HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
---o0o--DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATION PAPER
DIFFICULTIES OF BUSINESS WRITING IN THE
INTERNSHIP ENVIRONMENT OF HUFLIT SENIORS
MAJORING IN BUSINESS ENGLISH IN DEPARTMENT OF
FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Instructor: M.A. Vo Xuan Dieu
Student: Nguyen Thi Yen Kieu
School ID No.: 15DH710284
Class: TA1503

June, 2019


TABLE OF CONTENT
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
1.1 Background information ..................................................................................... 1-3
1.1.1 Business writing style differs significantly from academic writing style ... 3
1.1.2 Some difficulties in business writing ..................................................... 4-6
1.2 Objectives of the study........................................................................................... 7
1.3 Scopes of the study ............................................................................................. 7-8
1.4 Organization of the study ....................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 9
2.1 English and the importance of English with the development of the global business

world ...................................................................................................................... 9-10
2.2 The difficulties in business writing ................................................................. 10-12
2.3 The comparison between business writing and informal writing ..................... 12-14
2.4 The definition and the role of business writing at the workplace ..................... 14-17
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 18
3.1 Research questions ......................................................................................... 18-19


3.2 Research participant ............................................................................................ 19
3.3 Research instrument ....................................................................................... 20-22
3.4 Research procedure.............................................................................................. 22
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ................................................................................... 23-35
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 36
5.1 Summary of the findings................................................................................. 36-37
5.2 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 37
5.3 Limitation ............................................................................................................ 38
5.4 Recommendation ............................................................................................ 38-39
REFERENCES
APPENDIX (QUESTIONNAIRE)


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my warmest thank to the Foreign
Languages Department which gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project on the topic “Difficulties of Business writing in the Internship environment
of HUFLIT seniors majoring in Business English in Department of Foreign
Languages” and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks of gratitude to my
instructor Ms. Vo Xuan Dieu (M.A.) who spent most of her time on correcting my
research and suggested me many beneficial ideas to have a complete study. Without
her assistance and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process, this

paper would have never been accomplished. I would like to thank her very much for
her support and understanding over these past four years.
Second, I take this opportunity to express gratitude to all of 50 HUFLIT seniors
who majoring in Business English for their help and support to complete the survey.
And last but not least, I also thank my parents for the unceasing encouragement,
support and attention during my research process both spiritual and financial aspects.
Besides, I would like to say thank to my closest friends who friendly gave me the ideas
and advised me to carry out this paper. I am also grateful to my roommate partner who
supported me throughout this venture.


ABSTRACT
Being aware of the importance of writing in general and business writing in
particular as well as some difficulties students may have in their study and the
application of business writing at the workplace, the writer tried to carry out this
research with the hope to investigate the attitudes of the Business English major seniors
at HUFLIT towards business writing and some specific benefits of business writing
with students throughout their internship period to support them work more effectively.
In order to achieve these objectives, some instruments, namely document
analysis and questionnaire were used for collecting the response from students at
HUFLIT University. A questionnaire was given to 50 HUFLIT seniors majoring in
Business English. The purpose was to find out the common mistakes they usually have
in their business writing. The questionnaire consisted of 2 parts: personal information
and main questions. The main content was presented with 9 questions. The result
showed that students always pay attention to learn how to write business writing
effectively. But they also had difficulty in using business writing with three main
common problems as follows: the incorrect grammar structure, the lack of vocabulary,
and the memorization of the format of each business writing type. However, they can
apply it effectively in their internship period with some popular types of business
writing, namely emails, memos and business letters.

The conclusion showed that learning to improve writing skill and business
writing skill plays an vital role with students who studying at school and working at the
workplace. Students will have an opportunity to enhance their business writing if they
are familiar with some practical situations at the working environment. For the next
study, the author will exploit more aspects of the difficulties in business writing to have
pragmatic results.


