is essential for the author whencomposing a professional correspondence The primary purpose of a business letter is

to function as a formal mode of correspondence between two or more entities Thefunction of a communication artifact can exhibit variability and may be classified intoone of four distinct categories, namely informational, persuasive, motivational, orpromotional The principal aim of a business letter is to establish formal

communication with a customer, client, or business partner concerning an officialbusiness issue The incorporation of linguistic elements is a crucial characteristic thatshould be intrinsic to the construction of a business letter The prioritization of clarity

is a crucial aspect It is recommended to avoid the use of intricate lexicon, variedidiomatic expressions, and too many technical terms

Email writing in business contexts could be much more demanding, as stated

by Wallwork (2014) Firstly, this kind of writing needs to follow basic principles ofwritten communication and business letters Secondly, email has its unique layout, asmentioned above; as a result, the writer needs to follow such standards Thirdly, emailwriting can include a variety of business communication contexts which requiredifferent language in use, leading to many additional conventions

Wallwork (2014) summarized these key standards in business email writing asfollows:

In the section of the subject line, the writer needs to avoid “vague language” byexpressing the direct subject of the email Moreover, the writer needs to considertypes of recipients of the email

In the section of “initial salutation”, the writer needs to avoid “gender titles”like “Mr or Mrs.” for first email contact The writer also needs to use the pattern

“Dear + first name + second name” for these first email contacts The writer needs tocheck the name’s spelling carefully and choose one of the three options inpunctuations like “Dear Sir/ Madam,”, “Dear Sir/ Madam:”, or “Dear Sir/ Madam” Incase the recipient’s name is unknown, job position can be preferred For instance,

“Dear Sales Manager”

In the section of “Introduction and final salutations”, the writer needs to followthese key conventions First, the writer needs to explain how they get the recipient’semail contact for the first time Second, a brief introduction to the writer’s informationneeds to be given Third, the writer needs to clarify the writing purposes and introducethe third party involved if any and necessary Fourth, the final salutation can include

“Best regards” in case the writer does not know exactly how to end the email Finally,the signature should consist of only the name of the sender, position, and contactinformation without any other phrases like “Ps” under the signature

In the section of “main text”, the information should be given in a clear way in

a suitable writing tone and manner The writer needs to consider the “level offormality” to change the writing style suitably For requests, they should be “100%clear” and include “deadlines” for any order The requests should be replied in a rightmanner (i.e., sorry for late submission and thank you for any helpful reminders) Forinstructions and comments, the writer needs to mindfully treat the email message Thewriter needs to make the comments sound more constructive and positive, with “non-aggressive language” The writer needs to consider the degree of directness inlanguage according to the context Normally, in cases of asking for clarifications andsuggestions, too direct messages should be avoided In a business email, neutral tonecan be suitable, and the writer needs to avoid offensive language Finally, the writerneeds to remember to attach any useful documents when necessary

Hence, the essential principles governing communication in email are related tothe utilization of suitable linguistic frameworks and email layouts, the precisearticulation of writing objectives, and the cultivation of a strengthened rapportbetween the sender and the recipient Following all such principles could help enhancethe quality of business email writing

2.4 Key considerations into using business emails

According to Ashley (2007), there are a multitude of benefits associated withutilizing email communication The product is user-friendly and tailored to individualneeds This communication tool has the ability to be utilized both intra-organizationally and inter-organizationally, serving as a highly efficient means ofrapid and seamless communication with individuals across the globe The utilization

of this communication method is particularly advantageous for brief messages androutine correspondence, such as arranging a meeting, conveying information, andinitiating or responding to a request One can access their email messages remotely,even while traveling, by utilizing a laptop or palmtop device By utilizing compatiblesystems, users are able to access textual and graphical documents, as well asspreadsheets Any data that is transmitted or received can be efficiently andexpeditiously archived

Nevertheless, the use of email is also problematic Ashley (2007) reported thatemail has certain drawbacks, such as technical issues that can lead to unforeseen non-delivery of messages or attachments arriving in an unreadable format One non-technical drawback is that the simplicity of sending messages can lead to aparadoxical outcome The presence of excessive and superfluous communication,commonly referred to as “junk”, can lead to unproductive use of time Like faxes, asignificant limitation is the absence of confidentiality and protection It is notrecommended to employ email as a means of transmitting sensitive or confidentialdata There is a common assertion that an email communication can be likened to apostcard, as the contents of the message can be accessed and read by anyone Digitalsigning and encryption are security measures that enhance the security of emailcommunication by encoding data in a manner that restricts access to authorized users.These measures operate in a similar fashion to bolster the security of email.

