NEEDS ANALYSIS IN ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION OF PASSENGER SERVICE AGENTS AT SUVARANABHUMI AIRPORT

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the level of need for English speaking and listening skills and to identify these needs in terms of these two skills among passenger service agents in Thailand with different levels of work experience. The participants in this study included one hundred and three passenger service agents from a number of airlines working at the check-in counters and boarding gates at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. The instrument employed in this study was a questionnaire and the research design was quantitative. The questionnaire was used to collect data about their needs levels in terms of English speaking and listening skills and to identify the needs of participants with different levels of work experience. The findings of this study revealed that English speaking and listening skills were highly necessary for their jobs, with mean scores of 4.39 and 4.41, respectively. In terms of speaking, it was also highly necessary when dealing with passengers and apologizing when mistakes were made, with a mean score of 4.77. However, in terms of listening, being able to understand the needs and wants of passengers was very necessary with a mean score of 4.79. Among the three groups of service agents with different levels of experience, all of the groups agreed that speaking skills were the most required skill for the task of “dealing with passengers and apologizing when mistakes occurred” with a mean score 4.79 with regarding listening skills. However, the groups with one to three years and four to six years of experience agreed to rate the highest need on the tasks as “being able to understand the needs and wants of the passengers” with a mean score of 4.75 and 4.81 respectively. However, the group with six years and over of experience rated the highest need on the tasks “being able to understand what foreign cabin crews said” and “being able to comprehend what a supervisor assigns to do”, with a mean score 4.95. In short, the results of this study may be useful as a guideline to determine the level of oral communication needs in English language training courses.

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