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter will give the background information about the study. It
establishes the scope, context, and objective of the research being conducted by
summarizing the main purposes and main ideas of this study.

1.1 Background information
English is nowadays of paramount importance in global business world.
Moreover, it becomes a foremost international language for communication
universally, it necessitates the needs for explicit norms for the corresponding
professional working in worldwide business environment. With the increasing of the
trade world, it requires students to master in all skills of business, especially the skill of
the business writing. What is business writing? Business writing involves in
memorandums, reports, proposals, emails, and other forms of writing used in
organizations to exchange information with internal or external circumstances.
Business writing is a type of professional communication and professional writing is an
elemental aspect bringing out the success for your future career. Well business writing
is an opportunity to showcase your communication skills, your professionalism, and an
image of who you are. Davies & Birbili (2000) stated that “Writing is becoming ever
more central and crucial to the world of work, with computers on every desk, email and
the internet adding to the world’s written words in almost epidemic proportions.” It is
true that nowadays writing is used regularly in working environment as oral

communication and it becomes an indispensable tool contributing to the success of
communication during working period.


Moreover, writing is one of the skills making up most of the time in your work,
for example, writing proposals for customers, noting the issue of immediate feedback
or the email of colleagues. But, do you ensure that your writing is clear and
impressive? How do you highlight the message that you want to send? That what the
recruitment are finding from their employees. According to Gil Amelio, he claimed
that “Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective
leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of
urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and
motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter.” Therefore,
writing in general and business writing in specific also play a pivotal role in
commercial world that contributing to the success of leadership and the development of
enterprises.
The function of business writing is various as follows:
1. Asking for inquiries/ giving information/ negotiating prices to customers,
suppliers
2. Replying to enquiries and requesting information from customers, suppliers
3. Complaining about products or services
4. Sending reports/ memos/ documents, project updates and coordinating activities
5. Selling new products/ packages/ promotion
However, a complete product of business writing requires many primary following
elements:
1. Use shorter sentences
2. Use useful vocabulary
3. Use active voice



4. Write from the point of view of the company
5. Recommend action rather than refer to individual mental states
6. Avoid writing word in abbreviation
7. Avoid self reference and references to individual states of mind

1.1.1 Business writing style differs significantly from academic writing style
1. Using full words and avoid using abbreviations in formal writing is
advisable. For instance, word likes “television” which is used in full form
in formal writing instead of using abbreviation form of “TV” in informal
writing.
2. Longer sentences are used in formal writing. The information should be in
details and as arranged as possible in formal style of writing. Every point
should have an introduction, explanation, and conclusion. Informal writing
is closely to shorter sentences. Information showed is brief and in a
respectful tone. (Nounlus Blog, 2016, para. 9)
3. Formal

writing

is

preferred

in

academic,

business

or


official

communications, and informal is required for communication with friends,
family and close ones. Business letters, formal writing is usually in third
person. The writer can use their point of view i.e. I, we. Whereas, informal
writing requires the personal pronoun depending upon the context.


1.1.2 Some difficulties in business writing
To give a complete form of business writing, the writer needs to experience
some difficulties. That can be easily seen that some of them who not familiar with how
to use business writing easily getting trouble and taking much time to write. According
to some researches, the problem that writers are facing is not obtaining the useful
vocabulary and academic grammar. (Thandarin Decharotchanawirun, 2015) Creating
the appropriate subject or headline is other difficulty in business writing. The problems
were the inability to write with correct grammar and the inability to use a variety of
words without checking in the dictionary is very common. They also have to resole
problems in choosing appropriate words in writing and using grammar in English
writing. Furthermore, with the development of information technology, managers at all
levels of an organization need to be excellent in business writing. Therefore, they are
looking for some potential candidates who can write and resolve the business problem
professionally. Besides, majoring vocabulary is also one of the most popular problems
in business writing. Students cannot avoid using jargons and ordinary phrases when
writing in their business letters. They can write a long essay or describe a beautiful
place, but it needs to be easy to understand. “Write to express not to impress, it’s key to
longevity as a writer.” (Jeff Crume) Creating an email/ letter/ memo subject line is also
one of the popular problems. Subject line shows the main ideas and specific information
that the business writing is aiming to. There are still more problems that students
confront in business writing and I will discuss more in my research.

