A study on difficulties in writing english business email of import export staff in minh phu trade and technical limited company

The author will make aninvestigation with Import-Export staff in Minh Phu Trade andTechnical limited company to find out the difficulties that they have to deal with in working time... T

Nowadays, technology plays an important role what has madepeople life more and more developing, especially in the 4.0Revolution as today, it makes people’s demand and inevitability inusing Internet increase faster That is the reason why all aspects andfields need to apply technology and use it in operation Business isnot an exception, even this field cannot survive without Internet andtechnology Communicating with customers is one of the mostimportant activities in business and also at the peak

However, some ways to contact with customers such asmaking directly phone call, chatting through Internet social media orsending message still have a lot of weaknesses Thus, theapplication called business email, especially English business email

is becoming very important Nevertheless, there are still somedifficulties that employees have to face during writing them Withthis mind, this study is conducted The author will make aninvestigation with Import-Export staff in Minh Phu Trade andTechnical limited company to find out the difficulties that they have

to deal with in working time

A completed research would not be done without anyassistance Therefore, the author who conducted this studygratefully gives acknowledgement to the support and motivation inthe duration of doing this paper

First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude andgratefulness to my supervisor Mrs Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc whohelped, supported and encouraged me enthusiastically while Iconducted this graduation paper Her kindly support and continuousadvice went through the process of the completion Herencouragement and comments had significantly broadened andbettered my work Without her inspiration, motivation andinstructions, the study would have been impossible to be doneeffectively

Moreover, I would like to express my appreciation to theImport-Export staff as well as the manager of the department inMinh Phu Trade and Technical limited company who helped me toconduct data collection for the study to make it more detailed

Last but not least, I would like to state my special thanks toapprove to my parents for their endless love, care, assistance andmotivation to me for the whole of my life; my deeply thanks come toall my friends whose kindly help, care, motivation gave me strengthand lift me up all the trouble for the rest of my life

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS AND TABLES v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 4

1.4 Research subjects 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.6.1 Instruments 5

1.6.2 Data collection procedures 6

1.6.3 Data analysis methods 6

1.7 Organization of the study 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Overview about EBE 8

2.1.1 Definition of EBE 8

2.1.2 Types of EBE 9

2.2 The application of EBE 10

2.2.1 The purposes of EBE 10

2.2.2 The importance of EBE 11

2.3 Difficulties in writing English business emails and suggested solutions 11

2.3.1 Different language and different culture between two nations 12

2.3.2 Overload in working (the pressure due to spending too much time on

writing EBE) 16

2.4 Qualities of EBE 17

2.5 Some EBE samples 18

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21

3.1 The results of research and data analysis 21

3.1.1 The results of questionnaire 21

3.1.2 The results of interview questions 32

3.2.Main findings and discussion 34

3.2.1 The difficulties that the IE staff in MP Trade and Technical LC have to face in writing EBE 34

3.2.2 Some possible solutions to improve IE staff’s skills in writing EBE 35

CHAPTER 4: RECOMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 36

4.1 How to deal with the different language and culture between two nations 36

4.1.1 Solutions for cultural context matters 36

4.1.2 Solutions for different time-zone 37

4.1.3 Solutions for judging observation of the reader to emails 37

4.2 How to deal with the difficulty of overload in working 38

CONCLUSION 40 REFERENCES I APPENDIX II

LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS AND TABLES

FINGURE

Figure 2.1: The concepts of low-context and high-context cultures 12

Figure 2.2: EBE sample 1 18

Figure 2.3: EBE sample 2 19

Figure 2.4: EBE sample 3 20

TABLES Table 3.1: The staff’s experience(%) 22

Table 3.2: Main difficulties that the staff have to face in writing EBE (%) 25

Table 3.3: The staff’s observation about the difficulties in writing EBE(%) 27

Table 3.4: The staff’s observation about the importance of improving EBE writing skills (%) 29

Table 3.5: Some suggestions for the manager as well as the company to improve the staff’s EBE writing skills (%) 31

CHARTS Chart 3.1: Staff’s English level (%) 21

Chart 3.2: The time for writing EBE a day of staff(%) 23

Chart 3.3: The time for sending EBE of staff (%) 24

Chart 3.4: The staff’s most difficult thing in writing EBE (%) 26

Chart 3.5: The staff’s ways to improve EBE writing skills (%) 30

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

In this chapter, the author would give the overview of the study including seven parts related (rational, previous studies, aims and objectives, research subjects, scope of the study, research methodology and the organization of the study) Through these general points, it will be easier for the reader to catch and understand the study before moving to the main parts in this study.

