An exploratory study on communicative needs at trans national corporations = nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại công ty xuyên quốc gia

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu nhu cầu giao tiếp công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu nhu cầu giao tiếp công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Canh Hanoi - 2018 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially Hanoi, December 2018 Hồ Thị Hường ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Canh who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing I am indebted to 100 technical staffs of trans-national corporations - my old students at HaUI, who provided me with lots of useful information by answering my questionnaires My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work ABSTRACT This thesis reports the result of an exploratory study on the English communicative needs by graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department at HaUI, who are working as technical workers at trans-national corporations It attempts to find their common communicative needs at workplaces in order to inform curriculum design Simultaneously, it explores the challenges in using those common communicative needs during their working tasks and also gives suggestions for an effective ESP syllabus design The data was collected by means of questionnaires by handing them out to 100 technical workers at trans-national companies The results of this study have shown that their common communicative needs and their difficulties in using English at workplaces as well as given positive contributions to ESP syllabus design TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and figures PART I: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale for the thesis Aims of the study Methods of the study .2 Significance of the study Scope of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Need analysis .4 1.1.1 Definition of need analysis 1.1.2 Classification of “needs” in need analysis 1.1.2.1 Target needs 1.1.2.2 Learning needs .8 1.1.3 Definition of “analysis” in needs analysis 10 1.1.4 The importance of needs analysis 12 1.2 Definition of ESP and different types of ESPs 13 1.2.1 Definition of ESP 13 1.2.2 Types of ESP 14 1.2.3 Characteristics of ESP .15 1.3 Syllabus Design 16 1.3.1 Definition of the syllabus 16 1.3.2 Steps to design a syllabus 17 1.4 A brief summary of some existing relevant studies 17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20 2.1 The research question 20 2.2 The participants 20 2.3 The instruments 21 2.4 The procedures 22 2.5 Methods of data analysis 23 2.5.1 Quantitative method 23 2.5.2 Qualitative method 23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 24 3.1 The findings for the first research question .24 3.1.1 Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs 24 3.1.2 Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of correspondence 25 3.1.3 Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of writing a document 26 3.1.4 Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction .27 3.1.5 Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business meeting .28 3.1.6 Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business trip 29 3.2 The findings for the second research question 30 3.2.1 Their challenges in writing email, fax, report and plan 30 3.2.2 Their challenges in reading email, fax, report and plan 31 3.2.3 Their challenges in listening and speaking for business trip and social meeting 31 3.3 Discussion findings 32 3.3.1 Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs 32 3.3.2 Technical workers‟ common challenges in using means of communication at workplace 33 3.3.2.1 Recommendation for students 34 3.3.2.2 Recommendation for teachers 34 3.2.2.3 Recommendation for course and syllabus designers 35 PART III: CONCLUSION .36 Conclusion of the study .36 Limitations 37 Suggestions for further studies 37 References 39 Appendices LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HaUI: Ha Noi University of Industry NA: Need analysis ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English EOP: English for Occupational Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Brown‟s different views on needs Table 2: Brown‟s different types of analysis Table 3: Dudley-Evans & John‟s classification of ESP Figure 3.1: Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs Figure 3.2: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of correspondence Figure 3.3: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of writing a document Figure 3.4: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction Figure 3.5: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business meeting Figure 3.6: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business trip Figure 3.7: Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs joys together Everything they talked was jokes and it was social etiquette It seemed to be simple but if they could not satisfy or please business partners, make them feel free This might spoil relationship and as a result, it was not beneficial to company at all They said that they did not say much during party and dining, however; when they opened their mouth, they always kept in mind that which kind of tune they should use, they wondered whether they should keep their voice down or raise the voice up to make their talk natural 3.3 Discussion findings 3.3.1 Technical workers’ general common communicative needs Communicative needs 9% 14% 35% correspondence writing a document 