ABSTRACT
In modern society, English is important for business in today’s markets. Many
more and more to expending their business internationally in our globalized world.
The English language dominates the business sphere, and it is important that the
workforce of any multi-national business have no problem. Vietnam's economic
structure has shifted toward industrialization and modernization, having a positive
influence on the development of related economic sectors and create jobs for
employees in different regions and areas throughout country. The deeper and
comprehensive integration of the country's economy into the global economy has
brought Vietnam tremendous opportunities.
Over hundreds of years of development and integration, English has become a
popular language and it is internationally recognized, used as a common language.
Currently, if graduates want to have a well-paid job, they have to learn English.
In order to complete graduation paper, the researcher had a chance to intern in
Tan Hung Phat Company Limited, where researcher found the current situation of
using email writing as well as errors of employees. Therefore, the researcher decided
to choose the study “A study on improving English email writing skills for employee in
Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd”. The study adopted purposive and quota sampling methods,
where questionnaires were used to collect data. The total number of respondents was
respondents who worked at departments which usually use English at the company.
During my research, with the help of my teacher Mrs Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, I
have got more knowledge about English writing email skill as well as how to work
with a thesis. However, because of the limited time and knowledge, the graduation
paper cannot avoid mistakes. I look forward to receiving comments and suggestions
from the lectures to make the graduation paper perfect.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a great pleasure to thank everyone who helped me to complete the
graduation paper successfully.

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2
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First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor –
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc - one of the enthusiastic lecturers for the valuable
guidance and encouragement. 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.
In addition, I am grateful to say thank you to all the teachers at English Faculty
of Thuongmai University for teaching and providing me a lot of advices, useful
information to complete this study.
Moreover, I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the employees at Tan
Hung Phat Co., Ltd who participated in this study and helped by responding the
questionnaires.
Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the
books, magazines, and other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas. I
would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family and all my dear friends who
always give me their continuous love, support and encouragement throughout my
study and this research.
Thanks for all!
Hanoi, March 25, 2020
Student
Hoang Thi Kim Dung

TABLE OF CONTENTS
...................................................................................................................viii
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

No. Name
1
Chart 3.1
2
Table 3.1
3
3

Table 3.2

Content
The percentage of working experience of staff at Tan Hung
Phat Co., Ltd
The most significant problem in English skills in the
workplace.
Illustrates the respondents’ frequency of writing email
3
3

Page
16
17
18


4
5

Chart 3.2
Table 3.3


6
7
8
9
10
11

Chart 3.3
Chart 3.4
Table 3.4
Table 3.5
Table 3.6
Chart 3.5

The number of emails written every day at workplace
Some purposes for using email writing of employees at
workplace
The habit of checking grammatical and lexical after writing
Popular grammatical problems in English email writing
Frequency of lexical problems in English email writing.
Some solutions help employees improve in email writing
Solutions of improving business English email writing.
Suggestions for effective ways to improve business English
email written

18
19
20
21

22
23
24
26

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
No
.
1
2
3

4

Abbreviations

English meaning

L2

The second language
Tan Hung Phat Company Limited
Television

Tan Hung Phat Company Co.,Ltd
TV

4
4



CHAPER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1

Rationale
In the modern society, English is considered as the global communicative
language.
This means that two people who come from different countries usually use
English as a common language to communicate. That’s why everyone needs to learn
the English language in order to get in touch on an international level.
English is used in majority of countries in the world as a second language. In
many countries, children are taught and encouraged to learn in the education field. In
Vietnam, English is adopted as the most important subject in many school. Moreover,
in the recent years, Vietnam becomes more and more attract investors from foreign
countries in the economy as well as Tourist field. Therefore, English become important
tool for business to create a good relationship with foreign partners.
Any big company will hire their professional staff after getting to know whether
the people they are hiring are good at English or not. Companies who want to function
at an international level only consider their staff well educated if they are good English
speakers, writers and readers.
Being an international company, Tan Hung Phat Company Limited require high
level of English, especially speaking and writing skills. Of the skills, many employees
consider writing the most difficult because it is not only specialized knowledge but
also professional use of grammar and lexis to write business correspondence. In Tan
Hung Phat Co., Ltd, employees at Exporting and Importing and Sale Department
usually respond email and deal with problems to foreign partner. Therefore, writing
skill play an important role. Written language requires formal, lexis correct spelling
and grammatical structures as well as organized sentences ideas. Good writing skill
allows you to communicate your message with clarity.
To negotiate and deal with foreign partners, good writing skill of business

