FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE

JANUARY / 2016

OUMH2203

ENGLISH FOR WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION

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0198080635

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LEARNING CENTRE

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TAWAU

People live in the world of communication. According to the Oxford Dictionary of

Current English (Moore, 1997), communication is defined as, The activity or process of
expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information. The significance of
communication can be found within the context of a human existing as a social being. As a
human being manages his or her life in the course of the interaction between other members
of the entire society, communication is inevitable. Communication occurs through the
medium of a language and it is presented in two different forms which are written and spoken
(Brown & Yule, 1983: 1-10). The importance of spoken performance of a language is
becoming more prominent over the written performance capability. It is because the ability to
speak a language reflects a persons personality, self-image, knowledge of the world, ability
to reason, skill to express thoughts in real-time (Luoma, 2004: ix). These days, due to the
global trend of internationalization, the ability to communicate in English is needed as an
essential skill. Whenever the international exchange happens, the use of spoken English
entails. Furthermore, the globalization of world markets requires workers with the
capabilities of working in and with different cultures, as well as knowledge of global markets.
Thus the workers do not only need technical knowledge, but also the ability to express it.
This means that dynamic personalities, or individuals who are skilled and efficient in
multitasking are required. This fact implies that the workers must possess communicative
abilities in order to be professionally successful. This globalization era also confirms the need
for individuals to develop their English language abilities as a result of increasing
international interactions in both the individual and organizational contexts. Currently in
Malaysia, communication skills play the fundamental role at workplace situations. The
importance of communication skills is significant in the management sector as stated in
different job advertisements. Without efficient communication skills in the management
sector, a manager would never achieve success. Many Malaysians have difficulty
communicating in English in the workplace, especially when it comes to business-related
matters. This is due to many problems that the Malaysians have itself. There are numbers of
problem that can be highlighted which is English oral communication problems of non-native
English speakers, limited exposure to use English interaction and lack of confident while
using English language as a way of communication. This problem prove the difficulty of
Malaysians communicating in English in the workplace.
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English oral communication is a problems for non-native English speakers. Effective

English oral communication in the workplace can be major problem for employees who are
not native English speakers, such as Malay employees, as English is not their mother tongue.
Moreover, effective English oral communication can be serious problem for those who have
insufficient English knowledge or limited experience with English. Hence, English speaking
or oral communication in English in considered difficult for non-native English speakers as
English is not their mother tongue (Myers, Penrase, & Rasberry, 2000). Bloch and Starks
(1999) found that the main problems of non-native English speakers with English
communication were (a) listening comprehension, (b) poor or insufficient vocabulary and use
of idioms, (c) distortion or misunderstanding of the message, and (d) inappropriate
formulation of the message. Forey and Lockwood (2007) found that the main problem for
non-native English employees who worked as call agents were limited grammatical
knowledge and poor or incorrect English pronunciation. Additionally, these problems were
caused by a failure to understand a complex text, non-fluency in the interaction, and a lack of
awareness of the country and the cultural background of their customers (Forey & Lockwood,
2007). In Malaysia, several studies have confirmed that English oral communication skills are
the most desirable quality for Malaysia employees, especially those who interact with foreign
tourist. In my experience found that bus driver and tourist guide had limited vocabulary and
could not could not express their idea coherently and correctly. Jaisutthi (2006) mentioned
that the greatest barriers to effective oral communication for hotel front office staff were
listening abilities, a lack of vocabulary, and problem with word choice. It can be concluded
that many non-native English people seems to have difficulties with English oral
communication which lead to the difficulty of Malaysians communicating in English in the
workplace. Such problems with communicating or communication breakdowns in English
interaction may not be related to just discrete grammatical features or the accent of the
speakers. The problems seems to be more about general communicative competence than any
factors.

The other problem that contributes the difficulty of Malaysians communicating in

English is limited exposure to use English interaction. Although Malaysian curriculum has
enforce the English language subject for all school even for higher education but people
seems has limited exposure to use English interaction. This is because people have
inadequate opportunities to speak English in Class when studies. All teachers and lectures are
characterized by a didactic, transmissional style of teaching not surprisingly, little interaction
such as small-group work and in-class questions is expected. This didactic, transmissional
teaching style, together with an implicit focus of assimilation of disciplinary knowledge,
apparently led to problem of effectiveness in terms of developing students oral
communication skills. Student did not find the class session particularly useful in helping
them improving their English language proficiency. They read English novels, and watched
English movies. It is these extracurricular media and activities that they relied on to improve
their English. So such media, not the class, benefited their English language development.
When this happen, in term of writing for English subject student may be good at it, but when
its come to oral communication student will have a problem to speak. This is because student
dont have a chance to practicing oral English communication in classes. Although tutorials
employed a somewhat more interactive approach than lectures, it appears that some practical
constraints affected the provision or distribution of opportunities for students to speak in
class. Sometimes a tutorial has 10-20 students. With so many students in one tutorial group, it
is difficult for some students to get a chance to speak in English. When this problem become
a habits for some students, their will continue this habit which freeze their opportunities to
speak in English until the end of their study and of course gives them limited exposure to use
English interaction. As it comes to the workplace similar happens in the classroom,
Malaysian seems not able to practically their oral communication skill in English language
due to the problem that discus before. When the exposure of using oral English
communication is limited, the proficiency of oral English communication will decrease
automatically. The proficiency of oral English communication including the proficiency
grammar, vocabulary, and sound systems. There are a number of elements that facilitate or
impede successful spoken communication. They can be divided in two types in general. One
is linguistic factor and the other is socio-cultural factor. The first type commonly refers to the
elements of English as a language itself, which include the grammar, vocabulary, and sound
systems (Robinett, 1978: 3-140).