13% order/customer satisfaction business meeting 29% business trip In business questionnaires from (Huh, 2006, pp.62-64), there are main purposes of using English at workplaces including correspondence, writing a document, order/customer satisfaction, business meeting and business trip As above pie chart illustrated using English for correspondence and writing a document is the main communicative needs This is easy to understand because technical workers are not allowed to use their private electronic devices at workplaces so that using email and fax is the only way to help them cross messages to others Also, at workplace environment, even each technical worker has his own office work partition next to 32 others, however; they still use email and fax for convenience and silence Besides, writing report and proposal including plan and project are used These may be handwritings or written form typed on computer then sent and received via email and fax Spoken form seems to be unfamiliar at the workplaces where I took an investigation It was used for social meetings, visits to business partners or placing orders Although, spoken skill was used quite little, technical workers also did not deny its importance 3.3.2 Technical workers’ common challenges in using means of communication at workplace The result of the first research question clearly showed which means of communication were common It is obviously that technical workers should have been good at those means of communication In contrast, they shared that they faced lots of challenges in using common means of communication at their workplaces Firstly, they were not good at writing a title for email, fax, report and proposal, they needed to learn how to sum up ideas and make a summary about the specific text Secondly, they needed to know more about how to use punctuation and pronoun This knowledge is available in basic English level, however; it must be revised for them regularly Thirdly, teachers should provide them with quite enough potential structures and vocabularies including connectors, abbreviations Because, during the process of writing and reading common written forms, they needed it to express their ideas as well as understand common written forms Providing students with vocabularies and structures is not only helpful to them for writing and reading performance, but also for spoken one Because, they also admitted that they had a problem with speaking skill as well However, as I reported earlier then students need to be taught with the knowledge of tone, tune, intonation and stress for appropriate social etiquette 33 3.3.2.1 Recommendation for students Students as well as graduates are the subject of knowledge who actively find and discover the knowledge They should be aware of that knowledge is unlimited and no one can guess what will be happened in the future circumstances Therefore, what kind of exact English they are going to work and need during their working tasks cannot predict precisely That is the reason why they need to build a stable foundation about English for themselves English here means both general English and technical one General English helps them to overcome challenges as they listed above such as lacking of structures for writing sentences or mispronunciation when they listen and speak Besides, technical English supports them deal with difficulties in translating technical materials or joining seminars 3.3.2.2 Recommendation for teachers Teachers who convey content in syllabus to students play an important role as well They are trained to teach GE English professionally and it seems that they master GE very well However, the problem is that none of them is specialized in ESP, especially in mechanical engineering and electronics areas They only teach ESP with their own teaching experiences and some guidance of teachers from faculty of energy Therefore, it is difficult for them to give lectures to students, who have known something about subject while teachers themselves not have deep understanding about technical knowledge In order to maximize the effect of learning and teaching GE as well as ESP, it is advisable for teachers to update themselves by self-study or joining ESP courses which are relevant to their teaching field to meet students‟ needs as well as workplace‟s requirements In GE courses, teachers ought to make their lessons become different to avoid boredom and also to encourage students to engage teachers‟ lectures In ESP courses, when teachers give complex theories, they ought to mix complicated ones with illustrations and pictures for easier and deeper comprehension 34 3.2.2.3 Recommendation for course and syllabus designers At HaUI, students have terms to work with English in which terms of GE course and only one term of ESP course Firstly, from my point of view, this proportion is a little bit inappropriate Because, the research result showed that during technical workers‟ daily tasks, they used technical English quite often Therefore, it is necessary to take a look back at that proportion whether one term of teaching ESP is suitable or not Secondly, when designing the tasks, course or syllabus designers should be concerned about their work-related needs, and tended to focus on the English or skill required for technical workers to achieve specific business purposes Finally, students‟ needs and workplace‟s requirements can change day for day so that course or syllabus designers must update and adjust existing materials in order to keep up with changes 35 PART III: CONCLUSION This chapter summarizes the main