at the peak However, some ways to contact with customer such asmaking directly phone call, chatting through Internet social media orsend message still have a lot of weaknesses Calling directly for thecustomer makes employee of the company difficult to identifysuitable time to make a phone and this is quite inconvenient Theother ways can make the business less professional and influence tothe customer’s appreciation to the company Thus, the applicationcalled business email is becoming a new trend

Second, related to the importance of English in business, noone can deny huge influence of it to the existence and thedevelopment of the company Together with the development oftechnology and international trade, Business English is also morepopular than ever Without English which is considered as theinternational language, the business will loss opportunity themselves

to cooperate with foreign partners It is a large barrier to the

company’s development for the long term Especially with thedepartment using English regularly, it becomes more and moreimportant MP Trade and Technical limited company sees this viewand apply it in operation and management Import- Exportdepartment is observed to use English most in the business Theyuse business English in all assignments and activities, especially incommunicating with foreign customers Moreover, using theinternational language helps to find out and attract potentialforeigner and so chance to broaden customer group is respectivelyincreased Therefore, English business email appears to meet thedemand and get more and more necessary.

Last but not least, IE staff in MP Trade and Technical limitedcompany are apparently quite inconvenient to approach the newmethod to contact with the potential customers There are a lot ofdifficulties when they apply English business emails at work andthese maybe prevent them from completing their assignment Themost common difficulty in writing the English business emails at MPTrade and Technical limited company is language and culturaldifferences between two partners They sometimes use a lot ofwords which are not suitable for English literary style such as notusing professional greeting and professional closing, not havingsubject line in their emails and so on Next, managing time to writeand choosing suitable time to send emails are the other commondifficulties with IE staff of the company Therefore, based ondifficulties related to English business email skills above, I would like

to take “A study on difficulties in writing English business email of Import-Export staff in Minh Phu Trade and Technical limited company” as my research topic for my graduation paper 1.2 Previous studies

These backgrounds will assist readers to have understanding

of some leading experts in the field of using English as the second

language based on using English business email at the workplace.The review of previous studies will show remarkable data on staff’sperformance as using the email to finish their assignments.

There are some studies made by both foreign authors andVietnamese authors:

Aggoune Amina (2015) in “Business letters writing in businesscommunication” showed case study of Intermat company It offered

an examination of business letter (BL) influencing recent and presentpractice in written communication; illustrated the range offeatures that exist in BL at present in order to know what makes BLeffective The author describe that English is the common corporatelanguage used in Intermat company and there were mistakes andworkers faced difficulties when they communicated and interactedwith non-English speaking colleagues all over the world Thus, thisstudy helped to plan a letter and built principles of effective businessletter writing

As Shafa Firda Nila (2017) said in “Problems in writing Englishbusiness letter: errors and factors (Third semester of Bina BangsaEconomics students majoring in Management and Accounting.)”,there are four classifications of errors: morphological, lexical,syntactic, and mechanical error These four of errors are divided intoeight types: verb, noun, article, word choice, sentence structure,spelling, punctuation, and capitalization Also, there are three majorfactors that cause the errors: language transfer, overgeneralization,and context of learning As the result, the author identified theproblems of error found in English business letter writing andexplained the factors that caused the problems

Related to language matter in correspondence, Shunhui Zha(2010) in “Analysis of Language Features in BusinessCorrespondences” proved that there are four basic characteristics ofvocabulary in business correspondences: using of terminology,

polysemy, conciseness and formalness of vocabulary, specialusage of general words From this point, the author determinedstructures and format of business correspondences and stylisticfeatures of business correspondences.

