A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES OF AND HOW TO ENHANCE COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF STAFF AT THE CONSULTATIVE INSTITUTE FOR SOCIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AND MOUNTAINOUS AREAS (CISDOMA)

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH FACULTY
---————–---

GRADUATION PAPER
A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES OF AND HOW TO
ENHANCE COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF STAFF AT
THE CONSULTATIVE INSTITUTE FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AND
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS (CISDOMA)

Supervisor:Luong Thi Minh Phuong, M.A.Student: Pham Thuy
DungClass:K51N4Student code:14D170218

Hanoi - 2019


ABSTRACT
We have come to the age of globalization. People communicate with each other
worldwide, companies in different places do business with each other, and NonGovernmental Organizations overcome physical borders to collaborate. In order to
make this communication process smoother and less complex, many people try to
speak in a mutual language, and that language is English.
Verbal and nonverbal communications have become more and more important for
the above reasons. Unfortunately, even the ones who need to acquire high level of
communication skills do not necessarily own that capability. Staff at the
Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous
Areas (CISDOMA) are one example. The majority of them have good
communication skills but some do not. This is a disadvantage of the institute. They
have to work with foreign sponsors and partners all the time and the staff at this
place should enhance their language ability.
Therefore, this research paper will study further on factors that affect the
communication skills of staff at CISDOMA and how to enhance those skills for

them.

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis cannot be finished without the support, guidance, and recommendation
from many others. For that reason, I would like to pay my utmost gratitude to the
following people.
First of all, I would like to express my great appreciation to my supervisor, Ms.
Luong Thi Minh Phuong, M.A. Ms. Luong gave me a lot of precious fundamental
pieces of advice that closely relating to the process of conducting this research and
writing this research paper. Without Ms. Luong, this thesis would not exist from the
very beginning.
Second of all, I would like pay gratefulness to the Consultative Institute of SocioEconomic Development for Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) for the
wonderful opportunity of being their Program Intern. I have learnt valuable lessons,
technical knowledge, and working skills at this place.
Third of all, I am indebted to the English Faculty of Thuongmai University for this
rare opportunity of writing this research paper.
Last but not least, I would like to wish my supervisor as well as all teachers at
Thuongmai University great health, great happiness, and great career prosperity.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................v

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS........................................................................vi
1. CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY..................................................1
1.1. Rationale............................................................................................................1
1.2. Previous studies.................................................................................................3
1.3. Aims of the study...............................................................................................5
1.4. Research questions............................................................................................5
1.5. Research subjects..............................................................................................6
1.6. Scope of the study..............................................................................................6
1.7. Research methodology......................................................................................6
1.8. Organization of the study.................................................................................6
2. CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND...........................................8
2.1. Overview of verbal communication skills.......................................................8
2.1.1. Definitions of verbal communication skills...................................................8
2.1.2. Characteristics of verbal communication skills............................................9
2.1.3. Types of verbal communication skills..........................................................11
2.2. The importance of verbal communication skills...........................................13
2.3. Potential problems in acquiring verbal communication skills.....................15
3. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.......................17
3.1. Procedure for conducting questionnaires and interviews............................17
3.1.1. Procedure for conducting questionnaires...................................................17
3.1.2. Procedure for conducting interviews...........................................................17
3.2. Data analysis....................................................................................................18
3.2.1. Years of learning English of staff at CISDOMA.........................................18
3.2.2. Level of English proficiency of staff at CISDOMA....................................19
3.2.3. Emotions of the staff at CISDOMA when they use English verbal
communication.......................................................................................................20
iii


3.2.4. The frequency of using verbal communication in English of staff at

CISODMA..............................................................................................................21
3.2.5. The attitude of staff at CISDOMA toward verbal communication in
English ................................................................................................................... 22
3.2.6. Influential factors relating verbal communication skills in English of staff
at CISDOMA..........................................................................................................23
3.2.7. Difficulties of staff at CISDOMA when they use verbal communication in
English ................................................................................................................... 24
3.2.8. Motivation