findings of the study, based on which, recommendations were suggested In this chapter, the limitations of the research and recommendations for further study were also presented Conclusion of the study In my study, through using questionnaires, I collected data from one hundred graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic departments at HaUI, who were working at trans-national corporations at the time I did that survey And I found what kind of communicative needs at workplace were common by borrowing a full set of close-ended questions from (Huh, 2006, pp.62-64) and also found technical workers‟ common challenges in using means of communication to interact with others at work by asking them open-ended questions Specifically, firstly, common communicative needs at trans-national corporations were using written form such as email, fax, report and plan and spoken form for business trip or social meeting Secondly, graduates had troubles in using common means of communication such as lacking of technical vocabularies, structures or failing in naming tittle for texts and recognizing abbreviations Moreover, they also were bad at pronunciation and using appropriate intonation in different situations Understanding about common challenges facing by graduates, I suggested some possible recommendations for students, teachers as well as syllabus and course designers for improvement in English learning, teaching and managing In my study, I reviewed related literature to lay theoretical background, especially I focused on the theories of needs analysis including target needs and learning needs The definition of target needs was really helpful for teacher of ESP courses, it helped them to align knowledge to final aims and definition of learning needs helped them to create an exciting learning environment during learning process Definition of ESP as well as syllabus design and steps to design syllabus were also mentioned Moreover, I visited previous relevant studies for consultant 36 From the research result, current content of ESP courses at my university and the number of GE courses and ESP courses have adjusted a little for appropriateness If I had chance to take this research in bigger scale, I would choose my respondents not only as graduates but also employers, teachers even students with different research instruments such as questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and would carry out my research at various companies for a comprehensive assessment Limitations Although efforts have been made, some limitations are unavoidable during the process of doing the research Firstly, this study just only find common communicative needs from the perspectives of the technical workers at transnational corporations, but the ones from employers as well as teachers and syllabus designers for a more objective result If I had a survey to ask employers about communicative needs at workplaces, maybe they would provide me a comprehensive view about target needs Besides, this study just carried out at trans-national corporations, but numerous ones At HaUI, there are around 10 departments of technical training for students, however; I had just chosen graduates from departments of mechanical engineering and electronics to play a role as participants for my study Moreover, only survey questionnaires have been used as an instrument to collect data For close-ended questions, I am afraid that they were not interested to answer or with open-ended ones, they might copy his friends‟ answers Suggestions for further studies From limitations I listed above, there are some following suggestions for the next researchers: Firstly, the research instruments should be varied for further studies such as interviews or analysis of authentic materials…ect For example, interviews support researchers to get a deep answer and they can directly test the reliability of respondents‟ answers by still asking respondents those questions but in other ways 37 Secondly, the population should be bigger than 100 participants involving graduates from various departments at HaUI such as graduates from departments of electrical engineering, automobile technology, thermal engineering technology…ect Thirdly, it is advisable to take an investigation into communicative needs at various companies for the whole picture Because, each individual company has different requirements in using English and technical workers working at those companies also get different common challenges in using English to interact with others Finally, investigating into communicative needs at workplaces should be examined through the eyes of not only technical workers, but also potential labor users We are looking to forward to training labor sources with the full of necessary solid specialized knowledge and skills but also satisfactory communication skills in English as an international language Hopefully, further researches in the future will reach particular success in above fields 38 References Been, M.P (1984) Process syllabuses for the language classroom In C.J Brumfit (Ed) General English Syllabus Design ELT Document No.118, London: Pergamon Press & The British Council Brown, J.D (2016) Introducing needs analysis and English for specific purposes, Routledge Brindley, G (1984) Needs Analysis and Objectives Setting in the Adult Migrant Education Program, p.31 Sydney: AMES Dudley-Evans, Tony (1997) Development in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach Cambridge University Press Evans, S (2010) Business as usual: The use of English in the