Barriers to effective communication of Thai cabin crew

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF THAI CABIN CREW
WORKING IN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES WHERE ENGLISH IS NOT
THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE
YOSSINEE TONTANAVETCHAKUL
Advisor: Assistant Professor Vimolchaya Yanasugondh
A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
IN
ENGLISH FOR CAREERS
LANGUAGE INSTITUTE, THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
BANGKOK, THAILAND
MARCH 2011
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research study were 1) To identify the most common
intercultural communication problems found among Thai cabin crew working in
international airlines. 2) To investigate the area of language difficulties of Thai cabin
crew working in international airlines, especially the most commonly used skills
which are speaking and listening skills. 3) To determine the practical suggestions
concerning intercultural communication of Thai cabin crew. The research study was
conducted with a sample group from five major international airlines that employ
Thai cabin crew including Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Emirates Airlines, EVA
Air, and JALways. Self-administered online questionnaire was used as a data
collecting instrument during December 2010 to January 2011. The data obtained was
analyzed and presented statistically through the use of SPSS Program. The findings
from the study revealed that:
1) The dominant factors that the respondents commonly encountered as
problems in communicating with people from other countries are language differences
and difficulties.
2) In terms of language difficulties, the most problematic area was different
accents and pronunciation people have when communicating in English.
3) The majority of the respondents suggested that all airlines should provide
cabin crew with courses or training, especially language courses, which could be the
the local language of the airline they are working for. Also, understanding the cultures
and beliefs of the country they are working for is as important as understanding the
differences and nature of the passengers from each country.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a great pleasure to express my deepest gratitude to those who made this
research study possible, especially my advisor, Assistant Professor Vimolchaya
Yanasugondh, for her constructive guidance and continual support throughout my
study. All professors and instructors at Language Institute, Thammasat University, for
their time and dedication. My family, for the love and trust they have in me and
encouragement in whatever I do. As well as all my friends and colleagues, for always
being supportive and inspiring.
Lastly, this paper is dedicated to all of you, who have been sharing
experiences in foreign airlines and whose workplace is 36,000 feet above the sea
level... “cabin crew”.
Thammasat University
Yossinee Tontanavetchakul
Bangkok, Thailand
March 2011
iii
CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………..
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………….... iii
CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………. iv
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………...……….... 1
1.1 Background………………………………………………………. 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem…………….…………………………… 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study…………………………………………… 4
1.4 Definition of Terms……………………………………………..…4
1.5 Scope of the Study……………………………………………...… 7
1.6 Significance of the Study…………………………………………. 7
1.7 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………...7
1.8 Organization of the Study………………………………………… 8
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………………………...………...... 9
2.1 English as an Aviation Language……………………………..….. 9
2.2 Defining Communication…………….……………………………12
2.3 Understanding Culture……………………………………………. 14
2.4 Barriers to Intercultural Communication……………………...….. 19
3. METHODOLOGY………………………………...………....................... 28
3.1 Subjects…………………………………………………….....….. 28
3.2 Materials…………….……………………………………………. 28
3.3 Procedures………………………………………………………… 30
3.4 Data Analysis……………………………………………….…..… 30
4. RESULTS………………………………...………...................................... 31
4.1 The Respondents Background Information Subjects……………... 31
4.2 Barrier to Effective Intercultural Communication………………... 38
4.3 Practical Suggestions…………………………………………..…. 45
5. CONCLUSION, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……. 48
5.1 Summary of the Study……………………………………………..48
5.2 Summary of the Findings and Discussion…………….………… 49
5.3 Conclusions…………………………………………………….… 54
5.4 Recommendations for Further Research Study………………..… 55
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………… 56
APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………….. 59
A. Questionnaire…………………………………………………………. 59
B. The Educational Testing Service’s advisory proficiency chart………. 66
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
Businesses around the globe are now dealing with an increase in diversity of
workforce, languages, and cultures on a daily basis. Similarly, in the airline industry,
the number of passengers on both domestic and international air transportation has
been forecasted to continuously increase. International passenger demand is estimated
to rise from 760 million passengers in 2006 to 980 million in 2011(IATA, 2007).
Each business sector related to the aviation industry has been trying to utilize and
manage their resources to meet the increasing demand. Frontline products and
services are important factors which airlines continuously develop and use to compete
with each other; for example, in-flight entertainment systems, in-flight catering,
special passengers handling services, airport ground staff, and cabin crew.
In order to meet the increasing demand of air transportation around the world,
major international airlines have increasingly shifted their interest towards employing
foreign cabin crew in order to enhance themselves in terms of language capability,
diversifying their hospitality characteristics, and minimizing the higher cost of hiring
local crew. As a result, cabin crew, a major human resource who have direct contact
with passengers, are required to hold a number of qualifications including pleasant
appearance and personality; being flexible and adaptable to different environments
and situations; and having good communication skill, especially in English. Listed
below are major airlines that currently employ Thai cabin crew:

Asiana Airlines (OZ, Republic of Korea)

Cathay Pacific Airways (CX, Hong Kong)

China Airlines (CI, Taiwan)

Egypt Air (MS, Egypt)

Emirates Airlines (EK, United Arab Emirates)

Etihad Airways (EY, United Arab Emirates)
2

EVA Air (BR, Taiwan)

JALways (JO, Japan)

Gulf Air (GF, Kingdom of Bahrain)

Jetstar Airways (JQ, Australia)

Korean Air (KE, Republic of Korea)

Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait)

Oman Air (WY, Oman)

Qatar Airways (QR, Qatar)

Royal Brunei Airlines (BI, the State of Brunei Darussalam)

Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ, Jordan)

Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore)
Consequently, English is used as a means of communication among people
with different nationalities and is recognized as an official language for the aviation
industry. In order for a Thai applicant to be qualified as a cabin crew of most
international airlines, an English language proficiency of at least 550 TOEIC (Test of
English for International Communication) score is required; while for some, IELTS
(International English Language Test), TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign
Language), or an in-house English language proficiency test may be applied
depending on the recruitment system. However, those English language scores serve
as an entry qualification only and do not influence the exemption of basic English
course training and career advancement.
After completing the recruitment process, successful Thai candidates are
normally transferred to the airline headquarters where the training centers are located
for further training processes. During this period, the trainees have to adapt
themselves to the new environment, people, and language, and are exposed to
intercultural communication on a daily basis. Depending on each airline, the training
generally lasts approximately 3 months and is divided into two major parts, which are
safety and service training. The major emphasis of the overall training is the safety
training which is the main concern of all airlines and is required by all trainees to be
completed first in order to obtain the cabin crew license and to continue service
3
training. The training is conducted in English mostly by the local trainers who are
experienced cabin crew. During the second half of the training, some airline provides
the trainees with both local language and English language training. For some airlines,
the duration of the language training is regularly at most 3 days and emphasizes only
pronunciation and speaking skills related to in-flight service. Unlike safety training, a
post test may not be applied since English language requirement is only mandatory as
an entry qualification, but is not required by law for licensed cabin crew.
Cabin crew extensively communicate with people from different nationalities
and languages, including flight crew, in-flight pursers, colleagues, ground service
staff, catering staff, and aircraft mechanic staff. Moreover, they frequently encounter
passengers from various backgrounds and inevitably interact with them, from
boarding the aircraft, providing in-flight services, solving possible problems during
the flight, to finally deplaning at the destination. All in all, cabin crew may find
themselves in a situation of communication breakdown, and misunderstanding, which
causes inefficient performance in both service and safety related issues.
However, previous research studies mostly focused on the area of flight crew
and air traffic controller in the extent of intercultural communication and barriers, a
few were related to cabin crew, moreover, all of them were found to be applicable to a
Thai context only. Consequently, this study was conducted with a focus on the foreign
context in which Thai cabin crew experience barriers to effective communication as a
result of cultural factors and English communication skills.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The major area of interest in this study is to explore the working environment
of foreign airlines where Thai cabin crew find themselves, one way or another, being
hindered by communication barriers in the extent of cultural differences and English
communication skills. In order to discover those barriers and their causes, the
following research questions are used as guidelines throughout the study:
1.2.1
Are language differences and difficulties dominant causes to
ineffective intercultural communication for Thai cabin crew working in foreign
airlines?
4
1.2.2
Is there a relationship between the cabin crews’ years of experience
and intercultural communication problems?
1.2.3
Which cultural bias is the key barrier to effective communication for
Thai cabin crew working in foreign airlines?
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research study has the following objectives:
1.3.1
To identify the most common intercultural communication problems
found among Thai cabin crew working in international airlines
1.3.2
To investigate the area of language difficulties of Thai cabin crew
working in international airlines, especially the most commonly used skills which are
speaking and listening skills.
1.3.3
To determine the practical suggestions concerning intercultural
communication of Thai cabin crew.
1.4
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Some technical terms mentioned in this study are commonly understood by
most people in airline industry; however, it is also essential to people outside the
industry to share common understanding of those terms and definitions as well.
Accordingly, the definition of terms of this research study is as follows:

Cabin Crew
“In an aircraft, the people whose job it is to take care of the passengers” is
used to define cabin crew by Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
In accordance with ICAO Annex 1 Personnel Licensing, ICAO’s ADREP
(Accident/Incident Data Reporting) 2000 Taxonomy defined “cabin crew” as “a crew
member who performs, in the interest of the safety of passengers, duties assigned by
the operator or the pilot-in-command of the aircraft, but who shall not act as a flight
crew member”.
5

Cabin Crew Safety Training
The successful cabin crew candidates are required to undergo the safety
training in order to ensure they are capable of performing the duties of cabin crew.
After completion, the trainees will be titled as licensed cabin crew and are mandated
to attend the recurrent training once every year. Courses basically included in the
training are first aid training, CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), fire fighting,
hijacking, safety demonstration (the use of safety equipments on board; for example,
oxygen mask, seat belt, flotation devices, emergency lights, and exits) and emergency
evacuation.

Flight Crew
Flight crew or flight deck crew is defined by Macmillan Online Dictionary as
“The people involved with flying a plane including the pilots, the flight engineer and
the navigator. The people involved with looking after the passengers are the cabin
crew”.
In accordance with ICAO Annex 1 Personnel Licensing, ICAO’s ADREP
(Accident/Incident Data Reporting) 2000 Taxonomy, “flight crew” is defined as “a
licensed crew member charged with duties essential to the operation of an aircraft
during a flight duty period”. The term flight crew involves many personnel including
“Pilot-in command” or “The pilot responsible for the operation and safety of the
aircraft during flight time”; and “Co-pilot” or “A licensed pilot serving in any piloting
capacity other than pilot-in-command but excluding a pilot who is on board the
aircraft for the sole purpose of receiving flight instruction”.

IATA
IATA or International Air Transportation Association was founded in Havana,
Cuba, in April 1945. The mission of IATA is to represent, lead, and serve the airline
industry through the development of standards and guidelines for airline members
around the globe. The members of IATA are comprised of 230 airlines which are the
world’s leading passenger and cargo airlines accounting for 93 percent of scheduled
international air traffic.
6
The benefits provided by IATA to the airline industry includes simplifying
travel and shipping processes and costs; allowing airlines to operate safely, securely,
efficiently, and economically under clearly defined rules and regulations; and acting
as an liaison between airlines, passengers, and cargo agents. (IATA, 2005)

ICAO
ICAO or International Civil Aviation Organization “was created in 1944 to
promote the safe and orderly development of civil aviation on the world. As a
specialized agency of the United Nations, it sets international standards and
regulations necessary for the safety, security, efficiency, and regularity of air transport
and serves as the medium for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 187
Contracting States” (ICAO, 1944).

International Airlines
In this study, international airlines are those providing passengers with air
transportation over scheduled routes where flights are originated and ended
internationally. For example, for Thai Airways, TG 644 scheduled flight from
Bangkok to Nagoya is an international flight in that its route ends at another
international destination This together with other international flights make Thai
Airways an international airlines.
Although, some other Thai air carriers are international airlines according to
their routes; such as Bangkok Airways, Thai Air Asia, and Orient Thai. Cabin crew
from the mentioned airlines are not taken into consideration as a sample group.
International airlines, in this study, refer to those founded and have headquarters in
other countries which are not Thailand, routing internationally, and employing Thai
cabin crew.

