MINISTRY OF FINANCE ACADEMY OF FINANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY GRADUATION THESIS A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE FOR MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY OF ACADEMY OF FINANCE MINISTRY OF FINANCE ACADEMY OF FINANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY Student: DAM HONG LOAN Class: CQ47/51.03 A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE FOR MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY OF ACADEMY OF FINANCE GRADUATION THESIS DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people First of all, I would like to thank Management Board of Foreign Languages Faculty for giving me a great opportunity to make a research on the subject of writing business correspondence skill My thanks also go to all lectures of Foreign Languages Faculty who taught me many valuable lessons on English in general and writing skill in particular I especially would like to express my grateful thanks to my respected supervisor – Mr Cao Xuan Thieu, Head of Foreign Languages Faculty, Academy of Finance for his continuous guidance and support without which my project would not be completed LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FFL: Foreign Languages Faculty LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Difficult items in writing business correspondence Figure 1: Difficulty levels of using grammar in writing business correspondence Figure 2: Difficulty levels of using Lexis in writing business letter Figure 3: Difficulty levels of using Terminology in writing business letter Figure 4: Difficulty level of Setting expression and using words in writing business letter TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgement List of abbreviations List of tables and figures INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study .3 Structure of the study Significance CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW .4 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Background Knowledge of Business Correspondence 1.2.1 The meaning of Business Correspondence 1.2.2 The importance of Business Correspondence 1.2.3 Types of Business Letter 1.3 Essential Qualities of A Good Business Letter .11 1.3.1 Inner Qualities 12 1.3.2 Outer Qualites 13 1.4 Parts of A Business Letter 14 1.4.1 Heading 14 1.4.2 Date 14 1.4.3 Reference 14 1.4.4 Inside Address 15 1.4.5 Subject 15 1.4.6 Salutation 15 1.4.7 Body of the letter 15 1.4.8 Complementary close .16 1.4.9 Signature 16 1.4.10 Enclosures 17 1.4.11Copy Circulation .17 1.4.12 Post script .17 1.5 Summary 18 CHAPTER – METHODS AND PROCEDURES .20 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 The objective of the survey 20 2.3 Subjects 20 2.4 Methodology and Method of the survey 21 2.4.1 Methodology 21 2.4.2 Method 21 2.5 Procedures 21 2.6 Finding and Discussion 22 2.6.1 The findings 22 2.6.2 Some difficulties and common mistakes in using grammar in writing business letter .23 2.6.3 Power of Lexis and Terminology, Setting expression and using words in writing business letter 26 2.6.4 Mistakes and difficulties in Setting expression and using words in writing business letter .34 2.6.5 Difficulties in conveying the original writing styles 44 2.7 Summary 50 CHAPTER - SUGGESTIONS .51 3.1 Suggestions .51 3.1.1Limitations 51 3.1.2 Solutions 51 3.2 Suggestions for further study 56 CONCLUSION 58 REFERENCES 60 APPENDIX .61 INTRODUCTION ***** RATIONALE OF THE STUDY English, like oxygen, is the essential thing in our daily life It is one of the most important languages in today's global world It is the mother tongue of about two hundred million people There are more than three hundred million people speak English as their first or native language Another three hundred speak it as foreign language Therefore, it is used as a means of communication in everyday life, especially in business Nowadays, due to the internationalization trend of the world economy, the business world has need for the global language of English Many companies not only operate in their countries but also are expanding overseas Therefore, people in business world are learning English to break the language barrier somehow This makes it easier to broker deals or tell potential partners what is expected of them It is often the tradition of the business world that you need to know your potential partner's mother tongue During the previous four years, I and my friends had chances to study English thoroughly in terms of four skills practice (reading, listening, speaking and writing) as well as English theory (English grammar, phonetics and phonology, semantics, and so on) I would say that Intelligent Business is my most favorite subject since it teaches me some skills such as writing memos, e-mail, letters that are essential for working in a business world in the future To keep in touch with partners, the best way is to use business correspondence in English because more than three-forth of the world's mail and business letter is written in English Although business correspondence is easy to understand, writing business correspondence well is not easy CHAPTER RECOMMENDATION ***** 3.1 Suggestions 3.1.1 Limitations No one can deny that he/she faces no difficulties in