Nowadays, some companies put the importance of written communication and
oral communication as equal. Therefore, it is necessary and effective for students to
practice using some types of business writing in their internship period. By this way
they can face with some practical situations, apply their writing skill learned in the
class and then improvise at the workplace effectively. There is a variety types of


business writing used in the workplace, but three common types, namely emails,
business letters, memos which employers require students to obtain at the first start of
their beginning profession.
Email is transactional business writing. It is articles used to quickly exchange
information between staff or clients in business activities. Although emails are often
seen as less formal than business letters, they still different from the normal messages
you send to friends or family.
Email format consists of four basic parts as follows:
1. Subject
2. Salutation (usually begin with Dear Mr/ Mrs, Dear Sir/ Madam)
3. Body
4. Signature (Yours truly, Sincerely)
Memo is instructional business writing. Memo format is presented as follows:
Headings with the same basic format:
From: (the sender’s name)
To: (the recipient’s name)
Date: (the date memo written)
Subject: (brief content of the memo)
Opening, summary, discussion, closing and attachment are then followed.
Specifically, memo also is considered as a short notification of new information which
is shared within a large group staff in an organization also in business working
environment. Memos are “brief reminders” about an upcoming meeting, new



regulations for staff and some the offices also requires more complex memos to
enhance the work efficiency.
Business letter is a tool for organizations to contact with their customers/ clients,
suppliers, and then build and maintain the business relationship.
A business letter always contains a few standard parts as follows:
1. The date
2. Information about its sender and recipient
3. A salutation
4. A body consisting of a main problem
5. A closing
6. The sender’s signature
7. The sender’s name, title, and contact information
8. A list of enclosures, if necessary
Nowadays, seniors who have practical experience are required to use writing skill
regularly in their internship period. That is the reason why they need to practice written
communication in order to achieve competency in their working environment.
Internship is a chance for students to apply the theory at the school into some working
situations. It is as a first step for them to get accustomed to the professional working
environment and face with some difficulties at the workplace. Business writing served
as an essential skill with many requirements to write well and effectively in today's
rapidly changing business environment. To achieve all of our writing goals, students
have to use real life scenarios to present writing scenarios and situations that they will
likely encounter in business and industry.


1.2 Objectives of the study
With the development of technology, business writing plays an indispensable
role to enhance the cooperation relationship between customers and suppliers.
Therefore, I carry out this paper with the hope to understand more about some

difficulties when students use business writing and some application of it at the
working environment.
The objectives of this study covers with two main following raised ideas:
1. To survey the significance in using English writing skills of HUFLIT seniors
majoring in Business English and the importance of business writing at the
workplace and in the students’ internship period
2. To find out some popular difficulties in using English business writing of
HUFLIT seniors in Business English major

1.3 Scopes of the study
It has been easy to realize that business writing is an important tool for business
communication or exchange information. That is why I conduct this paper to find out
some normal problems in business writing of HUFLIT seniors majoring in Business
English. The aim of this study was to determine whether business writing courses
fulfilling prepare students for business communication in the world of work. The thesis
can be an overall picture that helps students to have a general view of fundamental
things about the importance of business writing and explore the business writing skill
in the other’s point of view. Moreover it will help students to improve their writing
skill at their workplace with some pragmatic scenarios. The more difficulties they face,
the more mature they will have. This research will focus on finding out the role of
business writing at the workplace and evaluating the level of using some types of


business writing of seniors. Specifically, it just analyzes three common kinds, namely
emails, letters, memos. If it is not limited by the time, a quick task as practical exercise
on business writing directly with the available topic will be applied. It will evaluate the
temporary level of using business writing of students and fining out more the problems
they may have. In this study, the research instrument consists of a questionnaire, which
consisted of 9 questions (not including personal information). It is a predominantly set
of questions relating to two main points, namely the significance and role of business

writing at the workplace and in the students’ internship period; and then some common
problems in business writing.

