A study on the difficulties faced by the front office staffs at super hotel in hanoi old quarter in communicating in english and some recommended solutions

1 ABSTRACT Over time, the society has become more and more integrated Therefore, a second language besides the mother tongue is a useful tool to help us get closer to the quintessence of humanity Because of that, English is considered the second most widely studied and popular language in the world In English skills, communication skill can be considered as the most important skill However, during the learning and communication process, learners also make some mistakes that need to be overcome to improve this skill better Having learning this language since being at school, I would like to discuss the difficulties in communication in English with foreigners of the English-majored students in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University And this is also the topic of my graduation thesis The survey is conducted with the students of the English Faculty to collect survey data Finally, I propose some right solutions for students to overcome difficulties when practicing speaking skill I hope that this study will bring students awareness of the difficulties in learning communication skill and refer to some useful solutions that will help them improve their communication skill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although doing study in a limited time, I received a lot of enthusiastic help from so many people to complete this graduation paper I greatly appreciate the enthusiastic supports First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and profound thanks to Mrs Tran Thi Bich Lan, one of the enthusiastic lectures of the English Faculty at Thuongmai University and my supervisor Thanks to the thoughtful guidance, I finished the graduation thesis in the most complete way Without any help of her, I can hardly finish this graduation thesis Secondly, I am sincerely thankful to all the English-majored students in the English Faculty who helped me a lot in this study They helped me complete the survey and provided me with important data from the questionnaire so that I could analyze and provide the best suggestions for my research Last but not least, I want to thank my family and my close friends for supporting me They helped me to be more spiritual and create good conditions for me to complete my graduation paper well I wish to thank all who have kindly given their advice with source materials during writing I know my graduation paper still have mistakes due to my shortcomings I would like to receive your comments, suggestions and corrections for the perfect of my own graduation paper Hanoi, November 22, 2020 Student Nguyen Thi Thu Uyen TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES Tables Chart 3.1 Chart 3.2 Chart 3.3 Content Respondents’ level of English communication with foreigners Students’ chances to communicate in English with foreigners Students’ attitudes toward communicating in English with foreigners Page 23 24 25 Table 3.1 Difficulties related to linguistics 26 Chart 3.4 Difficulties related to linguistics 26 Table 3.2 Difficulties related to psychology 27 Chart 3.5 Difficulties related to psychology 28 Table 3.3 Difficulties related to communication culture 29 Chart 3.6 Difficulties related to communication culture 29 Chart 3.7 Strategies to improve communication skill in English with foreigners 30 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 RATIONALE It is said that “ Study must be accompanied by practice” It is completely right since if we are good at theory but we can not use it in reality, we can not succeed in work Practice is the best way to apply what we have learned in reality By practicing, we can get acquainted with our future job and improve our skills There is an undeniable fact that today communication skill and especially communication in English plays a very important role in the development of human society It is estimated that there are around 5000 languages in the world Of those, English is still chosen as a global language It is the main language used on the Internet, business and many others fields There are many advantages but also many difficulties in learning English and the process is often challenging, especially for students They have a lot of time but have one disease - laziness, lack of perseverance In addition, there are also other reasons such as the unique characteristics of English vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation I major in English at Thuongmai university but I not have enough time to practice and only have a little opportunity to talk with foreigners During my study process at Thuongmai university, I found many difficulties that I and English major students encounter when communicating in English with foreigners That is why I choose the subject of study as “ Difficulties in communicating in English with foreigners: the case of English majors at Thuongmai universities” I hope that through this research topic, I will point out some difficulties in communicating in English with foreigners and offer some solutions to overcome obstacles and improve this skill in the best way 1.