the process of writing business correspondence It is actually soft to understand since it requires many characteristic abilities The survey subjects are third year students of FFL who have only been studying writing skill for terms They have not been exposed to wide range of practical experience in writing business correspondence apart form regular writing classes at the university Therefore it is hard to require them to have deep knowledge about the skill The major limitation lies in the fact that the quantitative survey can not reveal how the students' letter actually look like The survey result analyses are based on the writer's personal assessment of figures And these figures only indicate the students' subjective viewpoints Therefore, there are certain shortcomings for further discussion 3.1.2 Solutions Although my opinions can be disagreed by professionals, I wish my solutions and recommendations would partly help clarify the problems that other students may share i) Using correct language No person can hope to succeed in business without being able to write good business letter A good business letter is one which is written in good 50 English in clearly understandable words, is brief and to the point, and is persuasive To avoid misunderstanding, the students firstly should pay attention to the grammatical aspects, the written structural expressions Lexis For this item, I think that the best way is to try to get in touch with the relevant documents as often as possible to update the new words, as well as the newly derived ones Perhaps, to study the vocabulary of all fields is not easy; it is that the students should intensively study to master a field before entering a new one Terminology Terminology or concepts is always the non-stop topic encountering the students In such the cases, using both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, in my opinion, is advisable In addition, for the unfindable terminology I think that the students should confer or seek advice from many different sources, including the experienced people regarding to these difficulties to get a consensus on the term or concept However, it is not often in all cases that the students can discuss with the professionals, he/she then must decide by himself/herself That will naturally enrich his/ her experience By analyzing the students' most common mistakes which should be avoided when writing business letters, the author tries to bring the idea of a good business letter to reader’s attention A good business letter is one that obtains the results the writer hoped for To make definite work, we have to assume that the writer wants what is good for the organization he/she works for and the individual to whom the letter addresses Therefore, these the letter should be clear, concise, well-organized, natural and coteries 51 Saying that a letter should be well organized is saying that it should be thoroughly thought out You should not sit down to write unless you have thought out what you will write In other words, you cannot expect your letter either clear or concise until you have weeded out irrelevant ideas and placed the meaning, relevant ideas in an effective order Supposing that you are replying a letter of inquiry, in order to obtain the necessary information you have to go to the company library and credit files and talk with several executives about the letter Should you inform the reader all this research? It is probably not The reader is primarily interested in the information you have obtained not how you obtained it Thus, if you open your letter “Upon receiving your letter, I went to the company library and also look on our credit files as well as talk to;” you would probably write a disorganized letter This does not mean that you should go through an elaborate procedure, especially if your letter is short and simple or if you have a large volume of correspondence to handle everyday However, it does mean that some preparations are necessary for almost every letter you write Write down your aim: What is the purpose of the letter? Take some time to familiarize yourself with the circumstance surrounding your letter Obtain as much background material as necessary The small amount of time you spend on research can save you much time and expense latter on Jot down a short list of ideas you plan to include in your letter In this way, you can exclude those ideas, which are irrelevant Arrange the ideas in a relevant order Write an outline in note form Check it through considering these questions + Have you left any important points out? 52 + Can the order of presentation be made clearer? + Have you included any thing that is not relevant? Write a first draft, leaving plenty of space for changes and revision Revise the draft by considering these questions + Is it written in the correct form? + Does it cover all the essential points? + Is the information relevant, correct and complete? + Are the grammar, spelling and punctuation correct? + Does it sound natural and sincere? + Is it clear, concise and courteous? + Is it the kind of letter you would like to receive yourself? Type or dictate your final version Different people may access to the issue differently, but no matter what you take, you