of

staff

at

CISDOMA to

enhance

English

verbal

communication skills..............................................................................................25
3.3. Findings and discussion..................................................................................25
3.3.1. Findings.......................................................................................................25
3.3.2. Discussion....................................................................................................29
4. CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................32
4.1. Train staff to acquire good verbal communication skills in English...........32
4.1.1. Hire international and/or local trainers to provide trainings on verbal

communication skills in English............................................................................32
4.1.2. Obtain materials relating to verbal communication skills in English........33
4.1.3. Encourage staff to practice verbal communication skills in English.........33
4.2. Organize periodic sessions for staff to practice verbal communication skills
in English................................................................................................................ 34
4.3. Limitation of the study...................................................................................35
4.4. Suggestion for further study...........................................................................35
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................36
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES

iv


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6

Abbreviations
%
&
AOP
BftW
CECP

CISDOMA

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

FAO
HRM
iNGO
NGO
NLP
No.
NPO
OALD
ODF
USAID

English meaning
Percent
And
Action on Poverty
Bread for the World
Communication Enhances Community Participation

The Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic
Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Human Resource Management
international Non-Governmental Organization
Non-Governmental Organization
Neuro Linguistic Programming
Number
Non-Profit Organization
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
Organizational Development Facilitator
United States Agency for International Development

v


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Tables and charts
Chart 3.2.1. Years of learning English of staff at CISDOMA

Table 3.2.2. Level of English proficiency and listening skills
Chart 3.2.3. Emotions of the staff when they communicate in English
Chart 3.2.4. The frequency of using English verbal communication of
staff at CISDOMA
Table 3.2.5. The attitude of staff at CISDOMA toward English verbal
communication in their professional and private life
Chart 3.2.6. Influential factors relating to verbal communication
skills of staff at CISODMA
Chart 3.2.7. Staff’s problems with using verbal communication in
English
Chart 3.2.8. Motivation of staff a CISDOMA to enhance English
verbal communication skills

vi

Page
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25


1. CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
The ability to excel in English communication skills is one of the most crucial and
inevitable requirements in many job markets. This is the same in Vietnam. Since

1986, Vietnam started the Doi Moi Policy, also known as ‘Renovation’, and opened
its doors to the outside world. Many English-speaking businessmen and NonGovernment Organization workers from Europe to America came to Vietnam to
invest, do business and social work. This created a completely new change and
direction in the job market. Vietnamese people were more and more motivated to
study English and get a better job in a foreign company. Soon after that, the
importance of English was recognized by the government. English became a
compulsory subject in the curriculum.
Tens of years later, employers from both profit and non-profit sectors expect job
candidates and potential staff to have thorough technical knowledge, necessary
transferable skills, and good English communication capability. They want to
employ workers who can communicate with foreign sponsors, investors, and
counterparts. Unfortunately, the true ability of job candidates many times does not
live up to the expectation. Even though many Vietnamese job seekers spend years of
studying English, they still struggle with English communication. Learning English in
primary, secondary and high schools is primarily about grammar and vocabulary with
an infrequent opportunity of practicing conversational skills. Consequently, many
English learners although achieve quite high score results, they do not have the
sufficient capability to communicate in English well in the real world.
In recent years, many people choose to work in the Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) environment as this environment allows people who work in
this specific sector to have an exceptional chance to obtain and acquire numerous
up-to-date information, knowledge, methodology, and ways of working approach.
Local NGOs learn these things mainly from international NGOs (iNGOs) and/or
follow the requests from their project donors. Certain phrases such as ‘cost norms’,

1


‘code of conduct’, ‘sets of tool’, and ‘proposals’ are also technical terms that local
NGOs learn and apply from iNGOs.