Added by Heintie (2010), the use of business emails can have its own strengthsand weaknesses, according to Heintie (2010) Regarding the advantages, businessemails are inexpensive and have available templates for many writing situations If theemails are used for marketing purposes, the company can enjoy the benefits from high

“return of investment” Communication is more interactive, and it can gain access tomany potential customers The emails can be conveniently edited and targeted Thesenders can personalize the emails by considering the current writing context andrecipients to edit the layout of the email conveniently on the Internet-based platform.Emails also help save more time because of no need to wait for a long time fortraditional mailing services Senders can deliver their emails fast and recipients canreceive the messages immediately Regarding some disadvantages, business emailscan cause some difficulties in reading content when the devices and software betweenthe senders and recipients are different The emails can consume much “volume ofdata drive” (the capacity of an online database); as a result, one email account withmany messages with large attachments may be costly Apart from inboxes withregular, reliable emails, many junk emails can coexist, which cause certain problems

in data privacy and security of the company and the individual users

As a result, both companies and stakeholders (e.g., customers, outsiders, etc.)need to consider many things in business email discourse (Ashley, 2007; Heintie,2010) First, the solutions to spam email should be reached Second, technologicalplatforms and devices should be frequently updated Third, the content of each emailshould be proofread carefully before it is sent to target recipients Finally, urgentemails should have some signals for immediate responses All of this can ensure thequality of this business written discourse.

2.4.1 The effects of illocutionary acts

The first specific consideration into business email use is how to expresslanguage appropriately in each writing context In other words, illocutionary actsshould be performed suitably (Hu & Liu, 2022) In business emails, besides linguisticelements similar to many other written discourses, namely the use of tenses and otherverbal structures (e.g., passive, reported speech, clauses, phrases, etc.), vocabulary ofdaily common topics, and so forth, business emails consist of their typical languagesignals (Wallwork, 2014) Inside these emails, performative verbs are used frequently

to directly express the speech act These verbs help express a recommendation,request, offer, invitation, refusal, etc For example, “I suggest that we consider anothertime for this meeting” In this case, the verb “suggest” indicates clearly the actmentioned in its meaning “to put forward an idea” This verb is considered aperformative verb Another type of language used in business emails can be

“politeness markers” (AlAfnan, 2014; Hu & Liu, 2022) Although politeness is related

to socio-cultural considerations, in most business emails, particularly external ones,formality and politeness should be of top priority (Wallwork, 2014; Uskova & Le,2020) Hedging devices like modal verbs, some adverbs of caution (e.g., probably,possibly, etc.), tentative structures like “seem to”, “appear to”, “to be likely to”, etc.,wishes, and conditionals can be typical source of language Among these elements,modal verbs can most frequently appear in any email in general and business email inparticular (AlAfnan, 2014) According to the writer’s intention and the specificwriting context, the email can contain one or several modal verbs (e.g., “could”,

“should”, “will”, “must”, “can”, etc.) to express the writer’s attitudes and opinion onthe event mentioned Tentative structures can be seen as a kind of hedging device in

the written communication to help reduce the level of certainty of the event mentioned(or the writer’s bias) For instance, “It is likely to fail if we continue to do like this”,the phrase “to be likely to” helps reduce the certainty of “failing” as well as thewriter’s bias in that situation Conditionals and wishes can appear in the emailswherever necessary to express an event that is supposed or assumed to be Whetherthey are used depends on the writing context and the writer’s intention It is alsonoteworthy that business emails can include many business terms, shortened phrases

or clauses, capitalization, punctuations, and abbreviations to correctly, convenientlyconvey the written messages to the recipients Unlike many other emails, businessemails may require certain professional knowledge in business domains, or the fieldrelated to the emails This helps ensure the correct usage of important terms insideemails If one important term is improperly written, possible misunderstandings canhappen and lose the quality of the email communication (Moreno & Sznajder, 2013).Similarly, syntactic structures inside these business emails need to be used correctly

so that there is no ambiguity As suggested by Wallwork (2014), the system ofabbreviations and symbols inside business email is varied The writers and receiversneed to understand the meaning of typical abbreviations as “ps” (“postscript”),