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES We all know that English has become an international language That is the reason why a lot of researchers and scholars conduct research and analyze it There have been lots of international and local studies which have been done recently relating to English learning For example, Alqahtani Mofareh A (September, 2019) addresses the poor language proficiency of English language students, particularly in terms of their conversational skills and/or ability to achieve the desired standards of fluency in either the classroom environment or public sphere The many factors which directly affect students' performance in speaking fluent English include the fear of making errors The present study therefore aims to identify the perceived difficulties which language students associate with the study and utterance of English To this end, the conducted research was descriptive in nature and sought to determine the various elements which are perceived as especially challenging for students and to devise effective solutions through appropriate teaching styles, methodologies and strategies which are driven and supported by the relevant contemporary technology In addition to fear, certain factors relate to individuated student character and practices, and many students report feelings of shyness and potential embarrassment Distrust also constitutes a significant obstacle, along with issues surrounding teaching methods, teacher inefficiency, or the lack of up-to-date pedagogies To fully investigate this issue, a quantitative survey instrument containing multiple questions was undertaken in addition to a number of interviews with a random sample of students and teachers in order to elicit the main student challenge in speaking English The results demonstrated that the majority of the students were unable to speak English either correctly or confidently The percentages which varied between average, weak, and very weak, were attributed to a general weakness in English grammar, vocabulary, syntax, poor fluency in speech, low understanding of overall grammar frameworks, and inaccurate pronunciation In light of this, the present study sought to provide useful suggestions to resolve student conversational problems To this end, the researcher elucidated the research problem, importance, objectives, hypotheses and methodologies, as well as drawing conclusions Finally, the researcher outlined a number of recommendations directly relevant to resolving the complex In Vietnam, there are also many studies related to this field For instance, in the study “A study on the difficulties faced by the Front Office Staffs at Super hotel in Hanoi old quarter in communicating in English and some recommended solutions” by Duong Thu Nga, Thuongmai University (2018) The research was based on the data collected from the questionnaires for the Front Office Staffs in the Super Hotel in Ha Noi Old Quarter with the aim of finding out their difficulties when communicating with customers in English The questionnaire has been designed and sent to 20 Front Office Staffs to research some barriers prevent them from a successful English communication with foreign guests especially Japanese guests Research results showed that the causes of problems occurring during English communication with customers are the differences in intonations of each country, cultural differences, etc From the difficulties and the situation of communicating in English with customers and the main reasons the author recommended the solutions to improve the communication skills of English receptionist staff at Super Hotel Ha Noi Old Quarter Besides, another study “English communication skills of students with foreigners - proposing solutions to join NGOs” (2008), the author selected English major students from four typical universities in Hanoi: VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Foreign Trade University and Hanoi University of Science and Technology Foreigners mentioned in the study are good at English communication skills and qualifications, most of whom are from Europe, Australia and North America using English as their mother language Research methodology used in the article is investigation, interview and observation The research results show that when students communicate with English speakers in different countries, the most common difficulties they encounter are intonation, accent and regional culture These are the highlight of the researches Thereby we can see the different aspects of the problem, have a deeper look and recognize the obstacles in communicating in English with foreigners From there, learners will be able to give themselves the correct learning methods to improve 1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY My research is to find solutions that help English - major students at Thuongmai university overcome the difficulties they encounter in the English communication process with foreigners My research aims at the following basic goals:  Cover background knowledge of communication  Analyze the situation of communication in English with foreigners by English major students at Thuongmai university and the difficulties encountered by themselves Provide solutions to improve English communication skills with foreigners for  English - major students at Thuongmai university 1.4 RESEARCH SUBJECT The research subject is to find out the real difficulties faced by English - major students at Thuongmai university in communication in English with foreigners 1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY Research topics are conducted on the scope of Thuongmai University The research focuses on the English - major students in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University to point out their obstacles when communicating in English with foreigners The study is conducted in the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021 Due to time constraints, this study carries out about 100 randomly selected students 1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10 From the above analyzes, we can conclude that the lack of self- confidence and motivation are the main reasons which make it difficult for students to communicate in English with foreigners 3.2.3.3 Difficulties related to communication culture Difficulties Communication Culture Responses Percentages (%) Always 6 Usually 12 12 Often 15 15 Sometimes 34 34 Rarely 33 33 Total 100 100 Frequency Table 3.3 Difficulties related to communication culture Chart 3.6 Difficulties related to communication culture Chart 3.6 shows that from to 12 students have many difficulties related to communication culture when communicating English with foreigners Meanwhile, 38 most of the children not have cultural difficulties when communicating with foreigners One of the reasons is that Westerners are extremely open In particular, in places like “Ho Tay” or “Ho Guom”, it will be easier for you to start a conversation with a Western boy or girl when you