should make sure that your reader must be able to understand each sentence as it appears He/she should never have to go back and read the entire paragraph to understand what point you are trying to make ii) Solution to conveying the writing styles We should write business letter in such a way that the reader will feel pleased and will be willing for further business transactions The students sometimes face difficulties when trying to meet this requirement You have to understand clearly about the business relation among two counterparts and the information about the business relation Therefore, the right writing style of business correspondence is very important It is better for the us to distinguish between such business correspondence like first request letter or letter of reply for outstanding debt or late delivery, etc 53 In the two types of letters (Letter of inquiry and Letter of reply), the language used is formal and mainly in the form of question and answer Although the former is not written down with question mark, we understand that it indicates the request for information For it is very polite, it is mainly written down like a request For example, For example “We would be very glad if you could send us your latest catalogue and price list” As mentioned above, this version is a first request, not a reply for late delivery Therefore, we never use the “Strong language” for the first order Usually, the inquiry is very short and to the point If that is for your regular partner, you don’t need to indicate where you get the information However, if that is for a new supplier you should tell him where you get the news For the inquiry, what we take into consideration is the use of language You should use the polite language and it is preferable to be written in the form of a request For the reply, the language should also be polite enough, and still, provide the necessary information It is also preferable if the reply is short and to the point The translator then needs to keep in mind these characteristics to have the correct translation, both in style and in language It is the right style put into the writing process of business correspondence helps to improve the business relation among counterparts This style of writing should be in business language as we are writing business correspondence Others may not be grammatically wrong but it does not sound like a business letter Students sometimes encounters difficulties when trying to put the right style in their letter and one of the reasons for these difficulties is that the right style is partly similar to the Setting 54 expression Therefore, the best way to over come this is to learn by heart as many right writing styles as possible Writing business correspondence must satisfy all the characteristics of business correspondence that were presented in Chapter II Generally, writing business correspondence requires the accuracy in meaning of the words and sentences The accuracy here can be found as the ability to convey the terminology and terms employed in the business correspondence Moreover, to be good at writing business correspondence, students must have some background knowledge in this field since this can help him/her more profoundly understand the importance and requirements of that Although these are not easy, the students must find the way to tackle his/ her own difficulties To solve these problems, the initially important things for the students are hardworking and be patient in gradually improving his/her own abilities in writing business correspondence Moreover, reading as much books, magazines, presses and relevant documents is always good suggestions The students must try his/her best to create his/her own opportunities to get in touch with the business correspondence world, to write the business correspondence and evaluate it as often as possible Additionally, it would be a good way if he/she can manage to be severed with this job, and so on 3.2 Suggestions for further study With the aim of overcoming the limitations, there should be a qualitative research for further study The qualitative could provide stronger evidence by drawing on the letters produced by the FFL students The research might be conducted under the following procedure In the context of an ordinary classroom, two writing tasks will be assigned to a number of students These students as the customers write one business 55 letter (any types of business letter are accepted) to a company for task and the same students as the company write one reply to customers for task And a good time to conduct the experiment may be scheduled right before or after writing exam when students tend to perform best Besides, the whole process should be supervised by teachers who have the abilities to give specialize evaluations and recommendations It is obvious that the results of the qualitative survey can contribute to the growing body of the research studies in the fields of English in general and writing skill in particular 56 CONCLUSION ***** Nowadays, commercial activities are not only limited within our country but also outsourced to other countries in the region and in the world Therefore, the ability to communicate in English especially the