1.4 Organization of the study
The contents of this study are divided into five chapters:
Chapter 1: The introduction consists of background of the study, research
questions, objectives of the study, definition of terms, scope of the study, and
organization of the study.
Chapter 2: This chapter includes the literature review in business writing in the
workplace, and problems in English business writing.
Chapter 3: Methodology includes descriptions of the respondents, the research
tools, the procedures, and data analysis.
Chapter 4: Results of the study are presented and an interpretation of the research
findings is provided.
Chapter 5: The study finishes with the conclusion, discussion, limitations and
recommendations for further researches.
The next chapter will show the article review before conducting the study.


CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will give the overview of some main points in this research. It
summarizes each article that the researcher reviewed before conducting the study.

2.1 English and the importance of English with the development of the
global business world
English is considered as the most common language in the world with nearly 60
countries using as a main language; besides the mother tongue, more than 100
countries use English as a second language. Rachelkelly wrote in FluentU Blog
“English is an important language for all kinds of professional and personal goals.

Whether you’re just starting out in English, or you need some motivations to keep
going, understanding the importance of the language will help you reach fluency and
change your life.” It is clearly that English is used in every field in work and life with
the aim of creating a mutually beneficial relationship between enterprises and their
associates professionally. Moreover, English is used as the language to communicate
with people around the world, especially when you have a trip to some European
countries. It will help you transmit your information to foreigners easily.
It's easy to see the key role of this foreign language in the era of global
integration as it is now. To expand knowledge, build relationships, create links and
rope work, we all need the insight and language which is one of the most effective
tools with the tremendous role in helping friends in Europe to understand somewhat the
voice of Vietnam during the period of this integration. According to Nelson Mandela,
“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share
their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their


songs.” Therefore, there is no denying the fact of the influences of language in the 4.0
technology revolution to turn ordinary people into higher modern life. English is no
exception. Nowadays more and more international enterprises are realizing that in
commercial, a high level of English master is required than in society in general.
In the course of action, English contains of all four skills, namely Listening Speaking – Reading - Writing. Additionally, writing plays an essential role and
supports with one another. In particular, writing is taken into consideration as a skill
that requires you master the knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and the knowledge
society at large. We are not born to have everything about the world, we have to get out
of the cradle and take steps to explore the world. Writing is considered as one of the
hard skill to acquire because “Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly.
That’s why it is so hard.” (David McCullough) It needs to build the hobbies and turns it
into your habits, so applying it as your daily routines will bring out the opportunity to
write well, that’s why it is a monumental blessing for us to succeed. Spending time
writing appropriately is explicit rationale because good writers often are highly

appreciated at work.

2.2 The difficulties in business writing
This study will focus on some common problems in business writing with three
common kind of business writing, namely emails, letters, memos consisting of
following elements:

2.2.1 Grammar used in writing
Grammar is one of the important elements of effective writing as well as
vocabulary, spelling and ideas.
For example:
Thank you for remind me of Mona’s retirement. (Incorrect)


Thank you for reminding me about Mona’s retirement. (Correct)
From the two above example, the professionalism in writing can be easily
exposed in the second sentence instead of using the first sentence.
2.2.1.a Write in the active voice not the passive voice - Business professionals
often prefer to write in active voice to avoid causing the misunderstanding for the
recipient.
For instance:
“The managers were told about the merger by Brian.” (Passive voice)
“Brian told the managers about the merger.” (Active voice) (The Business
Writing Center, n.d.)
A sentence is considered in passive voice not being clear and weak as the same
sentence in active voice.
2.2.1.b Failing to capitalize and punctuate properly
It can be acceptable in a text message, but it can show that you are so careless
and lazy when communicating at the workplace.
For example:

This is an unprofessional sentence:
i will call u later when will u be free
And compare to the same sentence in correct grammar and punctuation:
I’ll call you later. When will you be free? (Proofreadingservices, n.d.)

