CANTHO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu FIELD OF STUDY: ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY Supervisor: TRAN QUOC HUNG Researcher: VO KIM THOA Code: 7032557 B.A in ELS Course: 2003 - 2007 June 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I pay tribute to Mr Tran Quoc Hung, English Department, Cantho University, who was willing to help me and give me a lot of useful advice in order for me to finish my thesis successfully Moreover, special thanks are due to Mrs Ho Phuong Thuy and Mr Dao Phong Lam, who gave me encouragement and helpful suggestions I would like to express my profound thanks to Mrs Nguyen Phuong Thuy, the chief of Training Office, Internal Civil Department, who enthusiastically helped me contact civil servants in Cantho In addition, I would like to send my special thanks to all civil servants in Cantho, who took part in my study Finally, I wish to thank the authors of the books and documents from which I get lots of valuable ideas and information to contribute to the Trung success tâm Học ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu of myliệu thesis ABSTRACT English proficiency of civil servants is considered one of the most indispensable international competitivenesses not only in Vietnam but also in many countries all over the world Thus, my study contributes to making a survey on the accurate levels of civil servants’ English proficiency in Cantho and problems related to their English use at work I used the questionnaires and interviews for over 200 civil servants and some administrative managers in Cantho to get information about their using English in the workplace All civil servants were subdivided into small categories according to gender, fields of work and ages in order for readers to see the main differences of civil servants’ English proficiency Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH liệu họcmajorities tập vàofnghiên cứu The results of myCần studyThơ@Tài showed that although civil servants were required to have national English level B, they had no opportunities to use English and they were not confident in communicating with other people in English Moreover, many civil servants did not meet the English skills requirements of their workplace, so they were dissatisfied with their English competence In reality, civil servants not use English effectively at work From the results of this study, I initiate a project called “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” to help civil servants recognize the important roles of English and enhance their English skills TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Chapter I: INTRODUCTION .1 Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter III: METHODOLOGY Participants .8 Instruments Procedure Chapter IV: RESULTS 11 Chapter V: DISCUSSION 23 Chapter VI: LIMITATIONS, RECCOMMENDATIONS RESEARCH 31 Trung tâm Học liệuAND ĐHFURTHER Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Limitations 31 Recommendations 31 Further research 35 Chapter VII: CONCLUSION 36 APPENDICES 37 REFERENCES 39 Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The important role of English proficiency of officers, especially of civil servants, in the workplace is undeniable when Vietnam becomes an official member of World Trade Organization English proficiency will be one of major factors to determine the success of officers in their work Thus, I conduct this thesis to examine the realities of using English of civil servants in Cantho and give some suggestions to enhance the English proficiency of these officers The results of this thesis will help us have a general evaluation about the English use of civil servants at their work and aid the government to have a suitable and effective strategy to make civil servants’ English competence more progressive Many surveys and studies related to English proficiency were undertaken all over Trung tâmSome Họccountries liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài học tập nghiên cứu the world in Southeast Asia such asliệu Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand were also concerned much about their citizens’ English proficiency They considered English competence of citizens as the competitive factors to attract foreign investments to their countries However, English proficiency of Vietnamese learners has not been received great care of the government No official studies or surveys related to English competence have been carried out all over the countries Basing on the observation and interviews with civil servants, I recognize their problems in using English in the workplace Thus, I decided on conducting the research In the scope of my study, I examined generally the real English use of a particular sample- civil servant in a specific region- Cantho City In order for readers to understand the context, all sufficient background information and proper previous work related to my thesis are summarized concisely in the literature review By using reliable Page Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS instruments, I carried out the study and asked civil servants for their contemporary levels of English, their chances to use English in the workplace, their satisfaction at English competence and many related information All methods and results of this research were presented clearly in the methodology and discussion sections With the cooperation of civil servants in Cantho City, the study was undertaken successfully The results of this study reflect effectively the realities of civil servants’ using English at their work From the results, I gave my specific project to help the civil servants improve their English competence Moreover, I also suggest some opinions and ideas for the readers who are interested in the related topics to further research Generally, this paper will provide you with significant information about many problems of civil servants related to their using English in the workplace and some feasible suggestions to solve these problems Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Page Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW Nowadays, English has become the global language since it is widely used in a variety of fields in life such as trade, science, etc On the threshold of being a new member of World Trade Organization, Vietnam welcomes a large number of overseas companies which want to find potential investing opportunities Hence, English proficiency plays a vital role in cultural exchanges and economic co-operations between Vietnam and other countries This role is more indispensable in administrative work of civil servants It is obvious that the demand of civil servants’ English proficiency is gradually increasing They will have more opportunities to use English Moreover, civil servants will encounter more challenges in their work related to the shortage of English proficiency I wonder at which level civil servants’ English proficiency in Vietnam is at Trung Học liệu Cần Thơ@Tài học tập vàcivil nghiên cứu presenttâm and whether the ĐH requirements of English liệu proficiency which servants are required to have are suitable or not These wonderings shed a light for me to this research I want to find out the realities of using English of civil servants in Cantho city I am also eager to bring forward some suggestions to enhance their