This nonprofit sector requires its staff to have a good command of English,
especially English communication. They have to obtain, process, and interchange a
large amount of information, ideas, forms, documents and other crucial materials
both in English and in Vietnamese almost every day. Communication skills,
particularly verbal communication skills, become the utmost vital and essential
skills because of this reason.
Even though working in a NGO requires the staff to have good English
communication skills, many staff at the Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic
Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) do not possess such
ability. CISDOMA gets funds and sponsorships from many different sources and
organizations, such as USAID (United States Agency for International
Development), AOP (Action on Poverty), and BftW (Bread for the World). While
many staff at this institute speak English fluently and writing emails with foreign
counterparts in English without much of a problem, others still struggle with both
verbal and non-verbal English communication. These people need help when they
have to communicate with foreign sponsors, partners, and trainers. Some
understand when the other talks in English but they do not know how to give their
response, some others cannot even afford that English communication level.
Being aware of this reality, the author of this thesis hopes that she could study
further on factors that affect the communication skills of staff at CISDOMA to help
work progress of each department runs more smoothly, to avoid any potential
miscommunication when CISDOMA collaborates with other iNGOs, and to help
CISDOMA follows project sponsors’ requirements more precisely and accurately.
Because of the above-mentioned reasons, I would like to suggest “A Study on
Difficulties of and How to Enhance Communication Skills of Staff at the
Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous
Areas (CISDOMA)” as my research topic. This thesis will mainly focus on verbal
communication skills.

2

1.2. Previous studies
Because of the necessity and importance of communication skills, many scholars
have done researches, written books and journal articles about this topic. Thanks to
this, readers may have a better and more thorough understanding of communication
skills, both verbal and nonverbal, and grasp potential solutions with high feasibility
to enhance their communication skills. Following are some of them.
Recognizing the vital role of communication in social development work, two
scholars conducted a study on this subject. Mumtaz Ali (Asia Europe Institute,
University of Malaya) and Maya Khemlani David (Faculty of Languages and
Linguistics, University of Malaya) worked together and published a study called:
“Communication Enhances Community Participation (CECP): A Testimony of a
NGO in Malaysia” in 2013. The study stressed the importance of ‘good governance
and effective communication within the NGOs’. Those are the core factors that
must be achieved in order to make sure community development projects run
smoothly and successfully. The study helps readers learn more about the special
communication and relation between NGOs staff and community, especially
community members. People may also understand more about community
participation and NGO staff’s level of communication adaptation. This specific
study may be even extra valuable to the non-profit sector staff as they may widen
their knowledge of new communication methods to reach their projects’ target
subjects.
Another study called: “Values and the Communication of Change: The Value Filters
of the NLP Communication Model Applied to Aetas in Loob Bunga Zambales” was
published in 2011. This study, however, analyzes communication in a completely
different angle. Joana Eunice V. Parungao (University of the Philippines, Diliman,
Philippines) sees communication for its values. She digs deeper to find ‘the
formation of the mind’s internal representation.’ She thinks messages we send to
each other, attitude we have toward each other, actions we take toward the

surrounding are all affected by our subconscious mind. Therefore, in order to create
effective communication strategies that promote positive social changes, scholars,
3


policy makers, and social workers must consider ‘filters’ or the subconscious minds
as they determine behavior and ways of thinking.
Eileen Scholes, has a new viewpoint on communication within an organization. The
editor

of

‘Gower

Handbook

of

Internal

Communication’ sees

internal

communication as one of a kind key to open the box of management discipline. The
book helps managers fully comprehend theoretical and technical aspects of internal
communication and enlarge their management skills and perspectives. Good
internal communication strategies may increase employees’ innovation, flexibility,
and motivation. This may also develop corporation’s brand and sustain it for a much
longer time. Eileen Scholes and her team also introduce over 45 communication

special techniques, present and analyze 16 practical and realistic case studies.
Readers may learn new ways of communication with different levels from basic,
intermediate to advance.
Another research that has a fascinating view on communication is called: “The
Global Village: Online Cross-Cultural Communication and HRM”. The research
was conducted by a group of four scholars: Yuka Fujimoto, Nasya Bahfen, Jan
Fermelis, and Charmine E.J. Härtel. They studied communication not within an
organization but rather online communication via the internet. The study describes
the close relation between online communication and cultural diversity. Readers
may be amazed to find the paradoxical effects of online communication have on the
cultural diversity. First, technological progress causes cultural homogeneity.
Advances in technology may bring the world closer together but also reduces the
beauty of cultural diversity. People become more and more alike, follow trends
together, and lose their unique features. Second, technological progress also
reinforces cultural fault-lines. A fault-line refers to a hypothetical dividing line that
identifies subgroups within a workforce based on similarities in one or more
attributes (Lau and Murnighan, 1998). Internet websites may look the same in their
design but contain cultural specific contents with different languages.
Mohammed Al-Hadhrami and Ismail Hussein Amzat conducted a research called:
“Improving the Standard of English Language and Communication amongst SQU
4


