IDENTIFYING UITM PENANG FACULTY OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM STUDENTS' NEEDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

(VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS)

INSTITUT PENGURUSAN PENYELIDIKAN UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA 40450 SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR

MALAYSIA

PREPARED BY:

FARINA NOZAKIAH TAZIJAN SUZANA AB. RAHIM

AZNIZAH HUSSIN

DEC 2009

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IDENTIFYING UITM PENANG FACULTY OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM STUDENTS' NEEDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

(VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS)

PREPARED BY:

FARINA NOZAKIAH TAZIJAN SUZANA AB. RAHIM

AZNIZAH HUSSIN

DEC 2009

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Surat Kami : 600-UiTMPP (URDC:5/2/267)

Tarikh : 15Ogos2008

mmmmm UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

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Perkara di atas adalah dirujuk.

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Butiran permohonan yang dinilai adalah seperti berikut:

Ketua Projek

Ahli Projek

Tajuk Penyelidikan

Keputusan

Tempoh

Farina Nozakiah Tazijan

Suzana Abd. Rahim Aznizah Hussin

identifying UiTM Penang Faculty Of Hotel Management And Tourism Students': Needs In English Language Proficiency

Diluluskan dengan peruntukan RM 2,500.00

September 2008 - Oktober 2009

Berikut disertakan dokumen-dokumen untuk panduan dan tindakan pihak puan selanjutnya.

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Sehubungan dengan itu, pihak kami berharap agar perlaksanaan projek ini akan berjalan sebagaimana dijadualkan. Semoga usaha puan akan membawa RMU ke arah kecemerlangan akademik yang diharapkan.

Sekian, terima kasih

Yang menjalankan ti

(PROF. MADYA MOHD ZAKI BIN ABDULLAH) Pengarah Kampus UiTM Cawangan Pulau Pinang

s.k> i) Penolong Naib Canselor Institut Pengurusan Penyelidikan (RMI) UiTM Malaysia

ii) Timbalan Pengarah HEA UiTM Kampus Pulau Pinang

iii) Penolong Bendahari UiTM Kampus Pulau Pinang

iv) Koordinatoor Unit Pengurusan Penyelidikan(RMU)

v) Fail Peribadi

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Tarikh : 30 DIS 2009 No. Fail Projek : 600-UiTMPP (URDC: 5/2/267)

Penolong Naib Canselor (Penyelidikan) Institut Penglirusan Penyelidikan (RMI) UiTM, Shah Alam

Puan,

LAPORAN AKHIR PENYELIDIKAN IDENTIFYING UITM PENANG FACULTY OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM STUDENTS' NEEDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY (VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS)

Merujuk kepada perkara di atas, bersama-sama ini disertakan 4 (empat) naskah dan 1 (satu) CD (softcopy) Laporan Akhir Penyelidikan bertajuk Identifying Uitm Penang Faculty Of Hotel Management And Tourism Students' Needs In English Language Proficiency (Verbal Communication Skills) oleh kumpulan Penyelidik dan Akademi Pengajian Bahasa untuk makluman pihak puan,

Sekian, terima kasih.

Yang benar,

FApflNA NdzAKIAH^TAZIJAN Ketua Projek Penyelidikan

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KUMPULAN PENYELIDIK

FARINA NOZAKIAH TAZIJAN KETUA PROJEK

Tandatangan

SUZANA AB. RAHIM Ahli

•"""""TVtf £ -Try) > ? / K ^ - — .

Tandatangan

AZNIZAH HUSSIN Ahli

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PENGHARGAAN

Setinggi-tinggi penghargaan dan ribuan terima kasih diucapkan kepada semua pihak yang terlibat secara langsung dan tidak langsung bagi membolehkan penyelidikan ini disiapkan dengan sempurna.