English proficiency in order for civil servants to meet the new requirements and to work effectively First of all, it is necessary to clarify the term “civil servants” Civil servants are those who work in the governmental departments or provincial departments in a country In Vietnam, the recruitment of civil servants is through election (in case of the Heads of Agencies: University Rector, Hospital Director) and appointment Examination is compulsory for official recruitment and for promotion, for transferring to other categories Especially, most of civil servants are required to participate in English Proficiency Test included in Recruiting Examination Moreover, in Vietnam civil Page Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS servants are considered representatives of the Government to interact or to contact foreigners coming to Vietnam to seek for investing opportunities Thus, they need to enhance or to improve the professional skills as well as English competency at work Moreover, no one can deny the vital role of English proficiency of employees in the workplaces However, what is English proficiency? According to the definition of NAFTA, “English proficiency refers to the ability to read, speak, write and understand English by individuals who not speak English as their native language” Collectively, English proficiency addresses the necessity to understand or respond effectively to the cultural and linguistic needs among people of different nationalities, ethnicities and cultures In Vietnam, civil servants mainly use English to research English documents, to access new information, to ensure deadlines are met and procedures are followed, etc English proficiency will make their work more effectively and smoothly Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu The realities of using English of employees in the workplace are received a great care of many countries all over the world Many studies and surveys are carried out in different countries to examine the real English level of their citizens For example, a ground-breaking survey conducted by Wall Street Institute (WSI), the largest international specialist English language education organization in the world, showed that Hong Kong’s confidence and proficiency in using English has deteriorated so badly that it ranks equal or worse than mainland China and Thailand on a number of indicators and lags way behind key regional competitor Singapore More than 16,000 people responded to the survey conducted via the Internet in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand The results of the survey- the first to compare usage of the language across Asia- suggest Hong Kong’s international competitiveness as a key finance, trading and tourism centre relying on English as the Page Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS international language of business is at risk Especially, in this survey, two countries Singapore and Thailand in the Southeast Asia have high scores in their citizens’ English proficiency Singapore is far ahead of the other Asian economies surveyed including Hong Kong Half of the Singaporeans surveyed believe that they have no problems communicating in most situations with English and make occasional errors (scoring out of overall), while half of Hong Kong people surveyed consider that they have no major problems communicating with English but make considerable errors (scoring out of 5) Thailand scored a 3, the same level of Hong Kong Moreover, this survey shows that opportunities for citizens surveyed to use English in their life and their work influenced considerably their English proficiency While Singaporeans use English most with friends and colleagues (31% uses it all the time and 36% uses it very often), Hong Kong people speak with friends in English just often as mainland Chinese (6% uses it Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu very often and about 30% sometimes) Generally, all the countries surveyed assume that English proficiency is the vital international competitiveness Besides Hong Kong, The Philippines, another country in the Southeast Asia makes an announcement about the decline in the average Filipinos’ proficiency in the English language Mr Brian Lane, the vice-president for Sales and Marketing of Lane Archive and Technologies in a pre-event press conference for the Foreign Chambers’ Trade Fair, quotes: “English is the world’s business language The drop in English proficiency threatens the Filipinos’ key competitive edge attracting investments in services and other sectors that rely heavily on English language” Therefore, manpower has always been considered as the Philippines’ competitive advantage The Filipino worker is considered an asset in organizations worldwide because of his/ her creativity, diligence, adaptability, and ability to communicate in English The global consultancy Page Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS firm Frost and Sullivan observes, “The Philippines is set to be among the largest markets for contact centers in Asia Pacific in the next five to seven years… due to high English literacy rate and low labor costs.” However, the numbers tell a very different story The Department of Education found only 6.59% of graduating High School students to have master of English Statistics from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines determine that less than 5% of applicants is hired because of inadequate English skills Through these numbers, it is likely that the decrease in the Filipinos’ English proficiency is one of the main reasons for its loss of attracting investments to overseas postings Another survey related to English proficiency of public servants in the workplace also was carried out in Canada The purpose of this survey is to determine the extent to which Canada’s two official languages (English and French) are used as languages of work Nevertheless, the survey conducted by The Antima Group provides public servants Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu with opportunities to express opinions on this subject and to share with federal colleagues practical solutions adapted to work in environment The survey also shows that the lack of English proficiency causes the public servants to have many difficulties using work tools and internal services in English The indispensable role of English proficiency is asserted again in this survey How are the realities of using English in Vietnam? The fact that limited English proficiency of Vietnamese learners at different levels is alerted in many newspapers or forums national-wide This reality makes the labor force in Vietnam less competitive than other countries in the Southeast Asia like the Philippines or Singapore In addition, it causes both the government and employees to be too worried and disappointed A small survey carried out in Ho Chi Minh City highlighted the realities of using English of Vietnamese learners “Ho Chi Minh city is considered to be a place where the movement Page RESEARCHER QUESTIONNAIRES EXPERIENCED EXPERTS Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH CầnQUESTIONNAIRES Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Civil servants in BT District Civil servants in O Mon District RESEARCHER Civil servants in NK District METHODOLOGY GENDER MALE FEMALE Before 1960 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu YEAR OF BIRTH 1961-1970 1971-1980 After 1980 Socio-science PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Culture-information-art Economic-technology Other fields GENDER MALE FEMALE Before 1960 YEAR OF BIRTH 1961-1970 1971-1980 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu After 1980 Socio-science PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Culture-information-art Economic-technology Other fields RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS l Having English level B 52.08% male and 39.08% female Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu l Having years studied English for over RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS l Not meeting the requirements of proficiency at liệu work TrungEnglish tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài học tập nghiên cứu l Using English “sometimes” or almost not using English in workplace (70% male and female) RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS l Not be satisfied with English proficiency (39.58% male and 38.78% female) Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu l Having difficulties in listening and speaking skills (41.67% male – speaking 43.88% female – listening) RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS l Having not participated in any English Trungcourses tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu l No periodical English tests in workplace LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS LIMITATIONS: v A lack of informative documents Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu v A lack of some research experience v Time constraint Ø LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Ø RECOMMENDATIONS: title:ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu TrungProject tâm Học liệu “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” Objectives Target sample Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Responsibilities Activities v v v v English for the leaders Getting closer to English Contests Steps to success “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” l English for the readers: – A workshop on “The Indispensable Role Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu of English Proficiency of Civil Servants” – A short-term training course for the leaders (listening and speaking skills, English for official work) “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” l Getting closer to English Involving staffs in improving English proficiency in workplace Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu – A sample of activities for each office l English club l English camping l Decoration night l English forum l A forum for beauty – “Steps to Achieve English Proficiency in the Workplace” l Contests – “Speaking contests”, “Beauty contest”, “Contest of Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu official work”, “Game shows” – A competition of civil servants in all offices l Steps to success – A training course (strategies and practice opportunities) USING ENGLISH OF CIVIL SERVANTS IN CANTHO: REALITIES AND SUGGESTIONS Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Researcher: Supervisor: VO KIM THOA TRAN QUOC HUNG 7032557 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu [...]... (25.3%) or English is difficult to study (55.5%) This reality actually warns the ineffective ways of teaching and learning English in Vietnam The information above leads me to think about the realities of English learners in Cantho, especially civil servants I want to do a research on the realities of using English of civil servants in Cantho Their contemporary levels and opportunities to use English in the... successfully In addition, due to time constraint, I could not interview some administrators for advice or useful opinions about the English proficiency of civil servants in Cantho 2 RECOMMENDATIONS: The results of this study raise many problems in realities of using English of civil servants in Cantho, which was presented in the discussion section In order to solve these problems, we have to take the main reasons... 27.59 TABLE 3: Figures showing the different percentage of using English of civil servants grouped according to year of birth in Cantho Page 22 Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION The results of this study support the original statement: a majority of civil servants recruited in the state-owned offices in Cantho have English level B because most of them have studied English over 7 years However,... in English (above level C) According to the figures in Table 2, most of civil servants in all fields surveyed have studied English for over 7 years The percent of officers learning English over 7 years in socio-science fields is the highest one (85.1%) As seen from the Table 2, most of offices in Cantho require their civil servants have at least level B of English It is likely that civil servants in. .. Compared with civil servants in other groups, people in socioscience field took English training courses more regularly On the contrary, officers belonging to “other fields” group have tendency to participate in English courses least About 30% civil servants said that they did not intend to take part in any English courses The distinction of English capabilities of civil servants in Cantho was also... said that they were afraid of listening skill However, officers over 46 years old regarded listening and writing as the most problematic skills In short, this study contributed to finding out many interesting and useful results It makes us understand more clearly about the realities of using English of civil servants in Cantho They were also not confident in communicating English because they have too... Figures showing the different percentage of using English of civil servants grouped according to fields of work in Cantho Page 18 Vo Kim Thoa - B.A in ELS Besides two groups above, civil servants are also classified into 4 small categories according to the year of birth: before 1960, 1961-1970, 1971-1980, after 1980 Likewise, participants in this group replied the same questionnaires about a lot of information... classify my sample The second section of this instrument included nine questions about civil servants English competence The questions asked participants about their English levels, opportunities to use English in the workplace, their satisfaction as well as difficulties in using English and other opinions about the realities of English use in state-owned offices in Cantho I used closed format for my... companies and offices do not pay much attention to checking their personnel’s English proficiency No periodical English tests were carried out The result of this study illustrates clearly the realities of civil servants English proficiency in Cantho English capabilities of officers in Cantho are also compared carefully among the subdivided groups Firstly, many sharp differences in English competence of male... listening to English in communication In Cantho, many offices and departments hardly paid attention to checking their personnel’s English proficiency They all recognized the important roles of English when requiring their employees have high English proficiency Nevertheless, no periodical tests were organized to evaluate accurately English competence of civil servants How can they know the realities of English