interview or mention learning English from them 3.2.4 Strategies to improve communication skill in English with foreigners Chart 3.7 Strategies to improve communication skill in English with foreigners Look at the chart 3.7, we can clearly see the difference between students’ learning methods Seeking foreign friends accounts for 45%, the highest of the methods This proves that, students always believe in practice to get better results Getting to know an English-speaking foreigner is the fastest way to improve skills like listening and pronunciation They help us to directly correct mistakes and we will also get used to their standard pronunciation and communication style In fact, those surveyed have more than years of learning English, so the amount of vocabulary they possess is not small However, the method of cultivating vocabulary is still in 3rd place (17%) Participating in English communication courses is method a that is not appreciated, at only 10% In particular, nowadays, there are many new English communication centers appearing, but it is just a form of deceiving students Therefore, this made a bad impression when the student intended to find a communication course to improve their English skills Ranked in the last position is to learn about the communication culture of countries (8%) 3.2.5 Discussion Research can prove that some students feel shy about communicating in English with foreigners and have a lot of difficulties in practicing it Most students affirm that English communication with foreigners is the best way to help them 39 improve their skills (listening, pronunciation) However, studying vocabulary, grammar, culture and especially psychological barriers has prevented them from approaching foreigners As English - major students, pronunciation errors or not knowing how to use available vocabulary to communicate is a serious problem that needs to be improved as soon as possible Students need to be active when taking part in both classroom lessons and practice in life They can learn new words, selflearn about communication cultures, or actively ask teachers to correct their pronunciation errors Through the research process, the author finds this problem extremely urgent and need to find the best solutions to help students Learning foreign language is not easy, it requires learners to work hard, spend much time and make an effort to study and improve everyday 40 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Limitations After completing the survey of students’ difficulties when communicating in English with foreigners in chapter III, the author analyzed and pointed out the difficulties they are having However, there are several limitations in the study that should be noted Firstly, there is limitation regarding time and how to conduct a survey Due to encountering unexpected objective factors, the author could not meet students directly to proceed the questionnaire Besides, in this study, the author just can evaluate and give some reasons which led to the weakness of students in communication in English with foreigners In spite of the mentioned limitations, the author wishes that this research will contribute to the better situation of communicating in English with foreigners in English Faculty at Thuongmai University 4.2 Recommendations The findings of this study suggest that students encounter some English communication difficulties that can be overcome by putting more emphasis on speaking and listening skill Many issues related to teachers, teaching strategies, curriculum and extracurricular activities But, the most important is students must make an effort to improve their ability in many ways • Practice pronunciation One of the things that makes learners hesitate to communicate in English is that their pronunciation is not good They not hear clearly and are afraid to mispronounce For that reason, learners should start practicing their pronunciation very well if they want to understand native speakers and speak English well There 41 are many ways for them to carry out The first step for people with weak pronunciation to pronounce correctly is to learn the IPA alphabet Then, learners can seek other learning resources such as BBC learning English, VOA learning English or videos by teachers on YouTube Besides, students can also apply these lessons and practice yourself in the mirror every day This way can take a lot of time but day by day they will see their pronunciation improved significantly • Expand vocabulary To get better in any skills, it is very important to expand vocabulary In other words, students should learn new words every day In fact, many students always feel lack of vocabulary when communicating in English with foreigners, so expanding it is one of the best ways to improve English communication ability The students can put a suitable target, it and complete it daily For example, the target of each day is to learn by heart ten new words Even if students only have time to learn one new word per day, it is still worth trying There are many sources that students can find vocabulary such as the Internet, book, TV shows, teachers, even from their friends One of the good ways is read It not only helps student expand vocabulary but also enhances reading ability The students still learn English words from reading For instance, they find that every couple of months the New York Times uses a word that either they never heard before, or that they have heard but they are not totally solid on the meaning Then students look it up, learn the meaning and then go back to the sentence and solidify it One good idea is to think of another word that they know that they could replace it within that sentence A word that would not change the meaning After that students say the sentence with that word Tying the new word to a word they already know, and studying it in the context of the sentence will help them remember it This way may take much time but it is very useful in a long time • Read aloud 42 Reading out loud also is a great way to practice speaking when there are no conversation partners available Reading aloud gives