According to Vu Thi Huong Giang (2010) in “An analysis ofsome techniques to improve writing English business letters”,essential techniques in writing English business letters are yourattitude, positive emphasis, tone, language To have this conclusion,she gave theoretical background of definition, importance, purpose,business letter format and some types of business letter She alsofound out some common mistakes in writing an English businessletter

With the developing of time, the studies on business emailsare more popular both for English and other fields Almost researchproved the useful implementation of business email in workingenvironment and the way to improve writing skill However, todevelop the ability of creating an English business email, the staffneed to understand about the difficulties that they have to face atfirst So they can handle it and improve their writing skill Thus, thisthesis will focus on the difficulties in writing English business emailwhich is researched to IE staff in MP Trade and Technical limitedcompany

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims to improve English business email writingskills for Import-Export staff in MP Trade and Technical LC based onrespective problems they have The writer expects that after thisstudy, writing EBE of the staff become less difficult and then theirwriting skills will be improved and getting better

This study is made to answer two main questions:

 What are the difficulties that IE staff in MP Trade and

Technical LC have to face when writing EBE?

 How have they and their manager done to improve theirskills in writing EBE at workplace?

1.4 Research subjects

The research subject in this study is difficulties in writingEnglish business emails of Import-Export staff in Minh Phu Trade andTechnical limited company and possible solutions The research topiccontains two main parts: the difficulties and the solutions Therefore,after this study is completed, the difficulties that the staff have toface when they write EBE at work are found out and then somepossible solutions are suggested to deal with these matters

There are 15 respondents who are IE staff including seniorsand interns and 1 manager in the company They will join thisinvestigation by completing questionnaire and answering interviewquestion

1.5 Scope of the study

This study is focused on surveying the difficulties in writingEnglish business emails of Import-Export staff in Minh Phu Trade andTechnical limited company and some possible solutions to improvetheir English writing skills

There are 15 IE staff including 10 seniors and 5 interns and 1manager of MP Trade and Technical limited company who will jointhe investigation to answer the listed questions All of them areasked for at least Elementary (C2) following Europe frame as the firstrequirement to join the IE department

1.6 Research methodology

There are two main research methodologies: quantitative andqualitative Research methods available to the researcher areinterview, questionnaires, observation, experiments, and casestudies In this study, the author uses qualitative research to collectdata

“Qualitative research is a process of naturalistic inquiry that

seeks in-depth understanding of social phenomena within their natural setting It focuses on the "why" rather than the "what" of social phenomena and relies on the direct experiences of human beings as meaning-making agents in their everyday lives Rather than by logical and statistical procedures, qualitative researchers use multiple systems of inquiry for the study of human phenomena including biography, case study, historical analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, grounded theory and phenomenology”.

This research is involving 15 staff and 1 manager of IEdepartment in MP Trade and Technical LC, two research instruments,namely questionnaires and interviews were used to collect dataserving for this study They will be discussed in details below

1.6.1 Instruments

1.6.1.1 Questionnaires

“A questionnaire is defined as a research instrument that

consists a set of questions or other types of prompts that aims to collect information from a respondent These typically are a mix

of close-ended questions and open-ended questions; long form questions offer the ability for the respondent to elaborate on their thoughts A questionnaire is a set of questions typically used for research purposes which can be both qualitative as well

as quantitative in nature A questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a survey always consists of questionnaire.” (Adi Bhat, 2019)

Questionnaire is considered as a simple method compared toothers due to both conducting process and analyzing process It isquite flexible and the researcher can approach a huge participants in

a short time Moreover, this method helps to save costs than others

It also makes the researcher easy in analyzing data because theresult are numbers

1.6.1.2 Interviews

An interview is a conversation for gathering information A research interview involves an interviewer, who coordinates the process of the conversation and asks questions, and an interviewee, who responds to those questions Interviews can be conducted face- to-face or over the telephone The internet is also emerging as a tool for interviewing.” (M Easwaramoorthy & Fataneh Zarinpoush, 2006)

Interviews have some different features compared toquestionnaire method This method includes some questions that theresearcher asks the respondent to collect more details So, the result

is more accurate and specific and then the researcher can receivedifferent answers and personal opinions for his study

1.6.2 Data collection procedures

 Questionnaire is conducted at the Import-Export department

of the company The researcher sent 15 questionnaire papers to 15staff in the department and collected full of 15 one in the lunch time.All of the questions in the survey were written in Vietnamese so thatall staff can understand clearly and give accurate answers AnotherEnglish version was made for better reference to the study Thequestionnaire consists of 5 open-questions and 6 close-questionsrelated to the research topic There are some questions that has oneanswer and the rest that makes respondents one more choices So,total figures are not always 100% for all questions

 Interviews are conducted after completing questionnaireresearch Interviews are conducted to 5 IE staff (including 3 seniorsand 2 interns) with 3 questions and 1 manager with 1 question All ofthe questions of interviews are Vietnamese version to make sure allrespondents can understand and give the answers accurate All 6interviewees participated in the interview and answer all questionsthat they were asked They gave a lot of detailed information thathelps the results are increasingly true Their answers are saved by

recording and then, the author summarizes into the researchfindings part.