2.2.2 Useful Vocabulary and Phrase in business writing
Here are some examples about the useful phrase are used in business writing:
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed on Tuesday. (Learn
English Today, n.d.)


I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. (Learn English
today, n.d.)
Some people do not attain enough useful phrases in business writing, so that is
why they feel difficult with formal writing like emails or letters.

2.2.3 Appropriate business subject line
One of the biggest mistakes that writer usually make. The subject line shows the
main information content of the message; for instance, it often clarifies how an email is
released and how the recipient replied. These are the following examples states:
Nice to see you the other day of this week.
==^^This is Thomson^^==!
The first subject line gives so much information which is so obscurity. It is easy
to be misapprehended. When it comes to the second subject line, emoticons and
excessive punctuation have no meaning in any kind of business writing and easy to be
misinterpreted as spam.

2.2.4 Learning and Practice writing (Time spending on writing)
Prapawuttikul (2004) mentioned that business writing is timewasting and

evaluated that is covered 30% of work. If the staffs are not familiar with the style of
business writing, they will have difficulty in creating a perfect message.

2.3 The comparison between business writing and informal writing
In today's globalized world, business English is a popular language to use in
email and business situations, and it is an essential tool for the freelancer from around
the world to communicate and connect with each other. Formal business writings are
requests, applications, enquiries sent to people or organizations. The voice is respectful
and the message is structured. Informal writings are sent to friends and relatives or
acquainted people. The voice is unintentional and friendly. For example, a polite


communication including the use of pronouns with customers such as “Mr., Mrs., Sir,
Madam” and the use of words such as “Please”, “thank you” or “yours sincerely”
correctly is also important in writing email.
It is avoidable to write words in abbreviation in formal business writing; in
contrast, you can freely use abbreviations in informal writing. Formal writing requires
the message be short, clear, easy to understand; whereas, a writer can write a long story
in their products without any rules. Conducive business writing requires various
elements to have a completed piece of work. It is clearly noting that we have to
experience some difficulties in mastering business writing. It is a short and easily
understandable message. “The main aim of business writing is that it should be
understood clearly when read quickly. The message should be well planned, simple,
clear, and direct.”(Brant W. Knapp, 2010). You can spend all day writing a complete
email, but the most important thing is the quality and satisfaction. It needs to be more
pragmatic. You need to know some ascertain terminologies and apply it into any
situation in business environment and that’s why you do not to spend much time to
write for the best. The aim is to send out information to a reader, so business writing
requires obvious language to help a reader absorb information easily.
Writing clearly is one of the tough aspects of business writing. Then, it is

informal tone with formal style. It is taken in account that the structure of a type of
business writing is followed by the formulated norm. It consists of the vocabulary,
grammar, how to write salutation, enclosure and apply text format. Above all, when
writing a type of business writing, it is clearly noting that “Make it simple, make it
memorable, make it inviting to look at, make it fun to read” (Leo Burnett)
These are following examples in comparison between formal writing and
informal writing:


a. Beginning with salutation
➢ Dear Sir/Madam; Dear Mr/Ms Brown (formal)
➢ Hi John/ Hello Jimmy/ How are you?/ How have you been? (informal)
➢ Good morning, Kate/ Have you come back from London? (informal)
b. Ending and signing off
➢ Yours faithfully/ Yours sincerely/ Best regards (formal)
➢ I look forward to hearing from you.(formal)
➢ Love/ All best/ Have a nice day/ Thanks a lot. (informal)
c. Some useful expressions in business writing
➢ Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further details / more
information.
➢ We would be happy to provide more detailed information.
➢ Feel free to contact me at any time for more details.