students a chance to focus on pronunciation and pacing without worrying about coming up with words For example, students can find videos that have transcripts By reading aloud from a transcript, students can check your pronunciation by listening to how speaker says something This allows students to it everywhere even if you are not confident There are many channels which can help to it such as TED talks, English Speeches, BBC learning English, VOA learning English, etc If the students can take at least 15 minutes per day to listen and read aloud a video, definitely they will see how their English is improving 43 • Find native speakers to practice with It is also essential to find native speakers to practice with It becomes useless when students communicate with native speakers and not understand what they are saying Therefore, having a friend who is a native speaker is a good way to improve your English communication skill In fact, students who are living around many English speakers may be able to find informal opportunities to chat with neighbors and local business people On the other hand, joining a club or volunteer organization can be a great way to get to people informally If that is not an option, the students also can consider hiring a private tutor A lot of students find and meet with tutors online via tools like Skype or Google Hangouts It is also an effective way to improve students’ English communication skill in Faculty English at TMU when students practice with native speakers daily, the natural reaction as well as grammar of each person will be improved • Use mass media, book, newspaper in studying English communication Mass media is an indispensable part of our life today In fact, it is very useful for students to study English communication For example, every day, they spend a little time reading newspapers or magazines to enrich English vocabulary or collect the correct structure Listening to English news on television is also a good method to learn to speak In fact, it is necessary to understand much information through this news, especially students in English faculty However, it really boosts the students’ listening skill Mass media consists of main means of mass communication such as newspapers, television & radio, books, magazines, adverts, cinema, videos, internet ( personal website pages, blogs, etc) which occupy a central and pivotal role in our lives The students can learn an enormous number of vocabulary and the sentence structures as well from this Importantly, this information is very up-to-date and denotes the fact of each event happening every day in detail Practising the four basic skills in English will be better when studying from mass media 44 When having difficulties in learning and understanding the meaning of the text, or the meaning of the new words, students can ask each other, even ask the teacher for help Reading newspapers and magazines written in English will improve student’s reading and speaking as well In addition, teachers need to be trained on how to integrate speaking to other skills and how to teach it communicatively In order for the curriculum to provide students with frequent opportunities of speaking, communicative tasks should be included Those tasks should focus on getting students to convey the meaning rather than the form This can help students acquire the language better as many researchers declare Involving students in extracurricular activities can provide them with more chances to use the language, and the classroom will not be the only place where they are exposed to the English language To achieve this, all English teachers, English supervisors, school administrators, and staff of the Ministry of Education should work together, and assessment tool designers and curriculum designers should work cooperatively in order to reach alignment between what is introduced in the textbooks and how it should be assessed 4.3 Some suggestions for further research Due to the limited scope and duration of the study, the topic cannot fully exploit all aspects of the problem Therefore, here are some research proposals for future topics to learn more about this issue Difficulties are formed from many different factors, different aspects and it directly affects learning or anything The researcher can focus on analyzing a certain aspect, such as focusing on subjective difficulties or objective difficulties Thus, readers will have a better insight into the difficulties in communication in English with foreigners My study is finding the difficulties in communication in English with foreigners of English - majored students at Thuongmai university, therefore, in the future, there should be specific topics with the first, second or final year students to be able to enrich the subject Besides, new survey forms such as interviews, observations, should be added to make the topic more persuasive 45 All orientations are just for reference and suggestion so that we can have more research direction and there are more useful solutions to overcome difficulties in communication in English with foreigners Ending this chapter will close the content of this study, there are difficulties and then suggestions for solutions as well as future research directions The purpose of the study is to enable them to understand the problem, their current situation and have a serious plan to improve their English communication skill CONCLUSION Common English communication is to apply in practice Learning English communication does not require too much effort to memorize, but to be able to confidently communicate in English, it is very important to create a habit of maintaining daily practice Because everyone cannot learn once and remember forever Therefore regarding learning a foreign language, it is indispensable to maintain practice every day However, in order to have absolute motivation to persistently practice listening and speaking English regularly, the first step, we must define our goal: What is learning English for? You must understand clearly that you learn to exchange jobs in a foreign enterprise, to work with