correspondence is every significant, which contribute to the development of Tan Hung
Phat Co., Ltd. In spite of the importance, it has not really been take care of and given
priority to improve skill of writing business correspondence. Most employees have
many difficulties in writing Email because lack of knowledge about English email
writing as grammar and using word properly. This leads a problem is responding email
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to partner slowly or customers must wait a long time. This is an urgent matter that
needs to be solved to overcome difficulties as well as improve writing skill to write
business correspondence more effectively.
Therefore, I choose the topic “A study on improving English email writing
skills for employee in Tan Hung Phat Company Limited.” to research. The aim of
the paper is to focus on Writing Email and object is employee at Tan Hung Phat Co.,
Ltd (especiallyt four of Department at company such as Sale and Marketing, Logistic,
Export- Import and Accounting). I hope that through the study will be a useful
reference helping improve writing skill for not only all employees but also all students
who interested in the job related to commercial documents.
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Previous studies
To complete a good graduation paper, while making this thesis I have consulted it
and selected some good ideas from studying:
A study: “Business writing skill” (By students of Charle Sturt University, 2008)
reviews particular style and standard of some common correspondence type such as
email, report, memos, mentions requirements and skills necessary for formal
business writing. Besides, the authors also instruct the readers how to improve each of
the type and give them quick writing tips in order to create a professional document.
The study by Aliya Aimoldina, Sholpan Zharkynbekova and Damira Akynova
(Philology Department, L.N.Guimilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan),

which examines into Pragmatic Failures, is also fairly interesting to discuss here. In
this study, the trio has identified a number of reasons for pragmatic failures in
communication through “A mixture of different genres in one text with a combination
of several communicative purposes, a lack of language skill of the authors written in
English written, etc”. According to Aminoldina and his partners, being aware of
communication breakdowns are “especially crucial in communication since improper
interpretation of business messages may lead to failure of business information, waste
of financial assets, or the legal responsibility.
The identification of the most frequent failures arising during the conduction of
writing letters by business professional is extremely essential. Improvement in
business letter writing skill has become more and more urgent nowadays. In the article
“Business and Report Writing Skill”, it is asserted that “Many in the workforce today
struggle with the basics of writing including grammar, spelling and punctuation. The
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style and skills required for formal business writing are best developed by practice and
experience, but with the right tools and know- how it is not hard to improve” (Charles
Sturt University,2008)
To sum up, there are some previous studies on errors and improving of writing
business documents. All the studies show that different aspects of the problem give the
reader a more multidimensional view and to recognize the importance of improving
writing skill for us in general and for employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd in
particular. In this part of the study, some previous studies related to this study will be
reviewed to identify English wring email errors and proposed some solutions to
improve English writing skills for Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
Aim of the study
The main purpose of the study focused on two issues:
• The first one is to figure out the common errors in English Writing made by employees


3

at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
• The second is to have awareness of grammatical problems as well as using word errors
4

and give suggestion to deal with it for staff.
Research subjects
It can be easily extracted from topic that errors and solutions are primary subjects
of the study. With hope to entrance the importance of these subjects, a short term
project will carry out to seek for errors that are commonly made in writing by
employee at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd. As the main problems are found, it is vital that
next step to be taken so as to make positive changes in relation to English email
writing skills of the employee. Finally, solutions and suggestions to improve writing
skill of the employee as well as develop the appropriate methods for all employees at

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Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
Scope of the study
First, the study was conducted on 30 employees of Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
Second, a couple of weeks doing internship in Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd has given
me insight into the organization and working style of the company. It is found the
company has established relationship with various international partner. Therefore,
writing skill is especially important with employees in company in general and four of
Department staff in particular. I hope to be able to propose effective solutions of
writing email and help these employees in this department increase their work
productivity.
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Third, understanding the key role of English writing skill as well limitation of
time. This study concentrates on common errors made by employees when email
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writing and find out solutions to improve English writing skills for all employees.
Research methodology.
With the purpose of the study to help the Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd employees find
out their common errors in writing business correspondence, the causes of these errors
and to improve it through problem and errors, the methods:
Data collection instruments: the main instruments used in the study to collect
data were questionnaire, interview questions.
Questionnaire: the questionnaire is considered as common instrument to collect
data in research. It aims at finding out staff’ view of errors, their solutions to improve
in English writing email skill. The questionnaire helps us look for necessary

information and main problem relating to the research subject.
The questionnaire of the study is described as below:
• An exclusive list of questions was created on google forms and then was sent to the
employees by email to collect information about “what are the common types of errors
and solutions to improve email writing skill given by employeesb at Tan Hung Phat
Co., Ltd.
Interview: It aims at finding out problems of staffs in writing skill, their view of
errors, their difficulties in English writing email. The research closely and regularly
instructs what the members need to discuss, avoid being away from the topic, the
method eliminates unnecessary information and save time.
Procedures
Step 1: Determining and preparing the content of designing questions.
Step 2: Starting survey by asking manager of the company and employees in
Export – Import Department listed questions and determine the solutions they adopt