professional world in Hong Kong English for Specific Purposes, 29, 153-167 Hutchinson, T & Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A learningcentered approach, pp.21-97 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hutchinson, T & Waters, A (1993) English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Krahnke, K (1987) Approaches to syllabus design for foreign language teaching Englewood Cliffs, p.2, NJ: Regents Prentice Hall Long, M.H 2005 Second Language Needs Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunnan, D (1988) Syllabus Design, Oxford University Press Pattanapichet, F., & Chinokul, S (2011) Competencies needed in oral communication in English among Thai undergraduate public relations students: A substantial gap between expectations and reality RELC Journal, 42, 187-202 Qian, D D (2005) Why engineers need to be multilinguists: Perspectives of employers and employees In E Witte, L Van Mensel, M Pierrard, L.Mettewie, A Housen, & R De Groof (Eds.), Language, attitudes & education in multilingual cities (pp.199-210) Wetteren, Belgium: Universa 39 Richards JC, Schmidt R 2010 Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (4th Edition) London: Longman Robinson, P (1991) ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall Strevens, P (1988) ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal In M Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the Art Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre (pp.113) Widdowson, HG (1983) Learning purpose and language use London: Oxford University Press 40 Appendices QUESTIONNAIRE Business English Tasks How often you perform the following tasks in English at work? (Please, write down the number on the right column) FREQUENCY: 0= NEVER 1= RARELY 2= SOMETIMES = OFTEN = EVERY DAY Answer Example: Writing a resume A: Correspondence a Email b Phone call c Fax d Writing a business letter Others: B: Writing a document a Writing a memorandum b Writing a proposal (e.g., project, plan, etc.) c Writing a report (e.g., sales, meeting, etc.) d Writing a contract/agreement Others: C: Order/Customer satisfaction a Placing an order/Purchasing b Receiving an order 4 c Dealing with claims d Others: D: Business meeting a Briefing b Presentation c Negotiation d Conference e Seminar f Social meeting (e.g., party, dining, ect.) g Others: E: Business trip a Business trip to foreign countries b Making a reservation (e.g., hotel, flight, etc.) c Visiting other companies/ factories d Sightseeing e Others: f Attending to foreign guests g Interpretation (e.g., meeting, conference, etc.) h Translation (e.g., document, booklet, etc.) i Gathering information on the market or other companies j Reading articles, magazines, and books related to your job k Others (specify): Questions used on business English NA questionnaire (from Huh, 2006, pp.62-64) Bảng câu hỏi Tần suất bạn dùng tiếng anh để thực công việc sau nơi làm việc nào? ( vui lòng viết số thích hợp vào cột “Câu trả lời” bên phải) TẦN SUẤT DÙNG : 0= KHÔNG BAO GIỜ DÙNG 1= ÍT KHI DÙNG 2= THỈNH THOẢNG DÙNG 3= THƯỜNG XUYÊN DÙNG 4= DÙNG HÀNG NGÀY Câu trả lời Ví dụ: Dùng viết lý lịch cá nhân A: Dạng thư tín e Đọc viết email f Gọi nghe điện thoại g Gửi nhận fax h Viết thư công việc trang trọng Những dạng khác: B: Dạng viết tài liệu e Viết thư báo f Viết đề nghị (ví dụ., dự án, kế hoạch, ) g Viết báo cáo (ví dụ.,bán hàng, buổi họp, ) h Viết hợp đồng/thỏa thuận Những dạng khác: C: Đặt hàng/Chăm sóc khách hàng e Đặt hàng/Mua hàng f Nhận đơn đăt hàng g Giải yêu câu khách hàng 4 h Các mục đích khác: D: Cuộc họp kinh doanh h Cuộc họp i Thuyết trình j Thương lượng k Hội thảo l Hội nghị chuyên đề m Buổi giao lưu (ví dụ, bữa tiệc, ăn tối, ) n Các loại khác: E: Chuyến công tác l Chuyến công tác nước ngồi m Đặt chỗ (ví dụ, đặt phòng khách sạn, đặt chuyến bay, ) n Thăm công ty/nhà máy khác o Tham quan p Các mục đích khác: q Tham gia với người nước ngồi r Phiên dịch (ví dụ, họp, hội nghị, ) s Biên dịch (ví dụ, tài liệu, sách nhỏ, ) t Thu thập thông tin thị trường công ty khác u Đọc báo, tạp chí, sách liên quan đến cơng việc v Các mục đích khác(nói rõ): QUESTIONNAIRE Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn viết email fax tiếng anh? Cho ví dụ minh họa cụ thể ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn đọc email fax viết tiếng anh? Cho ví dụ minh họa cụ thể ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn viết báo cáo kế hoạch tiếng anh? Cho ví dụ minh họa cụ thể ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn đọc báo cáo kế hoạch viết tiếng anh? Cho ví dụ minh họa cụ thể ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn tham gia buổi hội thảo, hội nghị chuyên đề thuyết trình tiếng anh? Cho ví dụ minh họa cụ thể? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Câu Bạn gặp khó khăn tham quan cơng ty đối tác tham dự buổi giao lưu (bữa tiệc liên hoan, ăn tối) phải dùng tiếng anh ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ... EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS- NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu nhu cầu giao tiếp công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field : English Teaching Methodology... giving presentations or negotiating Therefore, it is necessary to conduct ? ?an exploratory study on communicative needs at trans- national corporations? ?? for understanding about graduates‟ challenges... several studies concerning the communicative needs at transnational corporations However, firstly, we should be clear with the term “transnational corporations? ?? for the deep comprehension about this