Students in Oman: Challenges and Suggestions.” This research provides
information on the challenges of learning English and level of using communication
in English of students at Sultan Quaboos University (SQU). Al-Hadhrami and
Amzat also give suggestions on how to enhance the frequency of using English
among the students and propose methods and techniques to encourage students to
learn verbal English and use English as a second language. The research points out
that the lack of practicing English language in daily life is the primary reason why

SQU students do not have sufficient English level. They also need to improve their
grammar knowledge and public speaking ability.
The author understands that many writers and researchers have done studies and
published their discovery and knowledge on communication skills, especially
communication in English. Nonetheless, not many have researched about
communication skills in a Vietnam local NGO in spite of the fact that the skills are
utmost crucial and many do not have adequate capability. For that reason, the author
conducted a research to study further on verbal communication skills of staff at
CISDOMA and methods to enhance their skills.
1.3. Aims of the study
The author of this research paper have had a valuable chance to widen her
understanding of conducting development project-based activities, fund raising, and
post project monitoring and evaluation. She learned all of the abovementioned
precious knowledge from CISDOMA’s staff and their partners and sponsors.
However, while taking advantage of learning vital lessons and technical work, she
realizes the lack of effective communication between staff within the organization
and between CISDOMA and its partners and sponsors. Therefore, she would like to
propose the aims of this research is to find factors that are relating to verbal
communication skills of staff at CISDOMA and possible methods and techniques
that could enhance CISDOMA’s staff verbal communication skills.
1.4. Research questions
This research paper will answer the following specific question:

5


 What are the influential factors that relating to verbal communication skills of
staff at CISDOMA?
1.5. Research subjects
This research paper focuses mainly on the verbal communication skills of staff at

CISDOMA. Readers may know more about what internal and external factors that
might have effects on the staff’s verbal communication skills, what difficulties they
have to overcome, and what methods and/or solutions they may use to enhance their
verbal communication skills.
1.6. Scope of the study
The scope of this study is 30 staff of The Consultative Institute for Socio –
Economic Development for Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA). There is a
slight imbalance of the ratio of gender of staff at CISDOMA: 57.5% male and
42.5% female. The percentage of people who have learned English from three to
five years is 72.5%, the rest have learned English for more than five years. All of
the staff at CISDOMA is non-English native speakers.
1.7. Research methodology
The author uses two main methods to collect data for this research: questionnaire
and observation. By using these methods, she expects to find both quantitative and
qualitative data.
1.8. Organization of the study
This research is divided into four separate chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study.
This chapter explains the reasons why the author conducts this research; gives
details about other studies that have been conducted and analyzed with the relating
same topic; aims of the study; scope of the study; and which methods does the
author use to collect data for the study.

6


Chapter 2: Literature review.
This chapter provides readers an overview of communication skills; analyzes the
importance of good verbal communication skills; and potential problems that might
arise when a person try to acquire good verbal communication skills.

Chapter 3: Research findings and discussion.
This chapter gives details about procedures for conducting questionnaires and
interviews, analyzes data, and discusses the findings.
Chapter 4: Recommendations
This chapter gives suggestions and possible solutions so that the staff at CISDOMA
could enhance their verbal communication skills.

7


2. CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. Overview of verbal communication skills
2.1.1.

Definitions of verbal communication skills

Many people know to the term of ‘verbal communication skills’ in much more
simple words as ‘speaking skills’. Different people have different views on it and
different materials give different definitions of it. Therefore, the writer of this thesis
would like to give readers some definitions of the skills so that they could have a
broader, more diverse, and more multidimensional view.
Each scholar gives different definitions of the term. They have dissimilar views on
verbal communication as they define, analyze, and explore this topic in unalike
ways, approaching methods, and circumstances.
First of all, Ann L. Chaney defines the skills in her book “Teaching Oral
Communication” as a process in which the subject uses numerous kinds of verbal
and non-verbal symbols to build, share, and transfer his/her ideas, thoughts, and
meanings. Verbal communication skills can be used in a variety of contexts, in
numerous kinds of forms, and for distinct kinds of purposes.
Second of all, H. Douglas Brown in the book ‘Teaching by Principles: An

Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy’ and Anne Burns and Helen Joyce in
the book ‘Focus on Speaking’, however, define the term slightly different from the
abovementioned scholar.