when using English wring email skill.
Step 3: Collecting errors and solutions from their answers and then explanation
cause and evaluation of errors.
Step 4: Giving reliable figures with charts and conclusion from the calculated
results.
1.7. Organization of the study
The graduation paper includes 4 parts as following:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study
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The introduction of the study including: rationale, aim of the study, scope of the
study, method of the study and organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature of the study
Theoretical background supplies the readers with the theoretical background
including the theory of academic writing, business correspondence, errors and
techniques.
Chapter 3: Research findings
The current situation of using business correspondence as well as the common
skill used, problems, errors and causes of these frequently – made errors of the
employee in Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd. Besides, the main part of research findings is
proposing effective solutions as well as techniques to improve the skills.
Chapter 4: Recommendation and suggestions for further studies.

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
The purpose of this chapter is to give information about overview of writing,
overview of email writing and errors in email writing, then suggest some essential
solutions to improve English email writing skill. The background knowledge will help
readers understand more errors of email writing and suggestions for leader’s company
and employees to improve it in English.

2.1 Overview of writing skill
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2.1.1 The definition of writing skill.
There are many definition of writing according to experts:
According to White (1986), writing is process of expressing the ideas,
information, knowledge or experience and understand the writing to acquire the
knowledge or some information to share and learn.
Nunan (2003) states that writing is an intellectual activity off finding the idea and
thinking about the way to express and arrange them into a statement and paragraph
that is clear to be understand by the people. It includes that the writers and demanded
to show the thoughts and organize them into a good composition. In addition, writing
presents the writer’s concept in understanding an issue which is show to the public. It
requires the integrations of idea systematically written.
Writing is considered as an active creation of text involves on the one hand
lower-order transcription skills such as handwriting, punctuation and spelling and on
the other hand, higher- order, self- regulated thinking processes such as planning,
sequencing and expressing the content (Berninger 2002). It requires the writer to
express the content of writing to be understood by the readers.
According to white and Arndt (1991) in Hammad, writing is a thinking process
which demands intellectual effort, and it involves generating idea, planning, goal
setting, monitor evaluating what is going to be written, and using language for
expressing exact meanings. It means that writing consist of some stages that should be
done by the writer in conveying the message of writing.
Based on the explanations, it can be concluded that writing is an effort to express
the writer’s thinking feeling, or ideas in written form by considering writing aspects
and writing stages to be clear understood by readers.
2.1.2 The classification of writing skill.
Robin Jeffrey (2017) stated that: “There are four main types of writing

expository, descriptive, persuasive and narrative. Each of these writing styles is used
for a specific purpose. A single text may include more than on writing style”
Expository writing is one of the most common types of writing. When an author
writes in an expository style, all they are trying to do is explain a concept, imparting
information from themselves to a wider audience. Expository writing does not include

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the author’s opinions but focuses on accepted facts about a topic, including statistics or
other evidence.
Descriptive writing is often found in fiction, through it can make an appearance
in nonfiction. When an author writes in a descriptive style, they are painting a picture
in words of a person, place or thing for their audience. The author might employ
metaphor or other literary device in order to describe the author’s impressions via their
five senses (What they hear, see, smell, state or touch). But the author cannot try to
convince the audience of anything or explain the senses. For examples of descriptive
writing are poetry, journal, diary writing, description of nature.
Persuasive writing is main style of writing you use in academic papers when the
author writes in a persuasive style, they are trying to convince the audience of a
position or belief. Persuasive writing contains the author’s opinion and biases as well
as justifications and reasons given by the author as evidence of the correctness of their
position. Example of persuasive writing is cover letter, review of items, letter of
complaint advertisement and letter of recommendation.
Narrative writing is used in almost every longer piece of writing, whether fiction
or nonfiction. When an author writes in narrative style, they are not just trying to
impact information, they are trying to construct and communicate a story, complete
with characters, conflict and settings. Example of narrative writing is oval histories,
novels, poetry, short stories.
This study researches more on persuasive writing with examples of business

correspondence- email. In the information age, email has become the dominant of
form communication. Being able to write a polished, professional email is now critical
skill both in college and the workplace. Good writing skill can give a greater sense of
professionalism. Professionalism should be reflected in form of outgoing
communication, including business cards, brochures and an email signature. Individual
who have a writing email skill, may be more likely to maintain good relationships with
their business partners and clients than those who reply solely on their own eyes.
2.1.3 Aspects of writing skill.
Writing consisted of several elements such as contents, organization, vocabulary,
language use, and the mechanics as well (Jacobs, 1981 as cited in Weigle, 2002:116).

