English Oral Communication Problems and Strategies Used by Thai Reservation and Ticketing Agents

Abstract

In an international business environment, especially in airline business, it is apparent that employees are required to have a high level of English proficiency, especially oral communication skills. Although there have been many research studies on English oral communication problems and strategies used by Thai employees in service industry, studies investigating problems experienced by airline employees in Thailand are still limited.  Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the English oral communication problems and strategies used by Thai reservation and ticketing agents of an international airline to communicate with native and non-native English-speaking airport and related airline agents. The participants were 74 Thai reservation and ticketing agents of an international airline based in Bangkok, Thailand. A set of questionnaires adapted from Jeharsae (2012) was employed to collect the data. The participants were asked to rate their problems and the strategies on a Likert scale. The research results showed that Thai reservation and ticketing agents had problems in English oral communication at different levels of agreement. The most common problems found were cultural awareness, grammar usage, pronunciation, and listening comprehension. Moreover, when communicating with non-native English speakers, they had more problems understanding different foreign accents. Although the reservation and ticketing agents encountered problems during their interactions with native and non-native English-speaking airport and related airline agents, they made attempts to achieve their communication goals as can be seen from several uses of oral communication strategies. Consequently, the results from the study can be implications for speakers or learners who need to improve their own English proficiency and for the airline or other organizations to design effective English training course for their employees.