1.6.3 Data analysis methods

After collecting data, the author will give the conclusion based

on information which are collected through both tools These datawill be showed by percent rate, charts and tables to demonstrate thetrustworthiness of the study findings

The collective information are grouped into two main points:the difficulties in writing English business emails that the staff have

to face and some possible solutions to overcome these matters sothat they can improve their writing skills, so they will use the emailsmore effectively in the coming time

1.7 Organization of the study

This study has been organized in the following way:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study includes rationale of the

study, related previous studies, aims of the study, research subjects,scope of the study, research methodology and organization of thestudy as well

Chapter 2: Literature review aims to give detail information

about the theoretical of business emails and the common difficulties

in writing English business emails and suggested solutions as well

Chapter 3: Research findings give the data analysis results of

investigation and some conclusions about those results

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions will offer some

measures for the difficulties when writing English business emailsand show recommendations for the next studies

Conclusion part is the quick summary of the above chapter

and some limitations in doing research on EBE writing skills of IEstaff in MP Trade and Technical LC From then, the author also givessome suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the author would give the readers a lot of theories related to this study Then, the main part that the author wants the readers to see is the previous study which had the similar subject with this study This knowledge would be main foundation for the study and make sure the reality and truth of the study.

2.1 Overview about English business emails (EBE)

2.1.1 Definition of EBE

To understand what difficulties the IE staff in MP Trade andTechnical LC have to face when writing EBE, it is needed to considerthe definition given by its creators and developers Before identifyingEBE, it is necessary to have information related to specific parts inthe research topic clearly which are Business English, writing skill,email and business email

Johan (2014) explained that Business English is a variant ofinternational English and it is especially related to internationaltrade Business English is a part of English for Specific Purposes andcan be considered a specialism within English language learning andteaching It may focus on language and skills needed for typicalbusiness communication such as presentations, negotiations,meetings, small talk, socializing, correspondence, report writing and

a systematic approach

Frendo (2012) said “writing is key part of day-to-day activities

of most businesses and, like speaking, is used in a vast range ofdifferent situations It allows communication across time and space,and provides an invaluable medium for storing records and otherinformation.” One of the subjects in Business English course is writingBusiness letters Business letters are always formal Business writingtakes many forms each suited to a specific purpose “All businesswriting must be clear and concise with simple, straightforwardlanguage It should be noted that in writing business emails should be

clear, concise, and void of slang and jargon.” (Gilling, 2013).

An email (also written as e-mail) is a digital message Instead

of using a pen to write a letter on paper, you're usingyour keyboard (or sometimes just your voice) to write an emailmessage on an electronic device like a phone or computer.( HeinzTschabitscher, February 12, 2019)

Business email is a written communication between two

parties Businessmen may write emails (letters) to suppliers of goodsand also receive emails from the suppliers Customers may writeemails to businessmen seeking information about availability ofgoods, price, quality, sample, etc or place order for purchase ofgoods Thus, business emails may be defined as a media or meansthrough which views are expressed and ideas or information iscommunicated in writing in the process of business activities (page

1, “Business correspondence”,2018)

In this study, the writer considers EBE as a formal letter usedfor business to business, business to client or client to businesscorrespondence A business email being formal means that it iscommunication between two people, a person and a corporation ortwo corporation It follows very strictly set rules for composition Manypeople are intimidated by the prospect of writing to strict guidelines.However, no one can deny the importance of business emails andthey are so useful tool with all company in the world

2.1.2 Types of EBE

It is written in page 7 of the book “Business correspondence”(2018) that there are commonly of six main types of EBE up to thepurpose including enquiry email, reply and quotation email, orderemail, payment email, complaint email and email asks for bank andcredit

 Enquiries: requesting information, catalogue, prices,

estimates, details, samples, suggesting if something is possible,methods of payment, asking for discount, delivery times, etc.