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Each element of writing has the qualification, and it will be explained in the next
discussion.
The explanation of each element in writing is as follows:
a. Content

The meaning of content is about the material existed in the composition such as
topic, explanations, discussion, and the core of the main topic discussed. That kind of
thing should be considered well for gaining a good writing result.
b. Organization
In this case, organization of writing means that during composing the writing text
concerning the sequence of each sentence or paragraph is prominent. There should be
a good organization among them.
c. Vocabulary
Vocabulary deals with the ability in making in use the words employed in the
composition as rich as possible. The greater vocabularies used for the text, the higher
opportunities for a better result will be produced.

d. Language use
Language use is all about the construction, structure as well as the components of
the language applied in the written text such as grammar and the complexity of the
sentence.
e. Mechanic
Mechanic deals with the punctuation, spelling, capitalization as well as the type
of handwriting whether it is clear and illegible or not. It is important to arrange the
writing result. Mastering the role how to write using true mechanic will make the
sentence be readable and appropriate with meaning.
2.2. Overview of email writing.
Email is one of the dominant ways to communicate to both internal and external
organizations nowadays since its inexpensive, quick, effective and worldwide.
Nutpoung (2013), stated that email has become an important international
communication channel which lots of people use for different purposes.
2.1.1 Process and format of email writing
 Process of email writing

Pathomchchaiwat (2015) stated that emails have been common fixtures in
business for many years and also have been developed for use in organizational
communication and also referred to the idea that emails are a handy medium for

12


sending memos and notices and forwarding information received electronically to
others.
Standard and guidelines are essential for users who need to use emails regularly
to avoid misunderstanding and ineffectiveness in business email writing. The
important part regarding writing effective email is spending time on a systematic plan
of writing email. A well- organized writing process could make the best message in

emails. Gulffey & Du- Babcock (2010) explained three processes of writing in order to
write email systematically and effectively.
The first step is pre- writing; the process is to analyze, anticipate, and adapt
tasks. Pre – writing is anything you do before you write a draft of your document. It
includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, brainstorming, outlining, and
gathering information. Although pre- writing is the first activity you engage in,
generating ideas is an activity that occurs throughout the writing process. During
prewriting a writer will choose a manageable topic, identify a purpose and audience,
draft a sentence that expresses the main idea of piece, gather information about the
topic, and begin to organize the information.
The second step of the writing process involves drafting. During drafting, the
writer puts his ideas into complete thoughts, such as sentences and paragraphs. The
process of drafting a piece of writing begins with an analysis of the prewriting, the
author must use his pre-writing notes to determine a focus for the piece. This may
involve narrowing the focus of the topic and perhaps identifying a purpose for the
piece.
The last step is revising, editing, and proofread the message. Writers should
revise to improve the content, organization, and evaluation of email before sending it
to receivers. Writer edited and proofread the message so that the message is error-free.
 Format of email writing.

Gulffey & Du- Babcock (2010, p.111) suggested developing plan for wellorganized emails as follows:
Subject line: Summarize email contents
Opening: State the main idea
Body: Provide background data and explain the main idea
Closing: Request, summarize the message, or present a closing thought
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A writing plan helps organizing of email messages. When writing a subject line it

must be a concise message but meaningful. Most emails should reveal the main idea
immediately to readers. Besides, the body line must explain purpose of emails clearly.
Finally, the end of emails should include action information, a summarizing statement,
or a closing thought for readers.
2.2.2. Errors in writing an email
Santithawornying (2014) mentioned that the employees who work at a Thai
Japanese leasing company had problems with communication with Japanese staff
related to writing email. The problems with communication were the inability to write
email with correct grammar and the inability to use a variety of words without
consulting a dictionary. They also encountered problems in choosing appropriate
words in writing and using grammar in English writing.
 Grammatical errors

Grammatical errors occur when the rules of grammar are infringed (Olsson,
1972, p.7). Grammatical errors include incorrect tences, subject-verb agreement errors,
and pronoun errors. errors that occur in the process of writing including misspelling,
punctuation, and capitalization are mechanical errors (Means,2001, p.128). Both types
of error can cause negative perceptions in written business communication (Ober,
2009, p.120)
Srisitanon (2009) reported that the major problem in using English was the
inability to use correct grammar. Even though the majority of employees had
cooperated with foreigners for many years, it was hard to transmit opinions or ideas
with correct grammar.
Davis, McCormick and Hemphill (2000) found that the problems in writing skill
were grammar, sentence construction, etc. Sender should consider the English level of
the receivers to avoid errors. Grammar is an important problem because English
grammar is very different from Thai while it is easier than some other languages.
 Lexical errors