2.4 The definition and the role of business writing at the workplace
In spite of challenge of effective writing, business writing is an indispensable
element contributing to the success of business in every field of business from sales
and bank to marketing and law (Davidson & Emig, 2015). Although, people who
come from different countries around the world and work Business Environment, they
can communicate through business writing to exchange information easily. (iNurture,
2016)

Business writing exists with highly influenced importance in response to
working environment. It consists of memorandums, proposals, emails, letters, reports
and other style of writing used in company in order to be in contact with internal or
external clients. (Richard Nordquist, 2018) There are numerous types of business
writing, but in this paper I will mention about the three most common used in the
workplace which are memos, business letters, and emails.


a) Emails: Email is a short form of “Electronic mail”, with the aim to exchange
information between the users and communicators. Email is a way of sending
messages and data to other people by means of computers connected together in
a network (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries). Email is not only a great mean of
communicating with customers, it is also a great way to attract new, present and
future clients. (Contactually,

April 09, 2012) Nowadays, emails play a

fundamental role in our lives. We use email in all areas of work from the office
to the bank. (Lawrence Brock, October 3, 2017)
b)

Business letters: Letter is a message that is written down or printed on paper
and usually put in an envelope and sent to somebody (Oxford Learner’s
Dictionaries). Business letters are used widely from all over the world because it
is a cheapest and most popular form of communication. Enterprises often
develop business ideas, sales proposals and invitations to some special business
occasions, and get in touch with their business associates or consumers. (Shazia
Butt, August 4, 2016)

c) Memos: Memo is an official note from one person to another in the same

organization (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries). Kelly Wilkins answered in Quora
website that “The main purpose that a memorandum fulfills is that it aims to
record and relay information, and to make brief appeals.”
The global workplace requires us to improve communication skills. Regardless
of our professional field, we also need to be an effective correspondent in order to
attain the career success. Communication skills, including writing, are one of the most
important communicable skills that employees occupy. Most professional line of work,
such as marketing, finance, and research and advertising, need excellent writing skills
to properly impart and implement ideas and concepts. Effective writing is not a gift
when we're born. It is a skill that we have to work out and the skills will become as
“practice makes perfect” (The Free Dictionary, n.d.). Nowadays, we can put it into


practice by facing with some specific situations and build the habit to write everyday.
More and more businesses use business writing for giving, replying to enquiries and
requesting information from customers, suppliers and providing some upcoming
information to them. Moreover, they can sell new products/ packages/ promotion and
the customer can evaluate the quality of the product or complain about products or
services. The manager can require staff to send reports/ memos/ documents, project
updates and coordinating activities.
Thus, in order for graduates to get a good job and survive in the competitive
working environment, they have to fulfill the workplace skills requirement. That is
why business writing skills play a pivotal role in the working environment and bring
out the opportunity for both students and graduates. It is a need for fresh graduates to
equip with some working experience to keep track of the global business workplace.
Besides some lessons in the classroom, fresh graduates have to put it into practice to
attain great success in their fields they are proficient in. The businesses nowadays
required their workers to be professional in not only communication skill but also in
written communication skills in all areas they expertise and other fields is relevant.
(English - Lingua Franca For International Business Communication, Vilceanu Alina,

n.d.)
Equip with business writing that means you're holding a great opportunity to
improve your job performance. Students’ awareness was raised from some authentic
social contexts at the classroom. Moreover, students were equipped with full of
conducive background knowledge relating to the business workplace. (Schneider &
Andre, 2005) However, putting the theory into practical practice is more necessary
with the subject of creating the habit to face with some common businesslike situation
professionally. Students need to be provided some advantage to attain the business
knowledge by the business school. (Caldwell, Karri & Matula, 2005)


