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FACTORS INFLUENCING ENGLISH USAGE PREFERENCES: A
CASE STUDY OF SERVICE COUNTER STAFF IN UNIVERSITI SAINS
MALAYSIA
ISSHAM ISMAIL, SHAHRIER PAWANCHIK AND SALWANI JAAFAR
School of Distance Education Universiti Sains Malaysia Penang 11800, Malaysia Corresponding Author: issham@usm.my
ABSTRACT
As an international language, English has been widely used in today’s workplace as an interaction tool between people within and dealing with the organization. A good English proficiency is a must acquired communication skill among staffs in any organization, particularly those at the service desk. As the front liners who manage the counter and interact with customers, the quality of their communication skills will reflect on the overall
organization’s performance. Hence, there is a need for service desk staffs to obtain a good English communication skill in order to effectively deliver the information and serve the customers well. However, despite of much emphasis given by the government as efforts to
increase Malaysians’ proficiency of English language, there has been lacking in the level of English communication skills among front desk staffs. Thus, studies that address the problem
and evaluate the staffs’ preparedness to take up English courses and trainings are needed. Then,
is it compulsory for organizations to consider only staffs with good English proficiency as their front liners at the service desk? In line with this need, this study attempts to determine factors influencing English usage preferences among the service counter staffs in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). A quantitative survey was completed by 80 front liners from each respective school in USM. The results showed that in general, the irregular English usage for communication, frequent encounters with foreign students, and less English communication
with colleagues and superiors were factors that influence the staff’s level of English
proficiency. They were also found to be more convenient in using the national language, i.e. Malay language while dealing with students at the service desks. Nevertheless, the staffs were found to be very keen to take up English classes and trainings provided by the university to build more confidence and motivation in using the language for communication. As implication, the paper addresses the need for the university service counter staffs to grasp the skills and knowledge in English communication as the level of their proficiency in English will
reflect the university’s identity.
Key words: English language, Factors, Preferences, Service counter staff.
Introduction
Communication is the important means of interaction in people’s lives which can be
287 As an international language, English plays an important role. It also has lingua franca status in many parts of the world stem from the military, economy, science, politics, and the influence of the British Empire in the 18th century, 19th and early 20th century and the United States in the early 20th century to the present. Therefore, it is crucial for those who need to learn and use English to recognize its importance in delivering effective communication.
For the case of Malaysia, English has been identified as international language, while Malay language is the official language of the country. In that case, Malay language has been used as the main communication language in official matters in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the role of English and the need for citizens to equip themselves with necessary English skill is still highlighted by the government as effort to prepare themselves towards the demands of globalization. This effort also aims to develop a globally competitive nation in achieving the
country’s Wawasan 2020 aspiration. To achieve this mission, the Malaysian citizens need to
be well prepared with the required soft skill to communicate effectively with each other. The counter staffs are no exceptional in this issue since they are the frontliners where clients will approach to solve and enquire their problems and solutions. Due to this, it is important for those working as counter staffs to acquire a good English proficiency in order to communicate well and confidently with the clients and thus, to achieve the organizations goals in providing the best service. Research done by Tiong & May (1996) found out that support staffs particularly blue-collar workers have been using colloquial Malay in communication among peers. Study done by Nair-Venugopal (1997) in West Malaysia explained that Malay or a mixture of Malay and English languages were used among casual workers to communicate. Another study done by Mei Yuit (1998) portrayed that the standard of the front office assistant is generally not up to the level and there is a necessity to provide language training for them. There is also a need to look into the problems faced by the counter staffs in the universities as they are dealing with foreign students from various backgrounds and English is the only mode of communication to deal with them. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as an APEX status educational institution aims to provide world class education for students, and thus it is very important for the institution to meet the requirements of their clients, i.e. the students, to achieve their objectives and cater their needs. A good English proficiency among USM counter staffs could be one of
the effective ways to gain the institution’s credibility and reputation which will also reflect USM’s identity nationally and internationally.
In line with this need, this study was carried out to analyze the control and use of English as a communication tool among governmental staff working at the information booths in USM.
Materials and Methods Sample
Participants of this study were consisted of 80 staffs at the counters at each Pusat Tanggungjawab (PTJ) at USM main campus. To specifically study the impact of English on their working environment, the staffs were selected as such that they have experiences in dealing with the students everyday as part of their job requirement. This convenient sampling contained a group of staffs with various backgrounds of age, gender, ethnicity and marital status working at the counters in various faculties in USM main campus.
Instrument
288 respondents. The questionnaire consisted of six sections and utilized the closed-ended type of questions. The first section contained demographic items such as gender, ethnicity, work
experience and examination results. Meanwhile, the next section focused on the respondents’
education background. In section three, the questions were more on the working environment and the usage of English when communicating with clients or colleagues. Part D and E
surveyed on the respondents’ English proficiency level, language skills, ability and knowledge on the language. The final section consisted of questions on whether the respondents were interested to take up training and programmes to upgrade their English language skill. Each item of the questionnaires utilized a five-point scale ranging according to Strongly Agree (scale point 5), Agree (scale point 4), Neither Agree or Disagree (scale point 3), Disagree (scale point 2) and Strongly Disagree (scale point 1).
