English for Oral Transactional Communication: A Case Study of Financial Office Personnel

Abstract

Since the 20th century, English had spread through many countries used as an international language which is frequently used for a wide range purpose in public and personal needs. This case study aimed to identify the use of language(s) for communication between staff and student and to assess possible solutions to help staff improve their English communication skills as the use of English for oral transactional communication, a case study of financial office personnel, Assumption University, Thailand during the academic year 2015-2016. The conversation transcriptions were collected as the data for analyzing; these conversations were analyzed by adapting from CANCODE corpus model focusing on spoken discourse analysis. The main issue was on the use of language for both L1 and L2 in the process of conducting service. By analyzing each transcription in details, it revealed the movement of conversation as an interaction between speaker and listener and it represented how staff used English and Thai for communication in term of translanguaging. The use of translanguaging seems to help the officers overcome certain difficulties in communication when faced with the transactional interaction required in their job. However, the lack of ability to explain financial technical term to the students lead to misunderstandings in the conversation.