A discourse analysis of communication breakdowns: The case of offshore call center industry in the Philippines

Date of Publication

6-11-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics

Subject Categories

Applied Linguistics

College

Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education

Department/Unit

English and Applied Linguistics

Thesis Adviser

Danilo T. Dayag

Defense Panel Chair

Ma. Lourdes S. Bautista

Defense Panel Member

Rochelle Irene G. Lucas
Shirley N. Dita
Leah E. Gustilo
Marilou R. Madrunio

Abstract/Summary

Communication has become one of the crucial aspects in today’s globalized workplace especially where language skills form the core of its transactions and operations. Of particular interest among language researchers today is the spoken discourse in Business Processing Outsourcing Industry specifically in offshore call centers. With call center communication as an emerging area of research, this has become an important venue from which language and communication issues are explored. One of the pervasive issues confronting offshore call centers involves the difficulties of their customer service representatives (CSRs) in communicating competently with their clients resulting in communication breakdowns. As the call center industry is becoming more globalized, cases of misunderstanding and miscommunication escalate. It is along this context that the researcher investigated the communication breakdowns in inbound calls (customer-initiated calls) in a Philippine-based call center. Specifically, she attempted to examine the 1) stages of inbound telephone calls, 2) point(s) in the call flow where communication breakdowns typically occurred, 3) triggers of communication breakdown and discourse strategies employed by CSRs and clients to deal with this phenomenon, 4) based on the findings, proposed a model of communication breakdown, and 5) identified the communication skills and strategies which need to be integrated in the language training program of offshore call centers. The study employed discourse analysis using conversational- analytic (CA), genre and pragmatics approaches. The corpus is composed of 50 authentic telephone calls completed during the year 2008 and the first half of 2009 with each call having an average handling time (AHT) of 15 minutes. The corpus was randomly selected from the recorded and archived call files of telecommunication accounts handled by the call center. The findings indicate that communication breakdown is an interactional phenomenon which is collaboratively managed by the CSRs and clients through the use of various discourse strategies. It is found to be configured in an organized sequence of actions such as the detection of trouble sources, repair initiation, repair and evaluation. Based on the triggers emerging from the data, communication breakdowns in call center appear in two forms: organizational breakdown caused by discourse incoherence; and pragmatic breakdown induced by misinterpreting speaker’s meaning, misuse of expressions to convey communicative intentions and misappropriation of pragmatic strategies. The findings reveal US-based clients sidestepping errors on grammar and pronunciation, features which have been highlighted in call center language training program. An integrated CA-pragmatic model has been proposed incorporating the features derived from the findings. Research oriented to these perspectives is necessary to guide curriculum developers, language teachers, and trainers in developing the most critical communication competencies. I.e. discourse and pragmatic competencies, among the aspiring Filipino CSRs in various call centers in the Philippines.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTG004792

Shelf Location

Archives, The Learning Commons, 12F Henry Sy Sr. Hall

Keywords

Communicative competence; Call center agents; Discourse analysis; Communication

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Embargo Period

5-29-2022

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