The Study
The main research questions were:
i. What are the English language skills, in order of perceived importance, can the staff communicate well in English?
ii. What are the frequencies of English use in their everyday job? How often do they speak in English?
iii. What should be taken into account when reorienting or designing an English course?
Data Analysis
Data collected from all questions were polled and analyzed using statistical analysis software, PASW 18.0. Types of analysis used were descriptive statistics using percentages, mean and standard deviation. Two statistical measures were used in the analysis of data, namely mean scores and analysis of variance(ANOVA). To check the normality of data, homogeneity of variance was undertaken. ANOVA was used to compare the mean differences between groups. In the analysis of data,only mean scores that were significant were discussed. The significance level was set at p< 0.05. For differences in proficiency levels, Post Hoc Tests were used to determine significance between groups since more than two groups of subjects were involved in each case.
Results and Discussion
As indicated from the English qualification level in the respondents’ demographic
profiles, only 10% of respondents got Distinction (A1-A2) in their SPM/SPMV/MCE and 2.5% for SRP/LCE. Majority of respondents managed to get credit C3-C6 (SPM/SPMV/MCE) for their English`s qualification, specifically from the age group of 20-30 years old (27.5%), 30-40 years old (15%) and more than 30-40 years old (11.25%). The lowest English`s qualification (Fail P9) among age group 30-40 years old is for SRP/LCE (2.5%) and SPM/SPMV/MCE (1.25%). This included a 2.5% of respondents at group of age more than 40 years old for SPM/SPMV/MCE.
289 among clients at the service counter.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of English Language
Item Mean Standard Deviation N
Frequency Of English Language Use On
The Job 2.9688 .64157 80
Abilities In Using English On The Job 2.6025 .70795 80
English Language Course Design 1.6467 .47862 80
Preferences In using English (B4&B8) 2.9688 .64157 80
As presented above, Table 1 indicated the mean values for Frequency Of English Language Use On The Job, Abilities In Using English On The Job, English Language Course Design and Preferences In using English (B4&B8). From the first item (The Frequency Of English Language Use On The Job), it can be seen that the mean calculated was found to be
closed to ’sometimes’ scale (2.9688). For the second item (Abilities In Using English On The Job), it was showed that the mean value was 2.6025, which represents somewhere between Fluent and Not Very Fluent. The mean for the next item (English Language Course Design) was 1.6467 which represents of Importancy of English as a Course Design.The overall mean, which combination of Question B4 and B8, stated that the mean for Preferences in Using
English is 2.9688, which signalled the respondents’ seldom use of English at minimal English
fluency. Overall, these findings highlighted the need for improvement on English proficiency among the USM service counter staffs.
This study also obtained information on English usage preferences among counter staffs
290 independent variables and dependent variable. Results were shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Correlation Analysis
From the analysis, it was found that the respondents do not use English regularly and only talk when necessary. One of the possible reason might be because of the frequently use of Malay language since it is the official language of the country. They can still communicate in English with clients, but in limited circumstances. Furthermore, the foreign students in USM are still bound by a number of departments to deal with, such as the International Office, Student Affairs & Development Division, Bursary, Hostels, Institute of Graduate Studies, libraries and others. In addition, it was found in the study that, USM staffs who have more opportunities to deal with international students were seen as more caliber staffs who are experienced and manage to assist students in solving issues and problems faced by them.
Other than that, some staffs who can not communicate well at the service counter do not directly deal with the students, due to their placement of jobs. However, they were found to be keen to improve and attend English courses offered by the institution. The study also found that there were less encouraging use of English among colleagues and superiors. The staffs were more comfortable to communicate among each other in Malay language. This resulted in their limited English-speaking ability.
Conclusions
This study is a part of a larger survey on the issue of the importance and extent of the use of the English language among counter staffs in USM. While the use of English has often been said to be important, large-scale studies to support and to provide details about the situation are still lacking. The present study reported findings from the perspective of counter staffs in USM who use English language in their everyday jobs. The data obtained from the study has confirmed the importance of the use of English language in the service-based workplace whereby English is not mainly utilized as medium for communication.
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programs as one of an organization’s efforts to improve their customer service quality.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia for funding this research project (203/PJJAUH/6740005).
References
Mei Yuit. 1998. English Language Communication Training Needs of Front Office Assistants
of Hotels in Kuala Lumpur. Unpublished master’s Project Paper, Universiti Pertanian
Malaysia, Serdang.
Samover, L. & Mill,J. 1978. Oral Communication Message and Response. Iowa: WM.
Shanta Nair-Venugopal, Language Choice and Communication in Malaysian Business, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia, 2000.