Internship is one of the beneficial ways to apply the theory into business
environment because it equips students with the writing skill in English at the
workplace before they get into their professional careers. Writing skills activities
should start at the school level with some lectures extracted from the classrooms. After
that, they will feel more confident to apply the theory at school to fulfill for their task
at the workplace and gain the high achievements. For many employees, business
writing is nearly as troublesome as public speaking. However, it is not a worrisome,
students do not hesitate to show your ability because “You can have brilliant ideas, but
if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” (Lee Iacocca).
Regular practice will help students obtain the best achievements to get into a profession
with more practical experience. Next chapter will present the specific production to
conduct this study.


CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This chapter will show clearly the actions to conduct this research about the
research problem and the rationale of the research. The research design, research
instruments, research participants, research procedure are also presented clearly to

collect the research data.

3.1 Research questions
In this research, the author will do some surveys to answer two main raised
questions:
1. How importance of business writing in business world and in the students’
internship period?
This question answered for the objective number 1. In the business world, apart
from communication skill, writing skill also played an important role in exchange
information between enterprises with one another. Business writing was considered as
one of the crucial means of communication in business environment. Understanding
this, the researcher wanted to explore more significance of business writing at the
workplace and at the school of students at HUFLIT University. Moreover, what types
of business writing that students often used at their workplace and in their internship
period.
2. What are some common difficulties in business writing of HUFLIT seniors
majoring in Business English?
Writing is a difficult skill and business writing also consists of obstacles.
Question number 2 partly was suggested to answer for Objective number 2 about some
common difficulties in business writing of HUFLIT seniors majoring Business English.


Question is the main idea to conduct this study. The goal was to learn more about the
significance of business writing in the business workplace and find out some common
that seniors are facing at HUFLIT University as well some students who are learning
the business writing skill. The answers of HUFLIT’ seniors contribute to the success of
this research.

3.2 Research participant
The main subject conducting the online survey were seniors who studying at

HUFLIT University. All of them had learned the subject named “Communication for
English”. The subject aimed to transmit the skills to write some common type of
business writing and students can practice with some practical situation as at the
workplace.
In this research, the survey was carried out at Ho Chi Minh City University of
Foreign Language – Information Technology (HUFLIT). The main participants were
the seniors of Foreign Languages Department majoring in Business English. There
were 50 seniors who studying in the major class from TA1501 to TA1507. They are in
the last semester attending in the internship period and being about to graduate. In
sprite of the time limitation, seniors still can give the full clearly thinking about my
questionnaire. They had studied the subject relating to this topic at school, the accuracy
also partly reliable. After collecting the questionnaire, the results partly reflected some
common problems of students in general and seniors in particular may have in business
writing.


3.3 Research instrument
The author chose a questionnaire survey design because it was served best to the
questions and it was considered as one of the best data collection instruments for
research methodology. A questionnaire was applied in this study consisting of two
parts:
Part 1: Personal Information of the respondents
This part was designed to collect personal information of the respondents which
consisted of 3 questions by the author, namely class, gender, age. Because the subject
of this study included specific objects for the survey, the author wanted to know how
many class in Business English participate in this survey of the study. Moreover, the
author also wanted to collect how many female or male and their age at that time to
support the research. Students in this study were all in the fourth year of university but
they were in different age.
Part 2: Main Content

This part consisted of 9 questions was included in the questionnaire to collect
the opinion from HUFLIT seniors in Business English. The questions is deprived from
“A study of problems in the business English writing skills of Thai employees at the
classic chairs company” research paper (Miss Thandarin Decharotchanawirun, 2015)
and modified to be match with the aim of this research. The questionnaire is divided
into three main ideas as follows:
•

Question 1- 4: Background information and the importance of business writing

•

Question 5: Difficulties in business writing

•

Question 6 - 9: Business writing in the internship workplace and evaluation of
the fluency in using business writing skills