This study aimed to find the problems in email writing of 75 employees of the Fraud Department and Call Center Department at the headquarters of GSB and to survey for suggestions to help improve their English business email writing skills. The participants in this study regularly used email to communicate with international organizations. The data was collected by a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS to find frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The study revealed that the highest ranked problem of email writing was the tone of formality, followed by problems of using appropriate words, using correct grammar, organizing a proper structure, awareness of culture difference and composing the message body. Their moderately ranked problems included writing an opening message, writing a subject line, writing a concise message and concern about writing a proper English business email.
PROBLEMS OF GSB EMPLOYEES IN WRITING ENGLISH EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE WITH INTERNATIONAL BANK-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS BY MR SIRAPHOP WANNADILOK AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE INSTITUTE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref code: 25605921040415WZF PROBLEMS OF GSB EMPLOYEES IN WRITING ENGLISH EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE WITH INTERNATIONAL BANK-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS BY MR SIRAPHOP WANNADILOK AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE INSTITUTE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref code: 25605921040415WZF i Independent Study Paper Title PROBLEMS OF GSB EMPLOYEES IN WRITING ENGLISH EMAIL TO Author COMMUNICATE WITH INTERNATIONAL Degree BANK-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS Major Field/Faculty/University Mr Siraphop Wannadilok Master of Arts Independent Study Paper Advisor Career English for International Communication Academic Years Language Institute Thammasat University Associate Professor Sripathum Noom-ura 2017 ABSTRACT This study aimed to find the problems in email writing of 75 employees of the Fraud Department and Call Center Department at the headquarters of GSB and to survey for suggestions to help improve their English business email writing skills The participants in this study regularly used email to communicate with international organizations The data was collected by a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS to find frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation The study revealed that the highest ranked problem of email writing was the tone of formality, followed by problems of using appropriate words, using correct grammar, organizing a proper structure, awareness of culture difference and composing the message body Their moderately ranked problems included writing an opening message, writing a subject line, writing a concise message and concern about writing a proper English business email Ref code: 25605921040415WZF ii In addition, most participants strongly agreed that they preferred the company to provide the training course that lasts three hours per day for two days, rather than a longer session that lasts 6-8 hours a day Some agreed that they could improve by self-learning from the internet or textbooks They felt neutral about improving English business email writing skill from document examples in their workplace Keywords: importance of email in the workplace, problems when writing English business email, ways to improve email writing skills Ref code: 25605921040415WZF iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would have never been successful without support and assistance from a number of people I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to those people Firstly, I would like to thank and express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Associate Professor Sripathum Noom-ura, for her precious time, valuable guidance, advice and comments I could never have completed my independent study without her care and kindness Secondly, I would like to express my appreciation to all instructors who educated and assisted me throughout my time at the Language Institute, Thammasat University, as well as all the staff at the Language Institute Thirdly, I would like to thank the Government Savings Bank and all the participants, the employees from the Fraud Department and the Call Center Department, for helping and giving their time to reply to all the questionnaires Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family who always encouraged and supported me throughout my time at the CEIC master’s degree program Mr Siraphop Wannadilok Ref code: 25605921040415WZF TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABSTRACT Page i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Statement of Problem 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Research Objectives 1.5 Scope of Study 1.6 Significance of study 1.7 Definition of terms 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Impact of Email in the Workplace 2.1.1 Advantages of email communication 2.1.2 Disadvantages of email communication 2.2 Problems in English Business Email Writing 2.2.1 Cultural differences 2.2.2 Understanding of effective emails 2.2.2.1 Message format 2.2.2.2 Formality Ref code: 25605921040415WZF v 2.2.2.3 Conciseness 2.3 Ways to Improve Email Writing Skills 11 2.3.1 Self-learning 11 2.3.1.1 Textbooks 12 2.3.1.2 Workplace examples 12 2.3.1.3 Internet source 12 2.3.2 Training 13 2.3.2.1 Expert lectures 13 2.3.2.2 Workshop demonstration 13 2.4 Related Previous Studies 14 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Participants 16 3.2 Material 17 3.3 Data Collection Procedure 18 3.4 Data Analysis 19 CHAPTER RESULTS 20 4.1 Demographic Information 20 4.2 The Problems in Writing English Business Email 23 4.3 Suggestions for Improving English business email writing skill 24 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27 5.1 Summary of the Study 27 5.1.1 Objectives of the study 27 5.1.2 Subjects, materials, and data collection procedures 27 5.2 Summary of the Findings 27 Ref code: 25605921040415WZF vi 5.2.1 Problems in writing English business email 27 5.2.2 Suggestions for improving English business email writing skill 28 5.3 Discussion 28 5.4 Conclusion 29 5.5 Recommendation 29 REFERENCES 30 APPENDIX Questionnaire 35 BIOGRAPHY 40 Ref code: 25605921040415WZF vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2.1 Example of Cutting out the Flabby Expressions 2.2 Example of Deleting the Long Lead-ins 2.3 Example of Rejecting Redundancy 10 2.4 Example of Eliminating Trite Business Phrases 10 4.1 Participants’ Gender 20 4.2 Participants’ Age 21 4.3 Participants’ Level of Study 21 4.4 Participants’ Work Experience 22 4.5 Time Participants Spent on Writing English Business Email per Day 22 4.6 Problems in Writing English Business Email 23 4.7 Suggestions for improving English business email writing skill 25 Ref code: 25605921040415WZF