Lack of confident while using English language as a way of communication also

contributes difficulty of Malaysians communicating in English in the workplace. As English
is not Malaysians mother tongue, many Malaysians unconfident to use English language.
Moreover in the workplace their deal with someone who more advance in using English
language which make them shy and awkward to use English language. The problem to lack
of confident while using English language is when the speakers feel like child when
speaking. Most people feel a little anxious or nervous when they have to deliver a
presentation to a large audience, a big room full of people. The palms of their hands begin to
sweat and they begin to breathe at a faster rate. For some unfortunate people with serious
confidence issues, every occasion where English is spoken causes significant anxiety it can
be as stressful as speaking in front of a thousand people. Even everyday conversation about
familiar topics is a challenge for people with confidence problems. Their suddenly forget all
vocabulary, and every word comes out as a stutter. Their feel so embarrassed to be speaking
like a child, especially because they do actually know the words and what they want to say.
Its just that the words refuse to come in moment of panic. When we lack confidence in a
situation, it is easily observable in our body language and posture the way we sit or stand. We
tend not to stand up straight, and our shoulders slouch forward. Furthermore, making eye
contact is more difficult whenever we dont feel confident in ourselves. Our eyes gaze lower
than usual as we try to be unnoticed by the other speakers in order to avoid talking. More
than this, people who are unsure of themselves usually fiddle around with something in their
hands they play with a pen or a piece of paper and generally have the appearance of not being
able to sit still. When we feel uncomfortable in a situation our body gives off signals to the
other people surrounding us. Consciously or unconsciously they will notice the signals
expressed by our body posture and by our voice that express lack of confidence. As we can
conclude the lack of confident while using English communication really gives Malaysians
difficulty speak in English along the problem that contributes the speakers lack of confident
when using it.

In the nutshell, I agree that Malaysian have difficulty in communicating in English

especially in the workplace as the problem that Malaysian have itself. Nowadays, Malaysia
have a strong economic business around the globe which make the English language as a
standard language. The interaction between workers must be in English language as the
employees and employers not only from local country but also from foreign country. When
Malaysians have difficulty in communicating in English in the workplace it can lead to lack
of communication. Hence, a lack of communication can lead to misunderstanding, which in
turn can lead to mistakes, missed deadlines and altered project directions. If a staff member
feels her work or time has been wasted for not conveying the proper information in a timely
manner, frustration can result. Misunderstanding often arises when instructions are not clearly
communicated, updates and status reports are not shared right away or there is no lead person
responsible for a project or task. Besides, miscommunication can happens when individuals
exchange information without clearly understanding one another. This can result in
misinterpreted facts and details that prompt one team member to work from one set of
perceived facts and information, while another is working in an entirely different direction.
When the miscommunication is identified and each party believes his approach is the right
approach, it can be a source of conflict. Another source of conflict is non-responsiveness
from colleagues or managers to a request for information, clarification or opinion. The
employee awaiting a response may feel the other party is being intentionally noncommunicative and interfering with her ability to perform her own job. This can create a
toxic, non-collaborative environment, even if the non-responsiveness is due to an oversight or
other benign cause. Businesses that suffer from communication problems likely have no
defined, company-wide communication strategies in place. Improving workplace
communication involves developing a communication protocol that all employees are
expected to follow. This can include a policy on sending group and individual emails,
providing regular status reports distributed to entire work groups and having regular face-toface project meetings. Creating a system of communication checks and balances can mitigate
problems. Malaysia government must solve this problem to ensure that Malaysians do not
have difficulty while using English as a ways of communication. The role of Malaysia
education department is important. Their must deployed many ideas to improve Malaysian
oral communication in English to overcome this problem.
(2005 w)

REFERENCE

Internet
-What Are the Causes of Poor Workplace Communication?http://smallbusiness.chron.com/causes-poor-workplace-communication-20827.html

-General Information about Communication Problemshttp://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/commprob.htm

-Communication challenge in Malaysiahttp://eurasian-sensation.blogspot.my/2009/05/communication-challenges-inmalaysia.html

-English language issue in Malaysia revisitedhttps://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/306589

Books
6

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