“ASAP” (“as soon as possible”), and so on Certain symbols like “#” (number) should

be understood The system of capitalization and punctuation inside emails can be quitedifferent from others (Ashley, 2007) After initial greetings like “Dear plus initials orposition”, a semi-colon or a comma can be used Final greetings like “Best Regards”should end with a comma Proper names should be capitalized in order to preventpossible misunderstandings For example, “Japan” and “japan” have differentmeanings (an Asian country and a kind of “lacquer” from that country respectively).Overall, the illocutionary acts should be mostly formally expressed via suitablelanguage elements so that the communication purpose is clearly achieved Errorsshould be minimized to avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding All of this helpsbusiness emails become effective tool in the written communication

2.4.2 The effects of socio-cultural factors

Bargiela-Chiappini and Harris (1996) stated that written communication takesplace in specific social and corporate contexts (p.637) Thus, socio-cultural factors,

namely “writing purpose, social distance and power, and writers’ and recipients’identities”, affect business speech acts Business communication is goal-oriented,according to Bargiela-Chiappini and Harris (1996) Writer status regulates speech acts

in communication In addition, a business entity has two types of status: inherentstatus, which is the standard position universally recognised by all stakeholders, andrelative status, which is the position an individual may hold due to their relationshipwith the business The “potential reward” of written communication affects statuses.Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson (2003) found that the writer's reward isproportional to the recipient’s status A junior email sender is supposed to have moreformal writing style to the superior recipients Other socio-cultural factors, such as thewritten communication's purpose and the writer’s identities, can leverage the quality

of the speech acts in email As noted by Vuong (2009), the purpose of the writingshould be the first criterion to evaluate the quality of a written businesscommunication That is, email or any related form of this communication shouldachieve the key purpose as intended For instance, an email to announce that oneemployee is going to be promoted should clearly tell the recipient this key message,rather than expressing so many irrelevant details Additionally, writer’s and recipients’identities should not be ignored There are a few discrepancies in regular writingstyles of female and male writers; for examples, more emotional writing styles byfemale writers (Tran & Phan, 2021) Particular groups of writers and readers indifferent cultural groups or national identities could also perceive writtencommunication in business in different ways (Uskova & Le, 2020) While Westernersare inclined to have straightforward communication, Easterners tend to have lessdirect communication However, as noted by AlAfnan (2014) and Coffelt et al (2019),

“many cultural stereotypes” cannot be always the same these days In conclusion, allsuch aforementioned socio-cultural factors should be strongly related to the realbusiness settings It is possible to study these factors in a specific context

2.5 Previous studies

Ngo (2008) analyzed written texts in the business domain authored byindividuals from English, American, Japanese, and Vietnamese backgrounds Theresearcher identified certain distinctive features of writing style that are relevant to

those engaged in this field The results highlighted that Westerners employed moredirectness in their business written communication rather than Asian Vietnamesebusiness letters have distinctive format of the letters This study provided basicinsights into the impact of socio-cultural factors in business email writing.

The study by Vuong (2009) retrieved different Vietnamese business letters toconclude typical features of business writing conventions in Vietnamese Vuongstressed that “interpersonal language” is a typical language used in business letters.The research results highlighted three particular groups of characteristics in terms ofVietnamese business letters, namely (1) the legal writing style, (2) the “formality”,and (3) the influence of English business writing style into Vietnamese business letters.Based on this study, it was clear that Vietnamese culture could have strong impacts onbusiness email writing This idea gave grounds to the current study

In a Chinese context, Xu (2012) employed “Systemic functional linguisticsframework” by “Halliday” to identify the characteristics of English business letters.The researcher found that business letters in English has unique interactions and moodaccording to the social distance between the sender and recipients However, thisstudy seems to be still narrow in its scope due to the limited text sample (only 16letters retrieved) Due to a different context and objective, this study added that therewas no