TOEIC
TOEIC or the Test of English for International Communication was developed
by Educational Testing Services (ETS). The exam consists of multiple choice
questions testing on listening and reading comprehension required in the workplace
7
and academic institutions. The final score is the combination of the two scaled scores
together.
1.5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is limited to exploring the barriers to intercultural communication of
Thai cabin crew working in international airlines and focused only on the female
gender due to the limited number of Thai male cabin crew employed by foreign
airlines. Therefore, the study may not be applicable or generalized to cabin crew
whose majority of colleagues are Thai or where the ratio of male and female cabin
crew is relatively equal.
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The findings of this study will enable Thai cabin crew who have difficulties
working in foreign airlines where English is not the primary language, but inevitably
use English as a means of communication; to have a better understanding towards
intercultural communication problems and difficulties. Moreover, the result of this
study will also raise the awareness in the airline industry to consider improving the
overall English language standard and training for cabin crew. As a result, this will
help in reducing existing problems and eliminating communication barriers in the
workplace between Thai and foreign cabin crew.
1.7
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.7.1
Cabin crew, were found to be feminine, service-oriented, and affective
(Chute and Wiener, 1994), as a result, most airlines tend to employ female cabin crew
as part of their service team. Consequently, data obtained from Thai male cabin crew
is relatively difficult or almost impossible to obtain thus limiting the sample group to
only female.
1.7.2
As part of the job, cabin crew spend most of their time travelling
around the world; depending on the airlines they work for, the based location, and the
assigned schedule of flights, all in all making it relatively difficult to keep track of the
progress during the data collecting process.
8
1.7.3
Cabin crew and their English proficiency level together with different
teaching systems among countries are varied based on how they structured the
curriculum, teaching method, textbooks, and instructors.
1.7.4
Cabin crew with diverse backgrounds such as races, cultures, and
beliefs tend to reflect different points of view thus affecting their communication and
coordination.
1.7.5
Personal relationship between Thai cabin crew and their foreign
colleagues are completely uncontrollable in this study.
1.7.6
Time management is another important issue in this study. According
to the uncertainty of work schedules, the researcher found it somewhat difficult and
limited to allocate time.
1.8
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study of “Barriers to effective communication among Thai cabin crew
working in international airlines where English is not the primary language” is
presented in five chapters. Chapter one introduces the background of the study,
statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, definition of
terms, theoretical framework, research questions, limitations and delimitations.
Chapter two reviews the related literature and research studies. Chapter three explains
the research methodology including information about the instruments, the
procedures, and data analysis. Chapter four presents the findings of the study. Chapter
five summarizes the study, discusses the findings, demonstrates the implications of
the findings for theory and practice, offers recommendation of further study, and
draws a conclusion.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Due to an increase in demand for worldwide transportation, most airlines have
been trying to maximize the utilization and management of their resources to meet up
with the rise. Cabin crew is one of the major frontline personnel that have been more
and more focused on. Most airlines have increasingly shifted their interest towards
employing foreign cabin crew in order to enhance themselves in terms of language
capability, diversify their hospitality characteristics, and minimize the higher cost of
hiring local crew. Accordingly, Thai is one of many nationalities that have been
continuously employed by major international airlines around the globe.
As part of being a cabin crew, a number of qualifications are required and the
most important one is communication skill, especially in English. However, conflicts
and problems may arise due to differences in cultural background and the primary
language possessed. Consequently, past records have shown a number of incidents
and accidents as a result of communication breakdown. Also, while most research
studies were conducted to investigate the barriers and solutions towards
miscommunication in the area of flight crew, air traffic controllers, and mechanics;
only a few was related to cabin crew, especially Thai cabin crew working in foreign
airlines.
This part of the study contains background information relating to English as
an aviation language; principles, theories, and related research studies relating to
communication; culture; and barriers to intercultural communication.
2.1
ENGLISH AS AN AVIATION LANGUAGE
International travel could happen for a hundred reasons from leisure to
business. Each journey has immediate linguistic consequences as a language is
interpreted, learned, and imposed over time. In many tourist spots around the world,
restaurants, road signs, and credit card facilities are most common and noticeable in
10
English. Safety instructions on international flights and sailings, information about
emergency procedures in hotels, and directions to major locations are now
increasingly in English along with local languages. Most notices which tell us to
fasten our seatbelts, locate the life vest and the location of the emergency exits give us
an option in English (Crystal, 2003)
In order to be qualified as a cabin crew of most international airlines, the most
commonly used standard as an English language proficiency requirement is Test of
English for International Communication (TOEIC) with a minimum score of 550.
TOEIC is a multiple-choice proficiency test on listening and reading skills.
Educational Testing Services (ETS) and local certified test centers respectively
develops and administers the TOEIC program in each country. First launched in 1979,
the TOEIC test quickly gained prominence within the field of EFL/ESL (English as a
Foreign/Second Language) education. The test is designed to rate test-takers‟ English
proficiency on daily English language usage in international business settings.
According to ETS, TOEIC provides an exceptionally reliable indication of
English language proficiency. More than 1.5 million people took the test in more than
20 countries; and over 2000 corporations and language schools worldwide applied
TOEIC as part of their language proficiency test (TOEIC Examinee Handbook, 1996).
However, due to the test format excluding a spoken and a written component,
researchers propose that the claim might be misleading and misinterpreted. (Gilfert,
1996; Smith, 2000)
Nevertheless, a revision of the test was undertaken in order to better support
test questions with everyday workplace language scenarios and to provide test-takers
with more information about their listening and reading proficiency levels (Powers,
Kim, & Weng, 2008). As a result, the comparison between the previous and current
TOEIC test items is shown in Table 1 below:
11
Table 1. Major changes in TOEIC test items (Listening and Reading
Comprehensions)
TOEIC
NEW TOEIC
Listening Comprehension: 100 items
Listening Comprehension: 100 items
Photographs: 20 questions
Photographs: 10 questions
Question-Response: 30 questions
Question-Response: 30 questions
Short Conversations: 30 questions; 30 Short Conversations: 30 questions; 10
conversations with 1 question each
conversations with 3 question each
Talks: 20 questions
Short Talks: 30 questions; 10 talks with
3 questions each
TOEIC
NEW TOEIC
Reading Comprehension: 100 items
Reading Comprehension: 100 items
Incomplete Sentences: 40 questions
Incomplete Sentences: 40 questions
Error Recognition: 20 questions
Text Completion: 12 questions
Reading Comprehension: 40 questions;
Single Passages: 28 questions; 7-10
reading texts with 2-5 questions each
Double Passages: 20 questions; 4 pairs
of reading texts with 5 questions per pair
Note. From TOEIC Examinee Handbook (p.2), 2007, Princeton: Educational Testing
Service).
A relevant research study in 2006 by Il-Suk Lee, from Dankook University of
South Korea on “The Effectiveness of TOEIC Scores on English Oral Proficiency”
was conducted in order to investigate the relationship between the TOEIC score of
Dankook University students and their speaking ability. The result shows the TOEIC
is a good indirect predictor of students‟ oral proficiency and the reading score of
TOEIC is more highly related to students‟ communicative ability in English.
On the other hand, another relevant research study from Cunningham (2002)
from University of Birmingham on “The TOEIC test and communicative competence:
Do test score gains correlate with increased competence?” shows a different point of
view. The study was conducted through a parallel study between Test of Interactive
12
Communication (TIC), created by the researcher herself, which included the
assessment of listening, reading and writing skill; and the TOEIC test. The purpose