 Replies and Quotes: confirming help, selling products,

referring to someone, suggesting demonstration, contacting localrepresentatives, quotations, price lists, discount, alternatives tosomething, explaining payment, delivery times, product trainingprogrammers, fix and negotiate terms, estimates

 Orders: placing order, letter of acceptance confirming

conditions and terms, delivery times, packing, shipping, accepting orrejecting changes, delivery delays, refusing a delivery …

 Payment: invoices, pro-forms, statements of account,

methods of payment (home or abroad), advice of payment, of payment, further reminders and final demands

non- Complaints: writing complaints, explaining problems,

suggesting acceptable solutions, replies to complaints, justifiableand unjustifiable complaints, explaining company's situation,adjusting accounting errors

 Credit and Banks: form of credit, credit requirements,

asking for credit, accepting or refusing credit, taking up references,bank facilities, deposit accounts, requesting cheque books, creditcards, overdraft, outstanding orders and so on

To sum up, regarding this classification, it is undoubted thatpeople can apply them, which depends on their processes that theywould like to work with However, it should be also consideredcarefully in purpose of each email that the writer wants to collect orsend to create an appropriate business emails, especially in writingquotation emails and reply emails These works need to conductquickly to meet the demand of the potential customers because thecompany is business that its major work is selling product

2.2 The application of EBE

2.2.1 The purposes of EBE

According to Kristi Roddey (2012), an EBE is used for these

purposes:

 For sharing basic information: E-mail is a handy tool if

you need to inform all employees of a new office policy or let themknow that an important visitor is coming through the office It isinformation everyone needs, and no one needs to respond, making it

a quick and effective means of communication

 For marketing and advertising: E-mail often beats out

print media for marketing and advertising You can easily reach youraudience, personalize the e-mail message with the recipients' namesand include a link to your organization's Web presence It's quick,convenient and effective

 For negotiations: E-mail is a useful method of

communication for stating facts, sharing figures and negotiating withanother party It is quicker than regular mail and provides an easyway to keep a record of the proceedings If you want to see exactlywhat is included in a quote, it's easy to sort through your e-mailarchives to find the information you need And you know that bothparties have a copy of the same information

2.2.2 The importance of EBE

There are mainly five factors which create the importance ofEBE to the company (page 2, ”Business correspondence”,2018).They are:

 Help in maintaining proper relationship: nowadays

business are not restricted to any locality, state or nation Today,production takes place in one area but consumption takes placeeverywhere Since the businessmen as well as customers live far offplaces they do not have sufficient time to contact each otherpersonally Thus, there arises the need for writing emails Theimportance has increased because of vast expansion of business,increase in demand as well as supply of goods

 Inexpensive and convenient mode: business information

can be provided and obtained economically and convenientlythrough emails

 Create and maintain goodwill: business at times send

emails to enquire about complaint and suggestions of theircustomers They also send emails to inform the customers about theavailability of a new product, clearance sale etc All this results incordial relations with the customers, which enhances the goodwill ofthe business

 Serve as evidence: we can not expect a trader to

memorise all facts and figures in a conversation that normally takesplace among businessmen Through emails, he can keep a record ofall facts Thus, emails can serves as evidence in case of disputebetween two parties

 Help in expansion business: business requires

information regarding to competing products, prevailing price,promotion, market activities, etc If the trader has to run from place

to get information, he will end up doing nothing But throughbusiness emails, he can make all enquiries about the products and

the markets He also receive orders from different countries and thusenhance sales.

2.3 Difficulties in writing English business emails and suggested solutions

There are some previous studies related to this research topicwhich were carried out by talent researchers Each of author showedhis private opinion and so, we inherit some different ideas about thedifficulties in writing EBE from them They made different views andobservations based on the different aspects of the matter Thefollowing opinions are main studies for this topic

2.3.1 Different language and different culture between two nations.

According to Bridget Malicki (2017),” Due to time-zonedifferences and occasional language barriers, much of our businesscommunication is done over email As a result, it's important tounderstand the various cultural nuances and communication stylesthat can affect your ability to do business effectively over email” Heshowed his opinion about the influence of language difference aswell as cultural difference in writing EBE He emphasized that thereare three factors affecting EBE writing skills including culturalcontext matters, different time-zone and identifying email content ofthe audience