They believe that verbal communication skills must

involve people talking with each other and may have their influence on others. It is
an interactive process of not only constructing meanings but also producing,
receiving and processing pieces of information (Brown, 1994; Burns and Joyce,
1997).
On the other hand, dictionaries may give you a much simpler and easier way to
understand the term. Initially, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD)
explains the verb ‘speak’ in eight different usages. ‘Speak’ is to have a conversation;
to use one’s voice; to mention or describe someone and/or something; to use a
8


language (may or may not to express oneself); to make a speech to the audience; or
to state something officially. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
dictionary (LDOCE) explains ‘speak’ in a much similar way compared to OALD.
Readers may be amazed to find that one simple word could have so many different
meanings and ways of using. To the surprise of many, Merriam – Webster
Dictionary has even more definitions of ‘speak’. This dictionary has a total of
eleven definitions of the word. Other from the abovementioned definitions, ‘speak’
is also to utter words and/or articulate sounds with an ordinary voice; to engage in a
conversation; to express something orally; or to be indicative or suggestive.
Analyzing from the history of language development angle, the word ‘speak’ as we
know nowadays does not really comes from English itself but rather a flexible
combination and adaptation of both English and Germanic languages, which
include Dutch and German. The actual Old English word of ‘speak’ really is

‘sprecan’ or ‘specan’, which means to ‘utter words’. After many years under the
influence of the Middle Dutch with the word ‘spreken’ and Old German word
“sprechen”, ‘speak’ eventually became the one we know as today.
The writer of this thesis believes that ‘verbal communication skills’ or ‘speaking
skills’ is to verbally express his/her needs, desires, thoughts, ideas, intentions and
even feelings; to transfer the above mentioned in forms of messages toward others
by engaging in conversations; or simply to utter words, phrases, and sentences. The
plain and ancient ‘specan’ was once widely used with the meaning of using your
voice to deliver words after such a long time of developing, transforming, and
adapting gradually becomes the irreplaceable word that we use in a daily basis in
the present day, which is to speak – to spread your ideas to others.
2.1.2.

Characteristics of verbal communication skills

Salima Mazouzi divides verbal communication into two main characteristics in her
research ‘Analysis of Some Factors Affecting Learners’ Oral Performance. A Case
Study: 3rd Year Pupils of Menaa’s Middle Schools’. Those two characteristics are
fluency and accuracy. The author of this thesis is of the same mind about this point

9


of view. Therefore, she would like to analyze the abovementioned characteristics of
verbal communication in this part of the thesis.
First, fluency – the most noticeable feature that plays an extremely important role in
verbal communication. There are three elements of fluency of verbal
communication that were pointed out by Torres (1997). They are mechanical skills,
language use, and judgment skills. First, mechanical skills are the ability within the
speaker. This ability shows whether the speaker could use pauses, speed, tone, and

control her sentence length. This element may help listener focuses on the content,
the emotion, and the flow of the speech or story more easily and joyfully. Next,
language use is the ability that shows if the speaker could talk in a clear, coherent,
logical, sensible, and well-reasoned way. This is one of the key elements of fluency.
It shows the linguistic proficiency of the speaker. Last but not least, the element of
judgment skills. This element is the ability to say suitable and relevant words,
phrases and/or topics and jokes in a variety of situations for each different particular
listener. They are the skills that enable the speaker chooses, shapes, and develops
most appropriate thoughts, ideas, and stories.
Second, the characteristic of accuracy – the feature that determines whether a
speaker could be a master of a logical, sensible, and cogent system. This
characteristic was also divided into three separate elements by Torres (1997). They
are pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. The first element – pronunciation is a
person’s ability to pronounce sounds of words correctly. That person should be able
to use the intonation naturally and still strictly follow stress patterns, both in words
and sentences, in a comprehensible way. Vocabulary, whereas, is the essential
condition that helps the speaker to produce words in a responsive way. It decides
whether one could give a thorough, suitable, and comprehensive response in a
certain amount of time and in certain kinds of context. The final element is grammar
– the ability that shows whether the speaker could produce a speech that strictly
follows the rule of grammatical structure of a language and the syntactical patterns
of a sentence and/or sentences. This element is tremendously vital as it could have a
strong effect on not only the intention, the meaning, and the clarity of intended
messages but also the impression of the other party.
10