was to determine if TOEIC scores have a correlation with improved communicative
competence as measured by TIC. The result shows that there is no correlation
between TOEIC score and communicative abilities, or between TOEIC test scores and
improved communicative competence. Moreover, it indicates that TOEIC is not an
ideal test of language abilities and does not serve as a valid measurement for nonnative English speakers‟ language proficiency placement test.
On the extent of English language difficulty and cabin crew, a relevant
research study in 2003 by Ganchalie Permtanjit on “Analysis of Thai Airways
International Flight Attendant‟s Language Difficulties to Provide Practical
Suggestions for Language Training” shows an interesting point of view. The results
show that listening and speaking skills are the two most important language skills for
cabin crew; also, job-related vocabulary and cultural differences were also important
for their work. Moreover, unfamiliar accents and pronunciation are two major areas of
language difficulty.
2.2
DEFINING COMMUNICATION
Prior to understanding intercultural communication, we should first be able to
define communication. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “communicate” as “to
be able to share and understand each others‟ thoughts and feelings”. Similarly,
Hamilton and Parker (1997) define communication as a process in which people
express their thoughts, ideas, and feelings to others in a commonly understandable
way. However, theorists and scholars have described communication in hundreds of
ways in which they share some common characteristics and meanings as follows:
2.2.1
Communication is a Process
Not only is it a process, communication is an ongoing activity. Being engaged
in communication, both communicating parties simultaneously exchange thoughts
and feeling through transmitting and interpreting messages. Words and actions
immediately replace one another during the whole process of communication. It is
dynamic, on-going, continuous, and irreversible (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003; Samovar
13
& Porter, 1991). Moreover, once that communication takes place, we may experience
a similar one, but not an identical one just like an arrow which can never be recalled
once it has been shot.
2.2.2 Communication is Symbolic
Human communication is superior to other forms of communication in the
extent of their ability to communicate through symbols they created and assigned the
meaning to. Symbols can be both verbally and nonverbal (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003)
or anything that creates a meaning to represent something else; for instance words,
behaviors, or objects (Lustig & Koester, 2006). However, there is no natural
connection between the symbol and its meaning. The inference is varied from culture
to culture depending on their mutual agreement which has been passed on from
generation to generation (Samovar & Porter, 2001). For example, the use of thumbs
up is commonly understood among airline personnel especially cabin crew and flight
crew. It is generally used to send a signal to each others that a situation is alright or
that they are ready to do something, while for others, it may convey different
meanings such as great job.
2.2.3 Communication is Interpretive
“Messages can be transmitted from one person to another, but meanings
cannot” (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003). In other words, message interpretation is rather
subjective and may not be identical between the communicating parties. Basically,
human beings infer what is being experienced and interpret the meaning under
individual frames of reference through words and actions of each others, for example;
silence, long speeches, head nods, or even a glance.
2.2.4
Communication is Contextual
Communication does not occur in a vacuum but rather takes place in both a
physical and social context. Physical context refers to physical surroundings such as
furniture, lighting, decoration and other physical objects. On the other hand, social
context refers to social relationships, hierarchies, or status between the
communicating parties (Samovar & Porter, 2001; Lustig & Koester, 2006). However,
14
King (2000) provides a more detailed concept towards contexts involved in
communication and categorized them into five types. First, psychological context or
individuals needs, desires, personality, and other forms of psychological factors.
Second, relational context which refers to an individual‟s reactions towards others.
Third, situational context refers to places where the communication takes place in
relation to psycho-social factors such as a classroom or a bar. Fourth, environmental
context which is relatively similar to physical context in that it deals with physical
objects or settings. Last, cultural context or beliefs and behaviors an individual
inherits from his or her own culture.
2.2.5 Communication can be Intentionally or Unintentionally
According to Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967), “One cannot not
communicate”. This implies that communication is inevitable and can be
unintentional. Regardless of verbal communication, other elements of communication
are still in the process; gestures, facial expression, eye contact, dresses, hairstyle, or
even silence are some examples of other passive ways of communication. Also, those
non-verbal messages are often delivered and at the same time, may also be received
unconsciously (Pinto, 2000).
2.3
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
Culture is a large, complex, and inclusive concept which is relatively difficult
to define. Similar to communication, it holds a hundred definitions by theorists and
scholars depending on their view towards the specific context. For example, some
may refer to culture as an appreciation of good art, food, books, and music. On the
contrary, most social scientists view culture as the existence of symbolic, conceptual,
and intangible aspects of human societies and which usually distinguish the members
of a given culture from one another (Banks, Banks, and McGee, 1989).
2.3.1
Characteristics of Culture
2.3.1.1 Culture is Learned
Culture is not born with human beings, rather it is learned through
people in our culture that we socialize with such as parents, friends, or even strangers
15
who are part of our culture (Haviland, Mcbride, Prins, & Walrath, 2007; Linton, 1945;
Lustig & Koester, 2006; Useem & Useem, 1963; Varner & Beamer, 2005). Moreover,
culture can be learned through various ways such as proverbs, folktales, legends,
myths, art, and mass media (Samovar & Porter, 2001). Varner and Beamer (2005)
also state that human beings may not be limited to only one culture since many people
have learned and feel comfortable living in more than one culture. For example, cabin
crew may hold their own culture from the country of birth, however, they tend to
absorb new cultures as they are travelling to different places around the world and
some may find it exciting and interesting to learn new cultures.
2.3.1.2 Culture is Shared
Another dominant characteristic of culture is that it is shared and
transmitted among the members of the culture (Laderach, 1995; Parson, 1949; Useem
& Useem, 1963). The transmission of the key elements of culture creates a link
between culture and communication in the way that it is formulated and
communicated from generation to generation (Samovar & Porter, 2001). This also
supports the principle of Hall (1977) that “Culture is communication and
communication is culture”.
2.3.1.3 Culture Involves Beliefs, Values, Norms, Attitudes, and
Social Practices
According to Lustig and Koester (2006), shared beliefs, values, norms,
and social practices tend to be stable and endure over time thus shaping the similar
behaviors among the members of the culture. As a whole, this refers to as how people
perceive the world, what is true or false, what is good or bad, what is important, what
are appropriate behaviors, what is expected, how people feel about things, and
behavioral patterns.
2.3.1.4 Culture Affects Behavior
As a result beliefs, values, norms, attitudes, and social practice function
in culture all in all to guide and shape how people behave or what should or should
not be done. In other words, people present their culture through their behavioral
16
routines (Lustig & Koester, 2006). Table 2 below shows how value and attitude affect
behavior.
Table 2. Value, Attitude, and Behavior Relationship
Value
Attitude
Behavior
Honesty
Telling a lie is wrong
Lying
Family
Family events come first
Choosing to attend a family party
rather than go out with friends
Status
High status means one has
Dressing expensively to show
better control over events and
high status
people
Achievement Achievement deserves praise
Giving recognition for
accomplishment
Harmony
Dissent causes disruption in
Refraining from disagreeing
groups
Note. From Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace (3 ed.,p. 11)., by I.
Varner and L. Beamer, 2005, New York: McGraw-Hill.
2.3.1.5 Culture is Dynamic and Adaptive
Culture generally responds to motions and actions within and around
them (Haviland, Mcbride, Prins, & Walrath, 2008). Whenever a component within a
culture changes, other element within them change or adjust consequently. A good
example of this could be the role of women in Eastern countries. Historically, women
were expected to be at home, and raise children but if they worked, they were limited
to careers such as secretaries, nurses, or teachers. Considering the forces within the