Diantaranya :

Prof. Madya Mohd Zaki Abdullah (Pengarah Kampus UiTM Pulau Pinang)

Dr. Nor Aziah Bakhari (Koordinator Pengurusan Penyelidikan UiTM Pulau Pinang)

dan

Semua yang telah memberikan kerjasama dan sokongan di dalam menjayakan penyelidikan ini

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LIST OF CONTENT

Acknowledgement List of Content List of Tables List of Figures Abstract

Chapter 1

1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Introduction Background of study Problem Statement Objective Limitation of the study

Chapter 2

2.0 2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

Introduction The Importance of Communication skills amongst Undergraduates Needs Analysis and English for Specific Purposes Empirical Research on Needs Analysis and Working Environment Relevance of Communication Skills for the Front Office Assistants

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LIST OF CONTENT

Chapter 3

3.0 Introduction

3.1 Methodology

3.2 Respondents

Chapter 4

4.0 Introduction

4.1 Presentation and Analysis of data

4.2 The Managers' Perceptions On The Needs Of

Communication Skills For Practising Hotel Front

Office Assistants

4.3 Managers' Rate Of Intern's Ability In

Verbal Communication Skills

4.4 Managers' View Of The Importance Of

Verbal Communication Skills For Front

Office Assistants

4.5 The Interns' Perception On Their Ability In

Verbal Communication Skills

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LIST OF CONTENT PAGE

PAGE

4.6 The Interns' Rate On The Relevance Of Verbal Communication

Skills For Front Office Assistants 29

4.7 Conclusion 32

Chapter 5 5.0 Introduction 34

5.1 Principal Findings 34

5.2 Recommendations for further research 3 7

References 39

Appendices 44

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 - Managers' Rate Of Interns' Ability In

Verbal Communication Skills

Table 2 -Managers' View Of The Importance Of

Verbal Communication Skills For Hotel

Front -Office Assistants

Table 3- The Interns' Perception On Their Ability In

Verbal Communication Skills

Table 4 - The Interns5 Rate On The Relevance Of

Verbal Communication Skills To The Hotel

Front-Office Assistant

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LIST OF FIGURES PAGE

Figure 1: Venn diagram of Communication Skills 15 (Mehta and Mehta 2007)

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ABSTRACT

There is a need to expose the learners in the hospitality industry to real workplace

requirement in terms of communication skills. In view of its importance, human resource

managers, researchers and educators in the field of hospitality management or the hotel

practitioners have to pay more serious attention to it. Thus, it is pertinent that both

employers and potential employees have a consensus on what are to be instilled in the

learners as this would prepare them for the actual hotel reception practices which in

particular are the verbal communication skills. This study looks at both the employers'

and employees' perceptions and expectations of the communication skills required by the

profession. A needs analysis in the form of a questionnaire, distributed to the hotel

managers and the interns involved help to identify the verbal communication skills that

the interns seem to require. The results highlight the views of employers in identifying

the needs and lacks of the interns under their supervision. In bridging the gap of

communication skills expected by the hospitality industry and the competence or ability

of the interns, it is of priority that the lacks and needs of these interns be looked into. This

study also has identified the students' perceptions of their language needs, wants and

lacks in the verbal communication skills so as to prepare them for their real world

workplace requirement This knowledge is hoped to assist the curriculum designers in

producing future hotel manageffient professionals that can function effectively at their

workplace.

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CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses on the background of the study, problem statement

and limitation of the study.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Due to the longstanding system implemented in government institutes of

education, graduates are consistently taught the ropes of hard skills, encompassing of

technical and administrative knowledge. The Education Ministry in its National

Education Blueprint 2006-2011 aimed was to create human capital suitable for a future

workforce. It will now embark on educational programmes that would include curriculum

and co-curricular activities that will instill knowledge, skills, cultural elements and belief

to help develop an all-rounder graduate.

This means that there is now room for soft skills training. In this global

community, the skill sets of a job candidate is increasingly crucial as employers are now

seeking for individuals who can deliver beyond what is promised on paper qualifications.

Impressive grades and other academic achievements no longer live up to the burgeoning

need for the skills to communicate lead and work in a team. Demands and expectations

across job industries are rapidly increasing.