Mechanical skills, language use, judgment skills, pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar are crucial elements of verbal communication. They may help us
appreciate more the beauty and attractiveness of verbal communication. This kind

of communication involves the special knowledge of not only linguistic competency
but also communicative competency to set up an efficient, suitable, and appropriate
oral message transmission. While linguistic competence is the ability that one needs
to acquire, manage, and follow the rule of grammatical structure, communicative
competence is the ability that one needs to have to communicate in at least one
language.
The author of this research paper strongly believes that it is vital and essential to
have a clear and stable balance between fluency and accuracy. A speaker should
have the ability to string sounds and words together to communicate and interact
successfully with others, Lindsay and Knight (2006). He/She needs to have the
capability of making a suitable, appropriate, and sensible response. In some cases,
the speaker may also need to own the ability of ‘beating around the bush’ to
alleviate the pain and torment from cruel realities or harsh emotions. It is evident
that the speaker must have the ability of mastering a language to give a good fluent
response in variety and numerous of contexts. To acquire such ability, one must
practice for a long time with high percentage of language and communication
exposure.
2.1.3.

Types of verbal communication skills

This part of the research paper will give readers the classification of verbal
communication skills. According to Vilagran (2008), this kind of skills can be
divided into three types. They are interactive, partially interactive, and noninteractive.
Interactive is having a face-to-face conversation or calling someone via a handset
device. Interactive verbal communication allows people who join in the
conversation to talk and listen to each other alternately. This type of communication
also enables people to ask for further clarification, explanation, repetition, and/or

11

slower the speed of talking from the other person. This type of verbal
communication allows the listeners utmost freedom compared to the other two. The
listener could become the speaker at anytime while joining the conversation the
speaker could quickly turn into the listener. Interactive is suitable for daily
conversations, for formal meetings, and for group study environment.
Partially interactive communication is slightly different from the previous one. This
type is used when someone has to give a speech to a live audience. This means that
the audience usually does not have as much chance to speak while the speaker
communicates and delivers his/her ideas and stories to them. While interactive
communication allows listeners to ask the speaker back if they need the other to
clarify something, partially interactive communication does not offer the exact
favorable condition. In this type of communication, the speaker usually has to look
for facial expressions and body languages to know whether the audience
understands the speaker, which means it is not as easy to receive response from the
listeners fully and completely.
The last type of verbal communication is non-interactive. People have to use this
type when they record their speeches for a particular purpose, such as a radio
broadcast, a television national news show, or a music video. People also use it
when they practice performing art, namely a play or live singing. It is completely
understandable that listeners or the audience usually do not give their response in
this type of verbal communication. They barely have any chance to express their
thoughts and feelings, let alone give feedbacks to the speakers. However, noninteractive is used just as often as the other types as it still has advantages that
cannot be replaced by any other type.
Readers can see that with each specific context, in different situation, and for a
variety of purposes, people choose the most appropriate and proper type of verbal
communication to bring out the best advantages of that type and to foster the effects
as ideal as possible. Even though when one uses non-interactive communication,
the listeners in this case become the audience can still get the benefits of it. They

usually cannot talk or give feedback to the speaker. Yet, this is also the strength of