culture and the world economy, both men and women have made an adaptation to
those changes (Samovar & Porter, 2001).
17
2.3.2
Cultural Dimension
People of different cultures are finding themselves communicating and
working together more and more. Because we are all culturally different, it is essential
for us to take a careful consideration and understanding towards cultural diversity
management. One of the most commonly used methods is Geert Hofstede‟s Cultural
Dimensions, in which cultural data was initially collected and analyzed from
employees of a multinational corporation (IBM) in 64 countries. Subsequently,
studies were conducted further with elites in 19 countries, up-market consumers in 15
countries, civil service managers in 14 countries, commercial airline pilots in 23
countries, and students in 23 countries. Consequently, these studies identified four
cultural dimensions that distinguish one culture from another, with the fifth dimension
added later (Hofstede, 1980). The five cultural dimensions are described as follows:
2.3.2.1 Power distance
Power Distance refers to “the extent to which the less powerful
members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that
power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede, 1980). In other words, it is the inequality
in power distribution within the culture, or the distance between the power and the
member of the culture.
Although all cultures tend to hold both high and low power distance
relationships, one continuum seems to be dominant (Samovar & Porter, 2001). Some
cultures might regard a certain group of people as superior to others as a result of their
wealth, social status, gender, education level, physical strength, occupation, or any
other characteristics. In a business context; the low power distance countries tend to
minimize the inequality; subordinates and boss are perceived to be equal and
encouraged to openly share their thoughts and ideas. On the contrary; the high power
distance countries tend to have a great centralization of power, communication flows
downward; and subordinates are likely to be bypassed in any decision making
process.
18
2.3.2.2 Individualism
Individualism, together with its opposite; Collectivism, can be
explained as “the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups” or the
degree to which a culture relies on and has allegiance to the self or the group”
(Hofstede, 1980). According to Samovar and Porter (2001), individualism emphasizes
the independence, privacy, achievement, and uniqueness of an individual. On the
other hand, a collectivism culture tends to have strong group cohesion and harmony;
and “relationships facilitate results” (Varner & Beamer (20005). Moreover, Lustig &
Koester (2006) propose that the wealthy and colder climate cultures tend to be more
individualism; while the poor and warmer climate culture tends to be collectivism,
given that the economic development and climate are the key predictors. Also, people
in individualism cultures are expected to take care of themselves and immediate
family members only; while in collectivism cultures, everyone in their extended
relationship is well taken care.
2.3.2.3 Masculinity
Masculinity, as the opposite of femininity, can be explained as “the
distribution of roles between the genders” which is another fundamental issue for any
society to which a range of solutions are found. Note that it is not limited only to the
value given to men and women in society or the perception towards traditional roles
of men and women in the particular culture, but masculinity and femininity also
indicate the traits in a given culture. In countries with high masculinity, the emphasis
is on achievement, money, and status. On the other hands, love, affection, caring, and
empathy are more focused on in feminism countries (Samovar & Porter, 2001).
In countries with high masculinity index, men are expected to be the
provider, assertive, and strong; while countries with low masculinity index perceive
roles of both genders to be interchangeable, women can do things men do, and
women‟s success is admired and respected (Hofstede, 1980).
2.3.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance
This concept deals with “a society's tolerance for uncertainty and
ambiguity and indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either
19
uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations”. It can also refer to the
degree of anxiety in which members of a given culture feel towards ambiguous
situations and find ways to avoid them. In countries where people accept uncertainty,
they are more tolerant to differences, risk, and new ideas; while in the countries where
people avoid uncertainty, they try to minimize the possibility of novel, unfamiliar, and
surprising situations through the application of strict laws and regulation (Hofstede,
1980; Samovar & Porter, 2001).
2.3.2.5 Long-term orientation
This last dimension was established after the study with a group of
students from 23 countries due to the observation of Western bias during the
foundation of the first four dimensions. This dimension has a close relationship to the
Asian Confucian Dynamism existing in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and
Singapore. Long-term orientation can be explained as the degree to which the society
upholds traditional values. The primary values are not limited only to long-term
orientation but also “perseverance, ordering relationships by status, being thrift
centered, having a sense of shame, and emphasizing collective face-saving” (Samovar
& Porter, 2001).
In a business context, the long term commitment to hard work for
future reward outweighs the need for rapid change in long-term oriented countries;
while changes can occur faster since long-term traditions do not obstruct them. In
other words, it also influences a culture‟s resistance or acceptance to changes
(Hofstede, 1980).
2.4
BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
A number of events have led to many changes in local and worldwide
interaction patterns. Changes in transportation technology made the world smaller by
providing people with a convenient means that allow us to be anywhere in the world
within a short flying time. People become more and more exposed to neighbors who
no longer share the same color of hair and eyes, dress, food, ritual, and language. As
the world has become a global village, we are increasingly having opportunities to
interact with people from different cultures in our daily lives, although it often creates
20
dissimilar interpretation and attribution. “The difficulty with being thrust into a global
village is that we do not yet know how to live like villagers; there are too many of us
who do not want to live with „them‟ ” (Samovar & Porter, 1991, p.6).
Interaction only within one‟s own culture produces less conflict because the
culture is known and predictable to the communicators. On the contrary, when
engaging in communication with people from different cultures the sense of security,
comfort, certainty, predictability, and accuracy of interpretation of verbal and
nonverbal codes, are lost. Terms that are frequently used when communicating with
culturally different people could be unknown, unpredictable, ambiguous, weird,
mysterious, unexplained, unusual, unfamiliar, curious, novel, odd, and strange (Lustig
& Koester, 2006).
Barna (1997) has identified six
stumbling blocks in intercultural
communication as follows: assumption of similarities, preconceptions and
stereotypes, tendency to evaluate, language differences, nonverbal misinterpretation,
and anxiety. However, in this research study, the first three barriers and additional
cultural biases will be combined together since they hold similar characteristics and
provide a relatively broader point of view.
2.4.1
Cultural Biases
2.4.1.1 Ethnocentrism
Sumner (1940) was the first to introduce the concept of ethnocentrism
and defines it as “the view of things in which one‟s own group is the center of
everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. The most important
fact is that ethnocentrism leads people to exaggerate and intensify everything in their
own folkways which is peculiar and which differentiates them from others. It
therefore strengthens the folkways” (p.12).
Ethnocentrism exists in all culture and everyone is ethnocentric to
some degree. As a result, we tend to view our own cultural values and norm as more
real, right, natural, human, and universal; while those who do things differently are
considered wrong (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003; Lustig & Koester, 2006).
21
2.4.1.2 Stereotype
Lipmann introduced the term stereotype in 1922 to refer to a selection
process that is used to organize and simplify perceptions of others. Stereotypes are a
form of generalization about a particular group of people by taking a category of
people and making statements about the characteristics of all people who belong to
that category (Lustig & Koester, 2006; Samovar & Porter, 2001). Similarly, Barna
(1997) states that stereotypes are stumbling blocks for communicators because they
interfere with objective viewing of stimuli and persist in one‟s own national culture.
A related research study in 2009 by Zhang and Deng on “Stereotype
Communication” was conducted to investigate the influence of stereotypes on
peoples‟ behaviors in intercultural communication and found that a stereotype itself
does not actually lead to miscommunication and/or communication breakdown.
Moreover, they proposed two ways of stereotyping as follows:

Accurate
stereotyping
reflects
our
accurate
cultural-level
predictions about strangers‟ behavior. In other words, when we place someone in a
category, our stereotypes of people in that category helps us predict his or her
behavior. As a result; if the prediction we made matches the actual traits in which
members of that group apply to themselves, we are able to reduce uncertainty as it
tells us how to communicate with the group of people.

Inaccurate stereotyping often leads to misunderstanding. This
occurs when others‟ communicative styles are judged inappropriately due to all
potential factors including religion, mother tongue, culture, education, class, sex, skin
color, height, age, and family situation.
As a result, stereotyping may lead to ineffective communication when
we communicate with strangers. In order to increase our accuracy in making
prediction, we should try to understand different social identity in a particular
situation, keep our minds open, and be mindful.
2.4.1.3 Prejudice
Prejudice is defined as “amounts to a rigid and irrational generalization
about a category of people. Prejudice is irrational to the extent that people hold
inflexible attitudes supported by little or no direct evidence. Prejudice may target
22
people of a particular social sex, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, race or
ethnicity” (Macionis, 1998, p.217). It is usually an evaluation opinion based on
emotion or has some personal irrational bias, not on facts. For instance, Chinese
always give you a fish-eye look, they don‟t feel any emotion; or Irish have hot
tempers and get angry easily, they can be really difficult to deal with (Varner &
Beamer, 2005).
Prejudiced communication includes obvious forms such as hate speech,
written discriminatory policies, and extreme symbolism (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003).
When moved up to a higher level of expression, prejudice could turn into physical
attacks which often accelerate into hostility and intensity if it is left abandoned.
2.4.1.4 Discrimination
William (1947) defines discrimination as “the degree that individuals
of a given group who are otherwise formally qualified are not treated in conformity
with these nominally universal institutionalized codes” (p.39). In other words,
discrimination involves behaviors in which members of out-groups are treated
disadvantageously based on perceived or actual differences. While prejudice refers to
people‟s attitudes or mental presentations, discrimination refers to the behavioral
expressions of that prejudice.
Discrimination in the workplace could have an impact on intercultural
communication because it results in the unequal and unethical treatment of all
cultures; moreover, it makes the working environment a tense and stressful place.
Discrimination in the workplace could be in many forms including racial, ethnic,
gender, religious, and language discrimination (Samovar & Porter, 2001).
2.4.2
Language Differences and Difficulties
Even though the majority of cabin crew as well as airline personnel
from other functions can speak English fairly well, the use of jargon, slang, dialects,
pidgin, accents, vocabulary, idioms, and so on, could create difficulties for some of
them. Tenerife Disaster, the historical accident of the aviation industry can be the
classic example. What happened on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport (as known as
Tenerife Airport) of Spain on 27 March 1977 is still recorded as the world‟s worst
23
accident in aviation history. Two Boeing 747 passenger aircrafts from PANAM (Pan
American World Airways) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines collided on the runway in
preparation for take-off. As a result of miscommunication, together with English as
the major language barriers between the flight crew members and air traffic controller
(ATC), the tragedy left the aviation history with a disastrous record of 583 fatalities.
The worse language problem is the persistence with which someone
keeps assigning the same meaning of a word or phrase in the new language (Barna,
1997). For example, when Japanese hears “Aren‟t you hungry?” he or she would
listen to the literal meaning of the sentence and answer “No”, meaning he or she is
hungry. On the other hand, the American people would interpret that as the person is
not hungry.
2.4.3
Nonverbal Cue Misinterpretation
The lack of comprehension of nonverbal signs and symbols could
create difficulties in intercultural communication when people from different cultures
hold and attribute different meanings to nonverbal codes and possess different
communication style. The following are different nonverbal codes in intercultural
communication:
2.4.3.1 Paralanguage (Vocalics)
Most classifications divide paralanguage into three kinds of
vocalizations:

Vocal characteristics (laughing, crying, yelling, moaning, whining,
belching, yawning);

Vocal qualifiers (volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, resonance, tone);

Vocal segregates (“uh-huh”, “shh”, “uh”, “oooh”, “mmmh”, and
“hum”).
Paralanguage cues can help us in identifying people‟s gender, age,
emotional state, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, intelligence, race, regional
background, and educational level (Richmond & McCroskey, 1995). In association
with body and eye movement, we also signal to listeners through our voices. For
example, a speaker with higher and varied pitch is perceived to be a competent
24
communicator; while an attractive voice is perceived to be dominant, likable, and
achievement oriented (Zuckerman & Driver, 1989). Moreover, a fast and loud speaker
could reflect the confidence of the speaker as well (Kimble & Seidel, 1991)
On the other hand, silence could also have a variety of functions in
intercultural communication, such as creating interpersonal distance, showing respect
to others, and punishing, and avoiding embarrassment (Richmond & McCroskey,
1995). For example, Japanese people tend to remain in silence while listening to
others to show their respect; while the North American culture prefers talkative
people and perceives this as a more polite way when interacting with others.
2.4.3.2 Body language and facial expression (Kinesics)
Similar to all forms of communications, no single type of behavior can
exist in isolation. The study of body language or body movements is known as
„kinesics‟. This includes gestures, head movements, facial expressions, eye behaviors,
and other physical presentations engaged in communication. Ekman and Friesen
(1969) suggest five categories of kinesics behaviors as follows:

Emblems
Like all verbal messages, emblems are symbols which have been
randomly selected by the members of a culture to convey the intended meanings.
Emblems could be a great source of misunderstanding in intercultural communication
since the shared meaning in one culture may be different in another. For example, for
cabin crew, the use of thumb-up conveys the meaning that the situation is alright;
while for scuba divers, this mean that they need to go up above the water line as soon
as possible; and the Thai wai is also an emblem used as a way of greeting and
goodbye.

Illustrators
Illustrators could be nonverbal behaviors that are directly accompanied
with the verbal message in order to emphasize, explain, support, and provide a visual
representation of words or phrases. Unlike emblems, illustrators are more likely to be
universally understood. For example, during the safety demonstration, cabin crew
may point there finger to direct the passengers to the nearest emergency exits on the
25
aircraft; or in a business presentation, the presenter may lift his/her arms and move
them in a large half circle to convey the size of an object.

Affect Displays
Affect displays are facial and body movements that show inner feeling,
emotions, and expression, which can be unconscious and unintentional. Regardless of
culture, the basic emotional displays such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise,
disgust, contempt, and interest could be universally understood even though
information is needed to prove if those emotional displays are universally interpreted
across cultures.

Regulators
In order to help control the flow and sequence of communication,
regulators nonverbal behavior may be applied including head nods, eye contact,
postural shifts, back-channel signals (such as “Uh-huhm” or “Mmm-mmm”), and
other turn-taking cues. Regulators are culture-specific. For example, the Americans
tend to look directly into the eyes of the speakers; whereas Asians prefers to look
away and might be perceived by Americans as being inattentive or not respect the
speakers.

Adaptors
Adaptors are usually intentionally and unconsciously performed;
especially under conditions of stress, impatience, enthusiasm, or nervousness in which
they are often interpreted as a sign of discomfort, uneasiness, irritation, or other
negative feelings. For example, scratching, fidgeting, tapping a pencil, shaking legs,
or smoothing hair.
2.4.3.3 Touch (Haptics)
Touch is the most basic component of human communication as well
as the most effective means of conveying feelings and emotions (Lustig & Koester,
2006). Jones and Yarbrough (1985) identify five meanings of touch that are important
in understanding the nature of intercultural communication as follows:

Touch is often used to indicate affect which is the expression of
positive and negative feelings and emotions. For example; protection, support, dislike,
and hatred could be conveyed through hugging, stroking, hitting, and kicking.
26

Touch is also used as a sign of playfulness which could be used
affectionately or aggressively to signal that the other‟s behavior should not be taken
seriously.

Touch is frequently used as a means of control which could also
indicate social status. For example; in Western countries, those with higher status are
most likely to touch than to be touched.

Touch is mostly used for ritual purposes especially on occasion
involving greeting or leaving such as shaking hands, or kissing the cheeks.

Touch is also used in task-related activities which could be as
casual as a short contact of hand during passing an object, or as formal as a nurse
taking a pulse at the wrist.
However, cultures are different in where people can be touched. In
Thailand, the head should not be touch since it is perceived to be sacred; while in the
United States, it is relatively normal. Also, cultures vary in their expectation about
who touches whom and are different in the setting or occasions in which touch is
acceptable such as in most Islamic countries where men and women are legally not
allowed to hold hands in the public.
2.4.3.4 Space and distance (Proximics)
Two important features of the way cultures use the space around them
are the different needs for personal space and the message that are used to indicate
territoriality. Hall (1966) introduces the term proximics as the study of peoples‟
differences in the use of their personal space as they interact within four spatial zones;
which are intimate, personal, social, and public, as follows:

Intimate distance
The distance is from 0 or touching to 1 ½ feet. This is used to convey
love, comfort, protection, or even fighting with people who are close to us such as
lovers, family, and friends.

Personal distance
The distance is from 1 ½ to 4 feet. This is used in conversation with
intimates, friends, and acquaintance.
27

Social distance
The distance is from 4 to 12 feet. This is used in impersonal and social
gatherings.

Public distance
The distance is from 12 feet and above. This is used in lectures,
concerts, speeches, and ceremonies.
2.4.3.5 Time (Chronemics)
Chronemics is the study of time to the extent of how people use it,
structure it, interpret it, and understand its passage. Cultures differ in their time
orientations or the value or importance the members of a given culture place on the
passage of time; also, in time system or cultural rules which people use to arrange set
of practices in some meaningful ways. Misunderstanding could occur when two
cultures hold different time orientations and time systems. For example, the cabin
crew culture is time-oriented and view punctuality as very important. Being late for
check in deserves a penalty and missing the flight incurs a severe punishment.
2.4.4
High Anxiety and Stress
Generally, when a person is anxious because of not knowing what he
or she is expected to do or when a person speaks little English; he or she could
possibly be intimidated and frustrated trying to communicate with others. For some,
anxiety over speaking English properly could lead to avoiding communication with
others and limiting communicating both on and off the job only to people sharing the
same mother tongue. Additionally, with prolonged uncertainties and unfamiliarity
living in foreign countries, the communicator could develop skewing of perceptions,
withdrawal, and hostility. Moreover, high levels of stress could lead to “culture
shock” in which illness may result, the body forcing needed rest, and recuperation
(Barna, 1997).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes: (1) the subjects, (2) the materials, (3) the procedures
used in the collection and analysis of the data, and (4) the data analysis.
3.1
SUBJECTS
The population of this research study is Thai cabin crew who are currently
working for or used to work, for at least two years, with foreign airlines where
English is not the first language. The simple random sampling is used to create a
sample group consisted of 60 Thai female cabin crew. Male cabin crew were omitted
since the majority of cabin crew working in such airlines are female who are able to
effectively represent the population. Listed below are foreign airlines employing Thai
cabin crew and which are taken into consideration in this study.
3.2