2.3.1.1 Cultural context matters

Cultures differ by their style of communication One of mostwell-known ways of differentiating cultural communication styles wascreated by Edward T Hall, who introduced the concepts of low-context and high-context cultures

Figure 2.1: The concepts of low-context and high-context

cultures

(by Edward T Hall)

First, it should be noticed that there is big difference betweenlow-context and high-context In cultures with high-contextcommunication, a message cannot be understood without a greatdeal of background information Low-context communicationcultures spells out more of the information explicitly in the message.While business communications in low-context cultures are not short

of pleasantries, they are not absolutely necessary in order to dobusiness High-context countries place a high value in both thequality and quantity of details and pleasantries that can be included

in emails Traditionally, cultures with western European origins arelow-context cultures, while the rest of the world trends towards high-context cultures Emails with customers from these high-contextcountries, such as Japan, India, or China should include any and alldetails in the message

Second, it also needs to understand that cultures also differ inthe way emotions incorporated into business Cultures are

considered either affective or neutral Affective cultures are open todisplaying emotion, while neutral cultures monitor how muchemotion they show Countries like the United States, Italy, France,and Singapore are more affective, while countries likeJapan, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom are more neutral.Although emotions might not be particularly evident over businessemail, it is important not to mistake affective cultures as being weak

or over-emotive, or neutral cultures as being cold

Generally, because of the different communication stylesbetween two nations, writing EBE finds a lot of difficulties If thewriters determine exactly the partner’s cultural context, they mightsatisfy their partner through email writing skills However, it is noteasy for non- speaking English people As the result, people usingEnglish as a second language find it difficult in identifying thecommunication style of the partner to write EBE with suitable way

2.3.1.2 Timing: It’s not just about different time-zone

From the author’s point of view, “time matters come to emailsacross borders While time-zone differences may be the mostobvious, it may not affect your day-to-day as much as how differentcultures perceive time There are two types of culture: sequential orsynchronic Sequential cultures view time as a limited resource,sequential, and precise Synchronic cultures view time as aguideline, a moldable concept, and secondary to the task at hand Insequential business cultures, meetings occur at a specific time andyou are either late or on time In synchronic business cultures,meetings are simply an intention to meet” For example, whenmaking calls with customers in Malaysia or Singapore at 7 a.m EST,they don’t reach out for half an hour before they join the meeting orcancel While this is uncommon in sequential cultures, it is aperfectly normal practice in synchronic cultures Timing matters, soit’s important to stay on top of customer requests and messages,

and remain flexible when necessary.

It can be seen that different country has different time-zone,

so timetable for working of each nation is unsimilar While it is time

at work in one nation, the partner’s time is the rest Therefore, if thewriters do not understand the time-zone difference, they will sendEBE to their customers in unsuitable time and then it is not expected

to receive a reply email quickly The productivity is also influencedand this matter can make the partner dissatisfied The differenttime-zone between two nations as well as two companies makes thestaff face a lot of difficulties in writing EBE, especially in writingquotation emails and reply emails These Works need to conductquickly to meet the demand of the potential customers if thecompany is business that its major work is selling product

Understanding this difficulty, Karen Hertzberg (January 5,2018) researched and showed solutions to limit it These suggestionsare the best time and the best day to send business emails

The best day to send emails

According to the studies, Tuesday was “hands down the bestday to send emails.” So, if the writer has got a big email campaigncoming up, or she just wants to make sure her boss is going to openher pitch asking to be considered for a promotion, she can’t gowrong sending email on Tuesday Research says email is more likely

to be opened then than any other day of the week

The second-best day to send an email is Thursday If thewriter sends an initial email and a follow-up, she could considersending the first on Tuesday with a follow-up on Thursday

Wednesday ranked as the third best day for sending email,clinching a win for the middle of the week However, there’s data tosuggest that Saturday and Sunday are good days to send marketingemails

The best time to send emails

According to the research, 10 a.m is the best time to send anemail (11 a.m ranked right up there, too.) Surprisingly, the time slotbetween 8 p.m and midnight ranked as the second-best time Butthink about it how often do the writer check email before heading off

to bed? Because half of us also check our email first thing in themorning, 6 a.m is also a prime time Moreover, afternoon, at around