ability to write English business letters may be indispensable in our luggage when applying for a job in a company as well as when working for companies in the future For that the reason, I have written my graduation paper with all of my efforts This thesis is an attempt to puzzle out the concept of business correspondence and to present how to write a good business letter It is intended for FFL students who may have been interested in understanding more about writing business letter skill The review of literature in chapter one is a coherent combination of summary and synthesis of published works which are related to the topic of business correspondence, have been written from the viewpoints of linguistic theorists Besides, basic requirements of business correspondence are classified into the following categories: Essential Qualities of A Good Business Letter, Parts of A Business Letter The main purpose of the literature review is no more than provide detailed illustration of business correspondence and to show practical approaches to acquire the writing skill In chapter 2, the thesis reports on an empirical study which is developed from the results of a quantitative survey The survey is aimed at exploring FFL students' awareness of writing business correspondence skill as well as their personal points of view on specific aspects of the skill Its findings can be very helpful in conducting a qualitative survey for further study 57 In conclusion, writing business correspondence involves various techniques that are quite easily grasped if well learn and regular practiced Although there is still some weaknesses in the paper and I cannot cover every aspect relating to business correspondence because of the limited time and limited knowledge I hope my graduation paper will contribute to your success 58 REFERENCES Alexander L G (1998, p.13) Longman English Grammar London: Longman Group Ltd Can, L.M (1997, p.27) Contemporary Commercial Correspondence in English & Vietnamese Dong Nai: NXB Đồng Nai Coles Notes, How to write Effective Business Letters (1993, p.69) Dan, N T (1997 – 1998, p.9) The Language of Business Correspondence in English Hanoi: NXB Giáo Dục Dan, N T (1999, p.35) International Business Correspondence Hanoi: NXB Thống kê Gerfner, A B (1991, p.11) Business Letters the Easy Way New York: Barron Educational Series, Inc Hoit, R & Sampson, N (1999, p.84) International Business Correspondence HCM city: NXB TPHCM Mc Comas, D C (1995, p 51) Modern Business Correspondence HCM city: NXB Thống Kê Mill, B A (1995, p.1) Complete Business Letters Da Nang: NXB Đà Nẵng 10 Newmark, P (1995, p.155; p.75) A Textbook of Translation 11 Quirk & Green Baum, A University Grammar of English (1996, p.110) 12 R.A Close, (1992, p.1) A Teachers Grammar 13 Poe, W (1993, p.54) Handbook of business correspondence in English 14 Truong Hoang Tat, (1993, p.2) Basic English Lexicology Websites: http://www.ehow.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/, http://www.sunzu.com/, http://www.learn-english-today.com/ 59 APPENDIX I am a student in my final year in university This survey is forming part of my dissertation on "some difficulties in writing business correspondence" Every question in this survey is supposed to find out your attitude towards writing business letter and your experiences in acquiring writing business correspondence skill I would appreciate if you could take a few minutes to complete this survey Please tick () in the appropriate boxes: The levels of Very difficult Opt % difficulties Difficult Opt % 1.Using correct grammar 2.Power of lexis + Terminology in business correspondence + Difficulties in using words +Setting expression Difficulties in the conveying writing 60 Rather difficult Opt % Not sure Opt % Not difficult Opt % style Other difficulties … Thank you very much for you help! 61 NHẬN XÉT CỦA ĐƠN VỊ THỰC TẬP Họ tên người nhận xét: Chức vụ: Nhận xét luận văn (chuyên đề) thực tập: Sinh viên: Lớp: Khóa: Đề tài: Người nhận xét SUPERVISOR JUDGEMENT Supervisor: Mr Cao Xuan Thieu Comment Student: Dam Hong Loan Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: A study on difficulties in writing business correspondence for major English students of Foreign Languages Faculty of Academy of Finance Mark: - In number: - In word: Supervisor CRITIC EVALUATION Reviewer: Comment Student: Dam Hong Loan Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: A study on difficulties in writing business correspondence for major English students of Foreign Languages Faculty of Academy of Finance Mark: - In number: - In word: Reviewer ...MINISTRY OF FINANCE ACADEMY OF FINANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY Student: DAM HONG LOAN Class: CQ47/51.03 A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE FOR MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS OF. .. exchange information That is why the minor thesis is aimed to design a study on difficulties in writing business correspondence for major English students of Foreign Languages Faculty of Academy. .. face with when writing business correspondence Therefore, in my research, designing a study on difficulties in writing business correspondence for major English students of Foreign Languages Faculty