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According to the findings of a Graduate Tracer Study in 2006, 30.7% of

graduates remained unemployed six months after convocation, while 57% were still

awaiting job placement. The study involved 132 900 graduates from 18 public

universities, 18 According to the findings of a Graduate Tracer Study in 2006, 30.7% of

graduates remained unemployed six months after convocation, while 5.7% were still

awaiting job placement. The study involved 132 900 graduates from 18 public

universities, 18 polytechnics, 34 community colleges and 13 private institutions of higher

learning from all over Malaysia. (New Strait Times, 2007)

Many factors have been identified as being the causes for the increase in the

unemployment rate among university graduates. Having straightcAs' is no longer enough

to secure a job or to give one a competitive edge is career advancement. According to the

Minister of Human Resources, more than 65% of female graduates in this country are

employed because they lack social and communication skills in addition to a poor

command of language and low levels of self confidence. He added that many female

graduates had achieved excellent academic results but could not secure employment

without the relevant skills required in the labor market. The number of unemployed

female graduates is also much higher in comparison male graduates (The Star. 2005).

It has been assumed that the lack of experience and skills are the causes

leading to the unemployment of graduated. In Malaysia, the private sector today is not

interested in recruiting local graduates because they lack several important skills, such as

the capacity to communicate well in English, a lack of ICT proficiency; and a lack of

interpersonal skills. This scenario reveals that, there is a skills gap between what skills

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are required by employers and what skills graduates have. In order to remedy the

situation, the Malaysian government has implemented several steps in order to reduce the

number of unemployed graduates. The Ministry Of Human Resources, through their

industry training institute has introduced a programmed referred to as "unemployed

graduates training scheme1 in order to equip fresh graduates with certain skills and

experience. They have allocated roughly RM 500 million towards the scheme.

However, according to the Minister, only 1400 graduates have been

employed after participating in the aforementioned training scheme. Suitable degree

programs are not the only mechanisms for developing work skills in higher education.

Students are encouraged to take part in extra curricular activities which may assist them

in developing soft skills. It is important for a student to begin accumulating as much work

related experience (soft skills) as early as they can. Soft skills are generally categorized

into three areas; character, interpersonal skill and critical and creative thinking. These

skills enable one to communicate effectively, manage relationships, lead a team, and

solve problems. Soft skill development should be inculcated into the education syllabus.

It is important to teach soft skills required to survive and succeed in the work market.

University Technology MARA requires its students to fulfill 9 credit hours

of English Language over 3 years of diploma course. The Hotel Management students,

however, are required to complete 12 hours of the English Language program within their

diploma courses. They are requested to undergo BEL 100, BEL 200, BEL 250 and BEL

300. Apart from English Language courses, these students also need to fulfill their Hotel

Management papers, then undergo a 4 months of internship program at the industry

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before completing their diploma. The English Language codes offer the listening,

speaking, writing, grammar and reading skills to the students. The BEL 300 course

focuses more on the soft skills or the communication skills of the students, as in

presentation skills, answering calls, introducing colleague and other soft skills to equip

the students for their internship, hence, the working world.

The Penang MARA University Technology provides a list of hotels for

students to choose for their internship program. 5 ,4 and 3- stars hotels and resorts

through out Malaysia are selected for the students to help them to undergo their

practical. Most of the interns are asked to be front office assistants in these hotels.

According to Chan (2000), the hotel industry is one that requires employees to be

skilled in providing customer service through the medium of English. To do this

effectively an employee especially one who has constant contact with customers, has to

be proficient in English Language Skills. In a research carried out by the Educational

Institute of the American Hotels and Motels Association in 1996, it was found that:

Training could most improve the front office department, followed by the

food^everage service and housekeeping departments. Forty -four percent of

respondents cited the front office department as the 'first priority5 to receive training.

These findings showed that competence in human relation/guest relation is considered

the most important area that requires training.