Srisitanon (2009) reported that problems in writing email were technical terms,

slang, and idiomatic expressions. In addition, it was very difficult to select appropriate
words to use for communication.
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Tanvibulya (2014) reported that the employees at Electronics Sources Co. Ltd
had many problems using sentences structure and presenting data and content. In
addition, they had problems using technical terms, choosing appropriate words and
putting words in correct order in sentences. Using vocabulary was also one of their
problems.
 Stylistic errors

Pathomchaiwat (2014) reported that Thai staff at Unicord Pubic Co., Ltd had
proficiency in writing business email. Nevertheless, they had problems in using some
appropriate sentences, which includes the use of outdated expressions and fillers, as
well as a lack of conciseness.
Sangthong (2012) studied Thai’ workers’ opinions on outdated and modern
English business e-mail writing styles in an international organization. The researcher
aimed to
study the business e-mail that are commonly used. The results showed that most
That workers know about outed and modern English business e-mail writing style.
2.2.3 Effective email writing
Hassett (2003) stated that electronic mail, or e-mail, is appropriate for short,
rapid communications. It is not effective for conveying large amounts of information
or complex information. Because e-mail is quick and easy, it is sometimes mistakenly
considered informal. Corresponding with friends, informality is acceptable, but in
other, circumstances- e-mail should be formal and professional.
There are general suggestions and considerations for professional e-mail
correspondence advised by Hassett (2003, p.9)
• A avoid informality and jargon

• Keep email messages brief and to the point
• Avoid provoking misunderstanding or anger by being too abrupt
• Organize messages and communicate clearly and concisely
• Use proper English, grammar, and spelling; proofread before sending
• Read received emails carefully before responding
Similarly, Gulffey & Du- Babcock (2010), they have suggested techniques of
writing emails effectively and properly in order to achieve business quality business
email writing such as writing concise sentences to save time for readers with
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meaningful and concrete words and avoiding using jargon or special terminology,
technical terms and out dated expression. Moreover, emails should be written directly
and efficiently and be easier to read and comprehend. Sentences should be deleted
unnecessary introductory words or long lead - in sentences, or sentences and needless
adverbs to make email sounds credible and businesslike.
2.3 Suggestions on improving English email writing skill.
2.3.1. Suggestions for leader’s company on Professional training courses at
workplace to improve lexical and stylistic errors for employees.
Burgess, Jackson, and Edwards, (2005) found that email training significantly
reduces problems. The research involved contacting all email users within the
organization in both the UK and Ireland. The research aimed to examine how email is
used in a large organization and focused on the defects associated with email. The
results showed these defects affect some groups of employees more than others. The
study also investigated the effectiveness of email training in terms of reducing the
defects with email use. The results showed that some of these defects are related and
that training can improve the ability to write emails.
2.3.1.1 . Training course about improving grammartical errors to choose proper sentences.

Pathomchaiwat (2014) studied the proficiency of Thai staff at Unicord Public

Co., Ltd. with regard to writing English business emails. The participants in the study
were 50 Thai staff of Unicord Public Co., Ltd. The results showed that most Thai staff
in the study was proficient in writing English business emails. However, some still
tend to use some inappropriate sentences in their emails. For this reason, the company
should provide a training course focusing on how to write proper sentences when
writing business emails to improve their employees’ writing skills.
Pathomchaiwat (2015), studied to explore and find the ưay to help improve the
Thai staff in the marketing department to write more effective English business emails.
The results of the study revealted that staff in this study are proficient in writing
business emails. However, there are some mistakes in using adverbs, outdated
expression, and long lead-ins in sentences. The suggestion of his study is the company
should provide training course focusing on how to write proper sentences when
writing business email.
2.3.1.2 Training course about improving stylistic errors in email writing.