12


non-interactive. The audience may have a better chance to focus whole-heartedly on
the messages that the speaker wants to deliver or the heart-warming stories the
speaker tries to tell. Partially interactive is also important and necessary sometimes.
It gives the speaker full attention of his/her audience. It allows the speaker to
express his thoughts freely with a lot of control. Interactive verbal communication
can simply be seen as normal and daily conversation that one has with another or
others. However, it allows everyone who joins in the conversation to be the speaker
and gives him/her the utmost freedom and liberty to exchange, discuss, send, and
receive information in an enjoyable way.
Interactive, partially interactive, and non-interactive are equally important. Each
type has its own unique features, benefits, and downsides. Depends on the purpose
of different speakers, one may choose the most suitable type of verbal
communication to get the best effects of it. Good verbal communication is not only
about mastering the fluency and accuracy of the way one speaks but also about
using the right type to deliver meaningful messages and ideas.
2.2. The importance of verbal communication skills
The grace of verbal communication is that it enables speakers to have a sense of
sharing, expressing, and inspiring others. By mastering fluency and accuracy, a
speaker may attract full attention from the audience before delivers a speech.
Storytellers may excite listeners, singers may sooth the aches inside broken hearts,
and priests may inspire their followers to do good deeds. That is the reason why
verbal communication is so vital and crucial.
Jehan Mahmoud Ashour (2014) summarizes that there are eight reasons to explain
why verbal communication is so undoubtedly important. The author of this thesis
will not only mention but also give further details about all of them.

First, verbal communication is a special tool that allows us to express our emotions,
explains our thoughts, ideas, understandings, and discoveries. It also enables us to
discuss with each other and to give response and feedback to others. This is one of
the most fundamental usages of speaking.

13


Second, owning excel verbal communication skills with a high level of proficiency
of the language gives the speaker a distinctive advantage to deliver ideas to other
people and earn a higher respect from the audience.
Third, being a master of verbal communication skills empowers the speaker to
attract much more attention and focus from the audience. He/She may be the one to
control and even own that kind of intense focus until the final of his/her messages.
Fourth, these are seemingly simple yet uttermost crucial skills to the ones who want
to have a better chance of achieving great success. By making a good impression on
other people, especially the very important ones, he/she wins favor of his/her
superiors and/or partners.
Fifth, having the ability of outstanding public verbal communication skills is one
vital characteristic of a leader. This enables the speaker to persuade, influence, and
even shape minds of other people. He may also empower others, run campaigns,
and advocate public policies for the benefits of others.
Sixth, being an expert of verbal communication skills in a cross-cultural and multilanguage environment gives even more advantages comparing to the vice versa.
This helps the speaker learns from others and fits in the new environment more
quickly, breaks down language barriers, and gets help and support from the
surrounding more easily.
Seventh, in an organization or institution, having the skills facilitates and nurtures a
more secured and powerful sense of membership between its members, and
accelerates respect and loyalty. The organization, therefore, becomes more stable
since it is full of energetic, loyal, and trustworthy people with a close-knit

relationship.
Eighth, good verbal communication skills help avoid and alleviate unnecessary
misunderstandings, miscommunication, errors and problems. This is extremely
important whenever one individual has to work in a team with other teammates to
achieve the same goal and target. Good verbal communication skills are also crucial
when an organization has to work with other partners to work on a same project or
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to make sure the organization follow its sponsors’ requirements correctly,
accurately, and precisely.
Verbal communication skills are the utmost vital skills. They help us communicate,
interact, and stay connected with each other. Verbal communication allows us to
express our inner feelings, desires, and imaginations. These skills enable us to make
friends and find the one we love, get crucial help and support whenever we need.
Verbal communication is one of many characteristics that make us so special,
unique, and different from other species.
2.3. Potential problems in acquiring verbal communication skills
There are numerous and variety of problems that might arise at anytime during the
process of acquiring new verbal communication skills. These problems may come
from external circumstances or internal ability and feeling. However, unexpected
problems come many times from both inside and outside of the learner. The author
of this thesis will give further details in the followings.
First and foremost, English learners may experience the difficulty of shifting from
one language to another, in this case is from the mother-tongue language to English.
The learner is so used to the language he has known and used for his whole life that
using a completely new language to communicate with others seem to be a
‘Mission: Impossible’. Learning verbal communication skills in a new language
takes a lot of time to establish a new habit so that the brain could get used to it. This
also requires a great deal of effort, hard work and determination. He also needs to