2 p.m., also seems promising It’s toward the end of the workday, at

a time when people are getting restless and looking for distractions

2.3.1.3 Observation of the audience about your email content

“Although the language of business is English in manycountries, nuances that are understood by native speakers may bemiscommunicated when emailing with those who speak English as asecond language Because of this, it’s essential that every email isclear and concise, but also contains the necessary level of detail Inthe U.S., we have a tendency to write lengthy emails, but in othercountries, shorter is better in order to avoid miscommunications”,the author found

It is described that observation of people who come fromdifferent countries are unsimilar They have different backgroundand so their etiquette in writing EBE is also not the same Therefore,with one email, it can be observed very well but it is not similar tothe partners and the quality of email is difficult to appreciate, thensatisfying the partners through writing emails becomes morecomplicated and difficult

There are some aspects that the audience uses to observe thewriter’s EBE:

 Format: the audience can see the format of EBE sent by

their partner to make observation The format of email contains a lot

of things such as length of email, structure of email and so on

 Style of writing: it is one of things that the audience uses to

observe EBE There are two kinds of style in writing: formal andinformal However, when writing an email to the customer, formalstyle is more suitable and popular It also shows appreciation of thewriters to their partner.

 Form: it is the way the writers show EBE to the partner such

as font and size of words used in email, space between lines and so

on Using bullet points is the best way to deliver an email with a lot

of information, lists of questions or materials you need answeredfrom the customer It is also important to avoid using idioms andslang such as “get the ball rolling” or “get down to work” in an effort

to make the email easily translatable across languages

2.3.2 Overload in working (the pressure due to spending too much time on writing EBE).

This is the study about spending time at work on writingbusiness emails which appears in Global News (April 21, 2017) It helps

to understand the difficulties of employees in writing EBE “Themounting flood of emails employees receive at work every day isbecoming such a problem within workplaces that it’s hurtingproductivity and stressing people out”, a new Canadian survey says

According to Carleton University researchers, “people nowspend one-third of their time at the office – and half of the time theywork at home reading and answering emails And 30 per cent of thattime, the emails are neither urgent nor important That’s 11.7 hoursspent at work and 5.3 hours at home every week After looking overthe results, the researchers found that workers send and receive anaverage of 86 work-related emails at work and 25 from home” Theauthor emphasized that the employees spend too much time onwriting business emails and then, they feel stressful due to workingunder pressure Therefore, the quality of emails are decreased andworks ineffectively “All this time spent on emails alone is discouragingemployees, impacting productivity and making people sick”, the

researchers said.

However, content manager at Monster Canada Arturo Gallo –who is not associated with the study – is surprised that the number ofhours people reported spending on email isn’t higher “We, as officeworkers, we spend a lot of time on email and I think it’s all about theexpectations we set around response time,” he added “People expect

a prompt and quick answer To me, that always triggered this anxiety

of responding fast.” And it’s not only affecting workers but theproductivity of a company as a whole, Gallo added He also shared

“the more stressed an employee is, the more they are connected toemails and work and it completely drains an employee’s productivity”

It is seen from the study that employees spend too muchtime on writing business emails This influences to the result ofsending emails due to a lot of mistakes in their email The reason

is that they have to write EBE so much and so they work underpressure and the quality of emails is not good This is the maindifficulty of employees in writing business emails

2.4 Qualities of EBE

According to Translation and Interpreting department,Faculty of English, Thuongmai University, there are sevenqualities that a good email should have ( page 2, “Businesscorrespondence”, 2018) They are:

 Simplicity: simple and easy language should be used for

writing business emails Difficult words should be strictly avoided,

as one can not expect the reader to refer to the dictionary everytime while reading emails

 Clarity: the language should be clear, so that the receive

will understand the message immediately, easily and correctly.Ambiguous language creates confusion The letter will serve thepurpose if the receive understands it in the same manner inwhich it is intended by the sender

 Accuracy: the statements written in emails should be

accurate to, the best of sender’s knowledge Accuracy demandsthat there are no errors in the usage of language in grammar,spellings, punctuations etc

 Completeness: a complete email is one that provides all

necessary information to the reader

 Relevance: email should contain only essentialinformation Irrelevant information should not be mentionedwhile write a business email

 Courtesy: courtesy wins the heart of the reader In

business email, courtesy can be shown by using words likeplease, thank you, ect

 Neatness: a neatness email is always impressive.