Although this research was conducted in U.S, but it is safe to say that such

training skills are important to hotels in Malaysia. (Chan 2000)Therefore, questions are

raised to find out whether the interns who are front office assistants are proficient in the

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English Language of which they have been acquiring for almost 2 years during their

diploma studies.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

It is strongly believed that there is a mismatch between employers'

expectations and employees' or even potential employees' communication skills or soft

skills. This has somehow suggested that there is a great possibility that this curriculum

has not been effective or successful enough in moulding the level of competence among

the potential employees who happen to be the UiTM Tourism and Hotel management

undergraduates. Therefore, there is a dire need to study the learners' needs, wants and

lacks to match the future of their profession as they use the English language in their

profession.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

The main objectives of the research are to research is to investigate the

communication skills needs of the Front Office Assistants in relevance to their workplace

requirements.

1.4 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study is limited to only UiTM Penang Hotel Management diploma

students' part 4 and 5 who are undergoing their internship as front office assistants in the

Hotel Management Industry .This study also limits to the area verbal communication

skills.

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CHAPTER 2

2.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the background of the communication skills of the

Undergraduates, Need analysis and English for Specific Purposes, empirical research on

needs analysis and working environment and relevance of communication skills for the

front office assistants

2.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS AMONGST

UNDERGRADUATES

Graduates are often believed to be less prepared than industry employers

expect them to be and "lack the critical soft skills necessary in today's workplace". In

addition, the very skills that are said to make a graduate more employable are often

downplayed in favour of the technical knowledge. Technical knowledge is fundamental

and its importance cannot be disputed, as this forms the general basis from which

hoteliers work. However, technical knowledge alone does not distinguish the best

graduate student from the rest. According to the recent survey in The Star Online as cited

in Azizan ( 2007), it was stated that,

With an estimated 100,000 students set to graduate from public

universities this year - not counting the thousands completing

their studies at private institutions and overseas - the company

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above should not have a problem finding a suitable candidate

to fill its vacancy. Unfortunately, as many employers have

often complained, most Malaysian graduates lack the

necessary soft skills vital for work such as communication,

problem solving and team work skills.

Adding to this Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, "it

is this lack of soft skills which is largely responsible for the difficulty faced by some

90,000 young people in finding employment in Malaysia"(Azizan, 2007).

Therefore, it is seen that Soft skills are complementary to the hard, technical skills

and are an advantage to any graduate seeking employment. This is particularly so as

current and graduate students are to become socially responsible and able to fit in with a

changing environment where new skills are required, due to technological developments.

A lack of skills therefore, could see a decline in organizational performance.

In Malaysia, productivity and economic performance is crucial to national

development. Hence, the premium placed on skilled graduates entering the workplace. It

is, however, reported that there is a deficit in the soft skills of Malaysian graduates. This

often contributes to and results in a lack of successfiil employment. Poor communication

skills, for example, create a negative impression with employers during the recruitment

phase and may exclude a graduate with good technical skills from being selected for

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employment. The language of communication at most higher education institutions and

industries is English. Many Malaysian graduates who are English second language

speakers may be perceived as expressing their ideas poorly, in English.

Thus, for many Malaysian graduate students it is important to acquire adequate

"soft" skills, particularly communication skills (in English) that will make them more

employable, in addition to technical skills, since these skills are generally expected to be

acquired at Higher Education institutions.

2.2 NEEDS ANALYSIS AND ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

Needs analysis is considered as one of they stages toward designing ESP courses

(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998).There has however, been a tendency among teachers

and curriculum designers to 'intuit' learners' need and their future language use rather

than carrying out a proper need analysis. As pointed by Roe (1993) there are ESP

teachers "who have never been near the place where the target language is spoken". It is

essential that ESP practitioners constantly examine the tasks students have to perform at

target situations in which they will operate (Johns, 1991). Needs analysis is perceived

essential as the more we know of the situations, the communicative purposes and the

expectations of the targeted discourse communities, the more relevant would the ESP

course be (Harvey, 1984).