foreigners, to travel, or to study abroad Only when you find yourself a practical goal, then you can find out the most effective English learning method In this graduation paper, the author has consulted a number of English books and websites to explore what factors learners of English consider important, the difficulties and motivation when communicating in English with foreigners An overview of communication in chapter II, the author gave them a general understanding of the definition, the importance, purpose, and aspect of communication and general difficulties when practicing English communication A questionnaire was used to discover their attitudes about English communication skill and analyze the difficulties of students Descriptive statistics and principal 46 component analysis were done in chapter III and this result indicated that students are facing up many obstacles to enhance their English communication skill with foreigners However, because of the limitation of time, of knowledge as well as of experience, mistakes in this paper are unavoidable Because of that, I would like to receive feedback from my teachers and friends Once again, I would like to express many of my thanks to my supervisor Mrs Tran Thi Bich Lan for her wholehearted help in my study and also to all my teachers, my friends and my family members, who have encouraged me to accomplish this graduation paper 47 REFERENCE Alqahtani Mofareh A (September, 2019) Difficulties Facing Students in English Language Conversation Page 51 Duong Thu Nga (2018) A study on the difficulties faced by the Front Office Staffs at super hotel Hanoi old quarter in communicating in English and some recommended solutions Page 3 English communication skills of students with foreigners - proposing solutions to join NGOs (2008), page 10,11 Department of English Theory - Thuongmai university (2020) Principles of business communication Page 1,2,3 Mary Clare Novak (2019) The types of communication (+tips for each one) Shruti B Process of communication Shaik Riyaz Ahmad (2016) Importance of English communication skills Nguyen Thi Ha Nuong (2019) A study of difficulties in improving speaking skill encountered by the second - year English - majored students at Thuongmai university Global learn (2018) Nhung kho khan giao tiep Tieng Anh cua nguoi Viet 10 Aroma (2014) Tam quan cua tieng anh giao tiep thong dung APPENDIX I am Nguyen Thi Thu Uyen, the final year student at Thuongmai University This survey questionnaire is designed for my graduation paper namely: “Difficulties in communicating in English with foreigners: The case of English majors at Thuongmai university ” To complete these questions, please choose the answers among the items in a checklist or express your idea in the blanks Your assistance in responding to the following questions will help me a lot with the study Please answer the question sincerely as this ensures the success of the study The data collected are used in the research paper only, and not for any commercial purposes Thank you for your cooperation! Part 1: Student's English background information Question 1: How long have you learned English? A B C D 1- years 3- years 5- years More than years Question 2: what you think about your current level of English communication with foreigners? A B C D Excellent Good Average Bad Question Do you have chances to communicate in English with foreigners? A B C D Always Often Sometimes Rarely Question 4: What locations help you connect with foreigners? A Social media: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc B School C English course D Locations: Ho Tay, Ho Guom,… E Others Question 5: How does studying at school help English communication with foreigners? A Classroom study is enough to communicate B Both learning in class and practicing in real life C Learning in school is the only theory and practical communication is important Part 2: Student's point of view focusing on obstacles they encounter in communication in English with foreigners and their approaches Question 6: What are your difficulties when you communicating in English with foreigners? Difficulties Pronounce Vocabulary Grammar Culture Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never Motivation Self-confidence Question 7: In your opinion, which is the main reason for the difficulties in communicating in English with foreigners? Reasons Agree Neither agree nor Disagree disagree Swallowing Word stress Intonation Lack of words Focus on grammar so much Differences in speaking style Lazy in practicing speaking English Lack of confidence Question 8: Which strategies you choose to improve communication skill in English with foreigners? A Improve pronunciation and listening skill B Cultivate vocabulary C Learn about communication cultures D Seeking foreign friends E Participate in English communication courses Question 9: Is the strategy you have applied effective in communication in A Yes B No We used Likert’s scales to analyze the level of difficulties There are levels in order of increasing difficulty to describe Level will be the problems that students feel are least hindering them during the translation process Level will be the level that makes them feel it interferes the most In addition, we process the data obtained by the described method We convert data into percentages for easier analysis After analyzing data from the student's opinion on the level of difficulties in communicating with foreigners, we obtained the following results: ... study ? ?A study on the difficulties faced by the Front Office Staffs at Super hotel in Hanoi old quarter in communicating in English and some recommended solutions? ?? by Duong Thu Nga, Thuongmai University... 2019) Difficulties Facing Students in English Language Conversation Page 51 Duong Thu Nga (2018) A study on the difficulties faced by the Front Office Staffs at super hotel Hanoi old quarter in communicating. .. minority language there is still at least one newspaper in English It has become the language of international affairs and international correspondence It has become a language of International commerce