The study by Moreno and Sznajder (2013) employed more than 100 emails,written in English by companies established in three distinct cultures These emailswere in response to various business requests The primary objectives of the researchwere to examine the primary parameters of variation among these cultures, theexisting variation concerning the prototypical move structure, and the fluctuations inregister variation based on each culture The findings demonstrated that within thesevarious cultural contexts, the structural organization of this particular genre was moreintricate than what was currently depicted in templates and published materials Theresearch findings indicated that although there is a trend towards uniformity in emailcommunication across Europe, there existed specific variables of divergence that canaid language learners and users in adapting their messages to align with the culturalbackground of the recipients This research seems to contribute major insights into the

research themes because it highlights the significance of social-cultural factors inbusiness email writing.

Another research by AlAfnan (2014) examined the phenomenon of politeness

in electronic mail communication within the context of a Malaysian academicorganization The study investigated the utilization of politeness tactics in correlation

to the ethnic background of the interlocutors, power dynamics, and social proximity.Prior studies conducted on workplace emails in Malaysia have indicated that theprevalent politeness strategies employed by Malaysians are direct imperative ordeclarative in nature The findings of this study indicate that the employees inMalaysia, including those of Malay, Chinese Malaysian, and Indian Malaysiandescent, predominantly employed indirect positive and negative politeness strategies.This is an instance where rapport is established and a personal connection is madewith the recipient The findings of the research indicated that social distance had agreater impact than power imbalance on the behavior of Malaysians Specifically, theresults suggested that individuals tended to exhibit more courteous behaviors towardscolleagues who were more distant, as opposed to those who were closer in proximity.Similar to Moreno and Sznajder (2013), this research could reveal that in businessemail writing “social distance and power” are additional strong factors in the use ofspeech acts

Khramchenko's (2019) research conducted in Russia suggests that businessletters, as a form of written communication in modern professional settings, exhibit arange of pragmatic features The utilization of diverse linguistic devices, primarilypoliteness techniques, and the socio-cultural factors that envelop the letters areattributable to the business writer's objective and status

The utilization of written communication in electronic business letters acrossRussian, English, and Vietnamese was examined by Uskova and Le (2020) Theresults of the study suggest that contemporary business correspondence remainslimited by socio-cultural influences The restricted nature of face-to-face interactionamong business partners may have resulted in certain communicative objectives beinginadequately conveyed through business correspondence The findings of this studyindicate that cultural factors hold significant importance in the realm of business

correspondence It is imperative to acquire unambiguous communication objectives,

as demonstrated by the illocutionary force, of written correspondences It isimperative for writers to possess an understanding of cultural intricacies,encompassing both the source and destination cultures, as well as their own status andwriting objectives, in order to facilitate effective communication

Tran and Phan (2021) investigated the utilization of English discourse markers(DMs) in business-related news articles authored by “Vietnamese male and femalejournalists” For this purpose, a total of 80 news articles in business, authored byVietnamese journalists in the English language, were selected The resultsdemonstrated that both groups were similar in their use of DMs though femalejournalists are more inclined to express personal emotions and attitudes (through the

“interpersonal functions” of their language use) than male journalists

Hu and Liu's (2022) study conducted in a Chinese context examined 40 distinctbusiness letters to demonstrate that the utilization of hedging devices, primarily modalverbs and vague language, serves as a significant indicator of politeness in businesscorrespondence The pragmatic functions of business letters indicate that theutilization of politeness markers is a salient characteristic in numerous instances ofbusiness correspondence

Despite different research contexts, objectives, and methodologies, thoseprevious studies could clarify that business email communication, especially incommercial companies in Vietnam, is a feasible topic It is because not manyVietnamese studies considered Vietnamese business writing style, especially in theiremails, as the key subjects Besides this, email writing can be clearly influenced by itssocio-cultural factors (e.g., nationality or home culture of the writer and the recipients,gender of the writer, writing goals, etc.) and its language use (e.g., discourse markers,politeness strategies, writing styles, etc.)

writing Although there are various socio-cultural factors related to business emailwriting, the researcher selected only two most remarkable ones: recipients and writingcontexts There are two reasons for this selection First, it is unethical and impossible

to collect further information about the email writers’ identities (e.g., age, gender, etc.).The researcher randomly received emails from the companies Second, the limited textsamples (only 30 emails) would disable further investigation into the impacts of allfactors related to the quality of speech acts In this case, the cultural background of therecipients and the specific writing contexts are considered two most important,convenient factors to research Generally, the quality of business emails should bebased on the understanding of the writing context, the target recipients, and theconvention of email writing