According Burnett (1997) to English for specific purpose, or ESP for short, is a

pedagogy in which the syllabus, contents and methods are determined according to the

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needs of learners' specialized subjects. Ever since 1950s, EST has experienced several

phases of development. At first, people tried to establish the Syllabus and curriculum of

EST through register analysis, that is, according to the features of grammar and

vocabulary of the language used in certain specialty. Target situation analysis held that

the purpose of an ESP course is to enable learners to function adequately in a target

situation. Therefore the ESP course design should proceed by identifying the target

situation first, and then carrying out a rigorous analysis of the linguistic features of that

situation. The process is usually known as needs analysis.

Based on the generalization commitment of cognitive linguistics, which seeks the

general principles of language phenomena, the skills-centered approach holds that

"underlying all language use there are common reasoning and interpreting processes,

which, regardless of the surface forms, enable us to extract meaning from discourse."

(Hutchinson, 1987). "There is a core of language which can be identified as "academic"

and which is not subject-specific" (Chitravelu, 1980).

ESP practitioners contend that new techniques must be constantly developed to

examine learner's needs (John 1991).There has been a line of research on need analysis

with various techniques and approaches - among the earliest was developed by Munby

(1978).The principal concern in Munby's analysis of learners' need analysis is the

workplace (the target situation). According to Harvey (1984), the target situation analyses

are perceived as necessary because, "it (is) by analyzing the activities the learner (will) be

required to perform in the foreign language that the course designer is able to determine

the kinds of language and language related skills the students (need) to be trained in"

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Taken from Chan (2000), "assessing needs in the single most important step in

designing human resource development efforts". An important part of needs assessment

is finding out what skills, content (subject -matter) and attitudes necessary for an

employee to successfully carry out his job are lacking. Job information can be obtained

by braking down a job into discrete units of activity (Lewe, 1990),This is noted as task

analysis. Through the task analysis, the researcher or the training designer will able to

obtain specific information on what an employee has to do in order to perform his job

well, following which the skills knowledge and other competencies can be specified,

Chan (2000) added that, approaches in the English Language need analyses

are many and varied, but ideas form the school of thought seem to converge on the idea

that analyzing what the learner has to do/perform in English is of paramount importance,

2.3 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON NEEDS ANALYSIS AND WORKING

ENVIRONMENT

During the past 20 years, the explosion in business and communications

technology has revolutionized the field of English language teaching, and has radically

shifted the attention of course designers from teaching English for Academic purposes to

teaching English for more specialized purposes. In the last few years, first (LI) and

second (L2) language acquisition research into language teaching have led to an

increased interest in investigating the most effective ways of improving the ability of

workers in using English for specific purposes in the workplace.

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Several recent studies of ESP have provided evidence of the importance of

teaching English for specific purposes (Li So-mui and Mead, 2000; Edwards, 2000;

Lohiala-Salinen, 1996; Hutchinson and Waters, 1987). For example, it has been observed

that the type of language used by each worker is influenced by the worker's working

instrument (Pogner, 2003; Zak and Dudley-Evans, 1986), by his aims and professional

constraints, as well as by his specialization and the type of duties assigned to him, and by

the texts the worker produces and deals with (e.g., Edwards, 2000; Macintosh, 1990).

These educational studies have been developing in tandem with a recognition that

learning English for specific purposes play important roles in workers1 and administrators'

success in their fields of work and business environments.

Over the last few years, many researchers have offered a number of books and

articles bringing out new insights and approaches from different theoretical perspectives.

For instance, an important survey was conducted in Finland in 1998 by the National

Board of Education on the language and communication skills in the fields of industry

and business. It studied language or communication needs of industry and business

employees and was aimed at showing how language teaching could best equip students

with the skills required in professional life. The survey has revealed that compared with

engineers, employees in production jobs, installation and repair workers do not need to

use foreign languages as much as the members of the other group. However it is clear

that they have to read instructions, socialize and travel. They rarely get involved with

writing formal papers, giving presentations or negotiating. Reported in Viel (2002) the

study thus has shown that the need for oral communication overrides written skills

(reading and writing) in the first group, while the discrepancy in the second is smaller.

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