2.5 Some EBE samples

Figure 2.2: EBE sample 1

(by Cisl.edu)

Figure 2.3: EBE sample 2

(by Cisl.edu)

Figure 2.4: EBE sample 3

(by Cisl.edu)

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

In this chapter, the author would give the full analysis of data collected through the questionnaire survey and interview questions for IE staff of MP Trade and Technical LC about difficulties on writing EBE It shows an attempt to answer the two research questions posed at the beginning of the study.

3.1 The results of research and data analysis

3.1.1 The results of questionnaire

 Question 1: The staff’s English certificate

In the first question of questionnaire “What is your English certificate or equivalent level now?”, the answer was obviously

shown in the following pie chart:

Chart 3.1: Staff’s English level (%)

From the above pie chart, it is noticeable that there were 53%

of staff (equal to 8 staff) in Upper Intermediate level (B2) While theproportion of Advanced employees was only 26% (4 staff), that ofthose in Elementary accounts for 8% (1 staff), and 13% reachedIntermediate level It is remarkable that there is no one in thedepartment who has had C2 as their English certificate

In spite of the highest percentage of Upper Intermediatelevel, it is obviously that staff are advised to improve their English

level as soon as possible because they are IE staff and their majorassignment needs to use English The assessment of English levelwill influence to EBE writing skills and how difficulty they feel whenwriting EBE.

 Question 2: The staff’s experience

The second question revealed the working time as well as

work experience of the staff at the company “How many years have you worked in IE department?” The below table showed the

answers:

Table 3.1: The staff’s experience (%)

The answers showed that there were 40% staff (equal to 6staff) who have worked in the company for less than one year Whilethe percentage of staff working from one to three years was thehighest with 33%, the 3-5 year staff and more than 5 year staff onlyaccounted for a half of it (14% equal to 2 employees)

The work experience of one staff can reflect partly his abilityand skills in writing EBE In fact, as what can be seen by analysis, themore experience the staff have, the better they write EBE at work.Therefore, almost staff who have less working time in IE departmenthave to face with more difficulties in writing EBE It can be concludedthat almost of the staff in the business find it hard in writing EBE andneed to improve their skills to create emails more effectively

 Question 3: Time for writing EBE of the staff

The third question researched one of the main difficulties that

the staff usually have to face with “How much time do you spend on writing EBE at work?” This question asked the employees the time

they use to write emails a day The answer was shown in the

following pie chart:

Chart 3.2: The time for writing EBE a day of staff

It is remarked from the above chart that almost staff in thecompany spent a lot of time a day to write EBE As can be seen,there was totally 60% staff using more than four hours a day to writeemails (including 33% staff spending more than 5 hours and 27%staff spending 4-5 hours)

The rest of staff used less than 3 hours in writing EBE, equal to

6 staff with the total number of 15 staff It is suitable because theyare also responsible for other assignments related to IE Works

However, in generally, a larger number of staff in the companyspent so much time to write EBE in a working day and so, almost ofthem said they felt too stressful with this This is one of the difficultiesthat they have to face when writing emails at work

 Question 4: Time for sending EBE of the staff

The next question was shown to find out time that the staff

usually send emails to their customers “When do you usually send emails to your customers?” The answers were described in below

bar chart:

a.m)

La

in th

e m

ning (8a.

e (1

1 m

p.m)

In th

e aft

erno (2 p.m-6

p.m)

In th

e ev

enin(6 m-mid

ngt)

0 10

Sending time Effect level

Chart 3.3: The time for sending EBE of staff (%)

As can be seen from this bar chart, the highest number thatthe staff chose to send EBE to their partners were late in themorning and in the afternoon It counted for 72% and 84%respectively which were approximately the total number The reasonfor this was that the morning and the afternoon were two majorworking shifts at workplace However, as the chart showed, thesegroups of sending time got the smallest percent in effect level Theywere only 24% and 24%, less than other groups so much

On the other hand, the other times were not chosen assuitable time for sending EBE to partners of the staff They wereearly in the morning with only 8%, in the noontime (24%), in theevening (10%) and even no one chose others while the effectivenessthat it brought were 53%, 63% and 72% respectively

As the results, the staff who usually send EBE in major group

of the morning and evening time showed that they do not receivethe reply emails or response from their customers early as expected

On the contrary, the rest said that the customers sent emails back

to them quickly when they choose sending EBE early in the morning,