Figure 2.3 The current conceptual framework

Summary

This chapter presents the working theoretical background of the study afterreporting relevant definitions of key terms It is noteworthy that business emails in theresearch is considered as a written discourse in which writers need to understand the

Email type

Recipients

Writing contexts & cultural backgrounds

writing contexts and recipients clearly so that they can express the speech actseffectively Four maxims of communication should be noticed: “Maxims of Quantity,”

“Maxims of Quality,” “Maxims of Relation,” and “Maxims of Manner” by Strawson(1968) In addition to this, conventions in business emails’ layout and writing styleshould be respected to make business emails become an effective tool Most paststudies on this topic were foreign, so Vietnamese contexts should be included infurther research

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology of the study, including theresearch method employed, research design, research contexts, sampling andparticipants, data collection, data analysis, reliability and validity, and ethicalconsiderations

3.1 Research methods

Two main research methods encompass quantitative and qualitative methods(Creswell, 2012) Each has its own nature While the former typically employsnumerical data to report findings, the latter is based on ideas, perceptions, andobservations into a research phenomenon As a result, each has its own advantagesand disadvantages, which are presented in the following section

3.1.1 Quantitative method

Quantitative research method is characterized using numerical data as mainreports (Creswell, 2012) This method has many strengths Its first main advantage issaving time and resources The second benefit of quantitative research is the capacity

to generalize study outcomes owing to scientific data collection and analysis methods.Besides generalization, Creswell and Creswell (2018) noted that this method alsobenefits from data dependability The researchers said quantitative research designrelies on hypothesis testing with a defined purpose and processes, so researchers mayfollow the study standards rather than guessing (Creswell, 2012) Quantitativeresearch provides a basic framework with defined goals and rules, making it easy torepeat research methods, results, and discoveries Finally, quantitative research's bias-free character is a major advantage (Creswell, 2012) Apart from qualitative researchmethods, quantitative research can become more objective Through online or paper-based questionnaires, telephone surveys, and so on, the researcher may limit directcontact with respondents, which strongly impacts bias Indirect communication withparticipants using quantitative research methods and procedures ensures “respondentanonymity” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018)

However, this method still has some limitations This research method lacks anintimate interaction between the researcher and the participants, making it difficult to

gather in-depth information about the examined phenomena in natural settings(Creswell, 2012) This leads to very little in-depth information that can be included in

a quantitative study Quantitative research also lacks participant interaction (Creswell

& Creswell, 2018); the researcher needs to control the whole process Quantitativeresearchers have to define research questions and hypotheses, review relevantliterature, collect data, analyze data, interpret data, and generate implications, so thecondition of conducting a quantitative study needs to be effective enough Due to itslinear and inflexible structure, quantitative research design lacks creativity and criticalthinking This research method is better for studying known phenomena than new,complicated ones (Creswell & Creswell, 2018)

3.1.2 Qualitative method

The qualitative research method aims to describe or conceptualize a researchphenomenon in detail (Creswell, 2012) Common qualitative research methods of datacollection include interviews, observations, recordings, and so on

This method has some benefits First, it allows researchers to collect data fromindividuals in their natural contexts via expert interviews, focus groups, observations,and field notes Participants can directly participate in the research The researchermay better understand participant behaviors via observation and interviews Theresearcher may get relevant information about the phenomena under investigationutilizing a qualitative research approach Second, this method allows more naturaldata sources (Gaber, 2020) Such data sources can give more in-depth informationabout the research phenomenon Finally, qualitative research design lets theresearcher observe participants’ ideas, perceptions, and behaviors in a natural, socialsetting and better explain events

However, the qualitative research design has some limitations First, thismethod allows more bias from the researcher because of the qualitative data (Creswell,2012) The researcher’s understandings about the research phenomenon can affect theinterpretation of findings Second, the qualitative research method can become moresubjective than the quantitative Results are mainly based on perceptions, ideas, andobservations rather than statistical evidence Finally, because the research instruments