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Sangthong (2012) studied Thai workers’ opinions on outdated and modern
English business e-mail writing styles in an international organization. The researcher
aimed to study the business e-mails that are commonly used. The results showed that
most Thai workers know about outdated and modern English business e-mail writing
styles. However, they still choose the outdated style instead of the modern style. For
this reason, the researcher suggested that the company should arrange an English
class focusing on improving their business e-mail writing.
2.3.2 Suggestions for employees on improving English email writing skill.
2.3.2.1 Regular writing tests and checking email writing to avoid grammartical
errors.
Siripraparat (2011) studied the use of business English emails among Thai
workers in international organizations. The researcher aimed to explore Thai

employees’ opinions on writing English business emails and to discover how to
improve the effectiveness of Thai employees’ writing of business English emails. The
results showed that the employees could not control the time that the recipients take to
read email messages, a lack of verbal cues in email can cause misunderstandings, and
Thai employees had difficulty to receive immediate feedback from recipients by email.
The findings also indicated that training on email usage can improve the effectiveness
of the employees’ English business emails. The suggestion was to revise emails before
sending them. To avoid errors of spelling and grammar, the employees can use
spelling and grammar checker programs.
2.3.2.2 Practical email writing to improve grammar and vocabulary.
Decharothanawirun (2016) studied the problems in business English writing skill
of Thai employees at the Thai Classic Charis Company and found that Thai employees
had a high level of problem in using correct grammar, using a wide range of
vocabulary and using appropriate words respectively. The employees suggested that
the ways to improve English writing skill are practice themselves and company
provided in – house training on English writing.
The study of Tanaviboonlaya (2015) showed the greatest problems of employees
in head office at Electric Source Co., Ltd are writing English skill. The high level of
problems is in using correct grammar, sentence and structure and presenting ideas and
content and presenting ideas and content. Moreover, it was difficult to choose
appropriate tone, style and format. Beside, using technical term and appropriate word
in correct order in sentences are also problem for the employee in writing. The
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employees would like to improve their effective communication in the work place,
namely by in – house training from the company and improving their writing by
practicing themselves.
Berger (1993) reported that good writers should write 12 hours a day, and then
they may be able to write this way year after year. Most people cannot write for a long

time unless there is some emergency. It is better to try writing as a simple routine in
daily life rather than be forced to write hour after hour.
Conclusion: Employee’s weak ability in using business English emails includes
– problems such as grammatical errors which affect to the quality of writing (Santos,
1998). Some employees who need to use business English email everyday still lack
knowledge and ability in writing business English emails. Working every day with
email writing, employees could face many errors which cause both internal and
external communication problems. In this study, we will focus on improving
employee’s written email at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd, as well as understanding the tools
that can help them become an effective English writing email. In next chapter, readers
will have a specific look about some problems which employees at Tan Hung Phat
Co., Ltd have difficulty in English writing email and some their opinion to improve
writing skill.

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDINGS
This chapter deals with the collected data and analyzes statistics implemented on
the responses to the survey questionnaires as well as the interview questions about
improving English email writing skills of employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
With the support of Microsoft Office Excel 2016, the data is presented in the form
of tables and charts, which will help to show the results and answer the research
questions. The findings of the research are presented as followed:
3.1 Participants of the study.
The purpose of this study was to find ways to improve English email writing
skills of employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd. The population was the employees at
THP Co., Ltd. The purposive sampling method was used to conduct the survey.
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The respondents of the study were 30 employees from four main departments:
Sales and Marketing, Logistics, Export - Import and Accounting. Employees in these

four departments use writing skills more often than others, therefore, they were chosen
as the respondents. They use English email writing to communicate with internal and
external workplaces.
3.2 Data collection instruments.
To fulfill the above aims, the study was carried out with quantitative and
quantitative methods of data collection. The instruments used in this study were: a
questionnaire, an interview. These instruments are described in detail below:
3.2.1 The survey questionnaire.
A questionnaire was used to as a research tool of this study. The questionnaire is
designed to survey ways to improve English email writing skills. The questionnaire is
contained both closed-ended questions and open-ended questions. The survey
questionnaire consists of 11 questions and divides to three parts as follows:
This first part was designed for collecting general information of employees.
Question in part 2 aim at finding out the reality of the employee’ email writing at
workplace such as the common errors in English email writing which the employees
often have difficult. Part 3 mainly seeks for the solutions and suggestions that the
employee need to improve email writing skills.
3.2.2. The interview.
The second data gathering instrument which was employed in this study was
interview. In the interview, the researcher asked one manager and two long- term staff
to evaluate their email writing skills. Through interviewer is to obtain information
about difficulties they encountered when email writing, ways that they applied and
their suggestions on improving email writing skills for employees at Tan Hung Phat
Co., Ltd. All of them agreed to help the researcher comfortably.
3.3 Data analysis
This section aims to present the statistical results and the data analyses in order to
answer the research questions addressed in the present study respectively. Firstly, the
result of employees at company are presented and analyzed quantitatively. The second
section provide the results and analyzed of email writing errors encountered by the
subjects. The third section deals with how to improve email writing for employees.