sustain his diligence especially when that person lives in an environment full of
people who could only talk in his mother-tongue language.
Second, people may feel disheartened if they do not have the linguistic intelligence
ability. Some may pick up a new language and master it within a few years. They
may learn new words and phrases extremely fast. They could also have a wide
range of vocabulary, use collocations and phrasal verbs correctly, appropriately or
even charmingly. They may mimic the natural sound, stress, intonation, and flow of
native speakers after just one or two times of trying to practice. Many others are not
so fortunate and they could be the exact opposite of what the author has mentioned
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before. They forget new phrasal verbs and collocations quickly even though they
have just learnt the day before and/or practice pronouncing the same word tens of
times and still not making any progress. Without the linguistic intelligence ability, it
is hard for many people to stay positive and maintain their strength of will.
Third, many people complain that self-study does not give them motivation yet peer
learning is not so effective either. People who are not good English speakers to
begin with tend to be shy and timid. They are afraid of making mistakes while
talking even more compared to when they talk in their mother-tongue language.
They worry that others learners might mock them or laugh at them when they make
mistakes. A research of Tuan and Mai (2015) shows that eight out of ten Vietnamese
students use Vietnamese even when they are in an English class. William Little
Wood (2007) also states that peer language learning could cause shyness,
embarrassment, and anxiety. Some people may be surprised that peer learning could
sometimes turn into peer pressure. This is when external factors meet internal
difficulties.
Fourth, another problem is that many English syllabuses, curricula, and other
relating materials have so much in common that they make learners feel bored and
discouraged. Learning something repeatedly so many times makes one lose interest,

if that person has any, and over the time he simply cannot maintain his
determination anymore. Not to mention when a learner does not have many chances
to practice English verbal communication, he will forget what he has learnt
gradually and he might not be able to use the skills when he needs it.
Finally, many English verbal communication learners are actually incredibly busy.
They usually have a fulltime job and many of them also have a family with
children. It is hard for them to find the time to practice and enhance their verbal
communication skills. Even if they do find the time to exercise their verbal
communication skills, they feel burnt out from working to much or having too many
tasks to finish.

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3. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Procedure for conducting questionnaires and interviews
3.1.1.

Procedure for conducting questionnaires

A survey was conducted in almost a working week for 30 staff at the Consultative
Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas
(CISDOMA). The author of this thesis chose to conduct this particular survey by
using questionnaires with nine different multiple-choice questions and 24 out of 30
staff answered their questionnaire questions. Topics of the questionnaire range from
current English level and attitude toward English communication at the workplace
to factors that affect English communication ability. Some questions also allow the
answerers to add their own specific answers in case that none of the suggested
choices is suitable for them. Others allow the answerers choose more than one
choice but less than four. The average time of finishing a questionnaire is from five

to seven minutes.
Questions of the questionnaire serve the purpose of providing vital information of
the answerers. They give various specific details from years of learning English and
current English level to factors affecting English speaking performance and
difficulties someone has to face when he/she communicates in verbal English. The
questionnaire also suggests potential solution for the staff to improve their verbal
communication skills.
3.1.2.

Procedure for conducting interviews

Aside from using questionnaires, the author also conducted in-depth interviews with
the staff at CISDOMA when she was a Program Intern at this Non-Profit
Organization (NPO). The author was able to contact 16 people for this activity.
Each interview takes from 8 to 10 minutes at the meeting room of CISDOMA. The
interviewer made sure that there were only the interviewer and one interviewee at a
time so that her interviewees could feel as comfortable as possible. She believes this
will help interviewees give answers that are more honest. She also used a recording

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device to fully catch all of the delivered meanings, messages, and emotions of the
interviewers with their acceptance.
3.2. Data analysis
The crucial collected data will be shown and analyzed in the following part. These
data were retrieved and summarized from the questionnaire and interview questions
for the staff of CISDOMA.
3.2.1.

Years of learning English of staff at CISDOMA

Chart 3.2.1. Years of learning English of staff at CISDOMA
(Source: Question 1 of the questionnaire)
It is not surprised that most staff at CISDOMA has learnt English for many years:
75% of them have learned English for over 7 years; 12.5% have learned from 5 to 7
years; and 4.2% have learned English from 3 to 5 years. However, readers can also
see that 8.3% of the staff who have studied English in less than a year.
“I have studied English from I was in sixth grade. However, during the time I was a
student, English was not anything more than a normal subject. I did not study it well
back then so I did not like it. I still study English now. I read a few pages of books
in English almost every day to my son but I do not think my English is improving”.
(Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha, Project Officer) (Source: Question 3 of the interview)

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