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 Results from the survey questionnaire

3.3.1 General background information of the respondents.
The results in this part explain general information of respondents including
work experience, frequency of writing English, the number of emails written each day
and type of English email writing of employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd. Frequency
and percentage were used to analyze the results. The results are shown below:
Work experience

The chart 3.1 states the percentage of working experience of staff at Tan Hung
Phat Co., Ltd. There are 50% of staff who have been working in THP Co., Ltd for 1-2
years and only 5% of staff working for more than 10 years. The others have been
working here for more than 3-5 years and 6-10 years. From this result, the chart proves
that there are many errors in email writing because lack of experiences in English
email writing skill.
Problems in English skills usage in the workplace.
Which English skill is the most serious
problem for you in your workplace?

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Reading

5


16,7%

Writing

17

56,6%

Speaking

6

20%

Listening

2

6,7%

Total

30

100%

Table 3.1: The most significant problem in English skills in the workplace.
As can be seen Table 3.1.the most significant problem in English skills in the
workplace of respondents was English writing skill, representing 56,6% of the total. A
total of 20% of the respondents had problems in English speaking skill; 16,7 % of the

respondents had problems in 6.7 % had problems in English listening skill at work.
Actually, the result is not surprising because writing skill is the most difficult skill for
everyone.
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Frequency of writing English email
How often do you write
English email?

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Everyday

14

46,7%

2-3 days a week

7

23,3%

Once a week

5


16,7%

More than a week without
email
Total

4

13,3%

30

100%

Table 3.2 illustrates the respondents’ frequency of writing email
Table 3.3.3 illustrates the respondents’ frequency of writing email. The result
showed that 46.7 % of the respondents had the frequency of writing email every day.
This was followed by 23.3% of respondents writing email 2-3 days a week .16.7 % of
the respondents write email one a week and the rest at 13.3 % write email more than a
week without email. Thereby, it can be affirmed that English writing skills played an
extremely important role for the employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
The number of emails written each day

Chart 3.2. illustrates the number of emails written each day by the respondents.
15 % of respondents write email less than 1 email per day, followed by 10% of
respondents write emails 11-15 email per day. 33.5% of respondents write 6-10 email
per day and only 6.7% of the respondents write email of 6-10 emails per day.
Purposes for using email writing of employees
Reasons for using emails of the employees
Asking for inquiries / giving information/ negotiating prices with

suppliers, shipping, forwarders etc.
Replying to enquires and requesting information from customers,
suppliers, shipping, forwarders, etc.
Selling new products / packages/ promotion
Reply complaint letter about products or services
Sending reports/ memos/ documents, providing project updates and
coordinating activities.
Receiving instruction / assigning tasks
Sharing or providing new information/ activities.
21

Frequency
18
18
6
9
11
6
16


Dealing with organization such as managers, colleagues, subordinates

17

Table 3.3: Some purposes for using email writing of employees at workplace
Table 3.3 illustrates the respondents email writing in each type respondents write
enquiry email to ask for inquiries / giving information/ negotiating prices with
suppliers, shipping, forwarders and reply to enquires and requesting information from
customers, suppliers, shipping, forwarders by 18 respondents. A total of 17

respondents used it for dealing with organization such as managers, colleagues,
subordinates while 16 respondents used email writing for sharing or providing new
information / activities. Other respondents write emails for replying complaint letter
about products or service, sending reports/ memos/ documents and receiving
instruction/ assigning tasks.
In short, most respondents work every day with email writing at workplace with
different purposes. Therefore, email writing plays an important role in activities at the
company to keep relationship with customers as well as partners. The results showed
that the employees are still lack of experience and spent less time to practice email
writing frequently. So, worker could face many difficulties in English email writing
3.3.2 Some problems in email writing of employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
The second part reveals the problems of business English email writing of Tan
Hung Phat employees in the company. This part was divided into 2 main topics of
problems, which are grammatical structure problems and word choice and vocabulary
problems.
Check grammatical & lexical errors after writing

Almost all employees were aware of the important of grammar and lexical in
email writing. However, when the employees were asked the frequency of checking
grammar and vocabulary after writing, the result was different. The majority of
employees sometimes checked grammar and vocabulary after finishing writing. The
recorded figure for the answer “Usually” was 20%, while the answer “Rarely”
accounted for 12,5%. Only 5% employees said that they always check after writing.
The number of employees who answered “Never” was the lowest, accounted for 2,5%.
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Grammatical structure problems.
The above table shows that the popular grammatical errors made by the
employees are using incorrect grammar in email writing, arranging words incorrect the

grammatically, and cannot write varieties of sentence structure. In which the subject –
verb agreement errors were made by 33% employees and the preposition errors were
made by 30% employees. And The lowest mean scores occurred with two statements
regarding grammatical structure problems. The respondents were by 15% with the
statement: “I cannot use correct tenses in business English email”. And “I cannot use
appropriate punctuation in business English email” is 6% by employees.
According to the results shown above, the highest level of problem was using
correct grammar in business English email. The result of the study related to the
findings of Tanaviboonlaya (2015). She reported that the employees had difficulty in
using correct grammar. Moreover, the study of Decharotchanawirun (2016) also
mentioned that Thai employees had a high level of problem in using correct grammar.
When were school, they were learned about grammar. But nowadays, with heavy
workload, they spent less time learning it. Therefore, it can be seen that employees
need some solutions as soon as possible to solve the errors to avoid it when writing.
Besides, ones of the most typical reasons caused errors is lexical. These statistics
are shown in the following table.
Word choice and vocabulary problems
Types of errors

The percentage of error
makers

I cannot use appropriate greeting and complimentary close
words in English email writing.
20%
I cannot write difficult or unusual words without dictionary
in English email writing.
47%
I cannot use a wide range of educational vocabulary in
English email writing.

30%
I cannot avoid using jargon and unfamiliar words and phrases
in English email writing.
26%
I cannot use proper formal and informal words in English
email writing.
36%
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Table 3.4. Frequency of lexical problems in English email writing.
As shown in Table 3.3.7, the respondents agreed with two statements as the
highest mean scores of word choice and vocabulary errors: “I cannot write difficult or
unusual words without dictionary in English email writing” (47%) and “I cannot use a
wide range of educational vocabulary in business English email” (36%).
The respondents felt neutral in the lowest mean scores with the statement. “I
cannot use appropriate greeting and complimentary close words in business English
email” (20%).
According to the results shown above, the highest level of problem found that the
Tan Hung Phat employees had was with difficult or unusual words without a
dictionary in business English email writing. The results of the study related to the
study of Hinkel (2004) which found that the limitation on vocabulary in second
language writers was usually the great problem in producing writing.
In short, employees may encounter lots of problems when they write an email.
Therefore, it is necessary to find out possible solutions to help employees overcome
these problems.
3.3.3 Some solutions and suggestions on English email writing skills for
employees at Tan Hung Phat Co., Ltd.
The third part investigated the employees’ needs for improving business English
email writing and suggestions for effective ways to improve business English email

writing of employees. Most solutions are given by researcher and employees chosen
appropriately ways for themselves. Besides, the open-ended question asked “Have you
improved your email writing skills lately? If yes, what solutions have you used? And
“Do you have any suggestions to improve English writing skill for Tan Hung Phat Co.,
Ltd employees. The employee’ suggestions are summarized into some points as
follows.
The ways employees used to improve email writing skills at workplace.
The solutions employees used in email writing.
Read carefully and revise emails before sending them.
Use spelling and grammar checker programs to avoid grammatical
errors.
Underline interesting and special structure and take note if necessary.
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Percentage
s (%)
67.5%
53%
27.5%


Read more and find examples of email from websites or on newspaper.

40%

Table 3.5. Some solutions help employees improve in email writing
In the survey questionnaire, the author has included a few feasible solutions for
employees, and the table above is 30 employee’s answer.
The result showed that 67.5% employees stated they read carefully and revise
emails before sending them. In fact, this step is one of the most important parts when

email writing. This is a good way to determine email which can be made by
grammatical and vocabulary errors and also help them have a good look in eye’s
partners as well as customers. Another great way to check emails before sending them
is use spelling and grammar checker programs to avoid grammatical errors, and 53%
also agreed this solution. The recorded figure for the answer “read more and find
examples of email from websites or on newspaper. Meanwhile, 27.5% thought that
they should underline interesting and special structure and take note if necessary. In
short, the employees will become a good writer if they use some ways in email writing
process as well as improve email writing skills. However, some above solutions are
necessary but not enough, they employees should take part in training course which
the company provide to improve email writing skills, specially, every employee should
practice email writing every day themselves.
Description
The company to provide in house English writing training to
improve my English writing.
Attending English training course in language institutions.
Using English writing regularly in the company to improve my
writing skill.
Spending time on learning and practicing the use of English by
myself such as watching movies and reading English news online

The percentage of
employee’s
opinion.(%)
32.5%
27%
85%
60%

Table 3.6. Solutions of improving business English email writing.

As shown in Table 3.3.8, the respondents show a great solution with two
statements regarding needs of improving business English email writing. The highest
mean score occurred with statement “Using English writing regularly in the company
25