Asiana Airlines (Republic of Korea)

China Airlines (Republic of China)

Emirates Airlines (United Arab Emirates)

EVA Air (Republic of China)

JALways (Japan)
MATERIALS
The research instruments in the study were self-administered online
questionnaire by GoogleDocs (https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&for
mkey=dGVpV0hqbE82OUNOeHJyaF9zN2N2TVE6MA#gid=0). They are structured
based
on
intercultural
communication
theories;
barriers
to
intercultural
communication problems and adaptation from previous studies, as well as some selforiginated questions by the researcher. After completing the first draft of the
questionnaire, the pilot study was conducted with 20 experienced cabin crew in order
to gain comments and suggestions for further development and modification of the
final questionnaire.
29
The questionnaire is divided into 3 parts as follows:
Part1: Personal Information
This part consists of 8 questions regarding the respondents’ personal data
including age, other languages spoken, English language proficiency test score,
education, years of experience working as a cabin crew, current airline they are
working for, past work experience, and nationalities of people they worked with.
Part 2: Barriers to Effective Communication
This part contains 27 questions concerning 4 main barriers to intercultural
communication effectiveness including Cultural biases; Language differences;
Nonverbal misinterpretation; and High anxiety and stress.

Questions 1-3 is comprised of questions in general about intercultural
communication experiences the respondents have in working with people from other
countries, which barrier causes them the most problem and which group of people
they most experience problems with in intercultural communication.

Questions 4-15 relate to Cultural biases in intercultural communication
the respondents have which are Ethnocentrism, Stereotype, Prejudice, and
Discrimination.

Questions 16-22 consist of questions relating to language differences and
difficulties which may occur in intercultural communication especially the two main
communication skills, which are speaking and listening skills.

Questions 23-24 involve questions about Nonverbal misinterpretations in
intercultural communication.

Questions 25-27 include questions on the extent of high anxiety and stress
as a result of uncertainties and unfamiliarity with people from other countries and
their effect on intercultural communication.
Part 3: Practical Suggestion
Four questions are provided in order to obtain the respondents’ suggestions
and comments for further practice whether the airline should provide the cabin crew
with more proper courses and training to improve intercultural communication.
30
3.3
PROCEDURES
With the advantage of 24-hour accessibility to the questionnaire from any part
of the world the use of the online questionnaire service by Google Docs facilitates the
researcher to collect the data from the sample whose nature of the job is travelling and
not staying in one place. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or link to the
questionnaire was sent to 60 cabin crew’s email addresses, stating the specific time
intended to complete the questionnaire. Prior to sending the link to each respondent,
permission was required to ensure their willingness and 100% rate of response. The
data collection period was between December 2010 and January 2011.
3.4
DATA ANALYSIS
Statistic Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used to
statistically analyze and present the data obtained from the questionnaires in
frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
This chapter presents the results of the study in accordance with the three
research questions and objectives stated in Chapter One. This chapter is divided into
three main sections as follows:
1. The respondents’ background information
2. Barriers to effective intercultural communication
3. The respondents’ suggestions for better intercultural communication for
Thai cabin crew working in international airlines.
4.1
THE RESPONDENTS’ BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The first section of the result deals with the respondents’ background
information. The respondents were 60 Thai female cabin crew who have experience
working in international airlines, including Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Emirates
Airlines, EVA Air, and JALways. In this part, the respondents are asked about age,
other languages spoken apart from Thai, English language proficiency test score,
education, years of experience working as cabin crew, current airline they are working
for, past work experience, and nationalities of people they worked with. The data
obtained from Part 1 of the questionnaire was analyzed by SPSS program and
presented in the form of frequency distribution and percentages as shown in the
following tables.
32
Table 1. The respondents’ Age
Age
N
%
24
1
1.7
26
5
8.3
27
7
11.7
28
9
15.0
29
11
18.3
30
15
25.0
31
3
5.0
32
3
5.0
33
3
5.0
36
1
1.7
37
1
1.7
38
1
1.7
Total
60
100
Table 1 shows that the range of age among the subjects is between 24 to 38.
Most of them (25%) are 30 years old, followed by 29 years old (18.3%), and 28 years
old (15%). However, only 1.7% of the subjects are 24, 36, 37, and 38 years old
accordingly.
33
Table 2. The Respondents’ Abilities to Speak Other Languages Aside
From Thai
Language
N
%
Chinese
15
14.3
English
56
53.3
French
6
5.7
Japanese
11
10.5
Korean
16
15.2
Spanish
1
1.0
Total
105
100
Table 2 shows the respondents’ other languages spoken apart from Thai. It is
apparent that English is the language which Thai cabin crew are able to speak the
most at 53.3%. However, it is not always the second language for some respondents,
thus resulting in the frequency of English to be 56% instead of 60%. Interestingly,
Korean and Mandarin are the second and third language which most subjects are able
to speak at 15.2% and 14.3% respectively. Since some cabin crew may be able to
speak more languages, the total number of responses (105) is more than the number of
the respondents (60).
34
Table 3. The respondents’ English proficiency test score
Test
N
%
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
SD
TOEIC
55
91.67
580
945
784.36
103.073
IELTS
4
6.67
5.0
7.5
6.5
1.0801
TOEFL
1
1.66
82
82
82.00
Total
60
100
From Table 3, the majority (91.67%) of the respondents’ average TOEIC
score is 784.36. Since most airlines, especially those recruiting Thai cabin crew
generally prioritize TOEIC test score first, IELTS or TOEFL could be optional.
Table 4. The respondents’ highest education level
Education Level
N
%
Bachelor’s Degree
52
86.7
Master’s Degree
8
13.3
Total
60
100
The result indicates that the majority (86.7%) of the respondents’ education
level is Bachelor’s degree, while 13.3% of them earned Master’s Degree.
35
Table 5. Current airlines the respondents are working for
Airlines
N
%
Asiana Airlines
18
30.0
Cathay Pacific Airlines
1
1.7
China Airlines
10
16.7
Emirates Airlines
11
18.3
EVA Airways
4
6.7
JALways
3
5.0
Thai Airways International
8
13.3
Missing case
5
8.3
Total
60
100
As can be seen from Table 5; most of the respondents (30%) are at the
moment working with Asiana Airlines, followed by Emirates Airlines (18.3%), and
China Airlines (16.7%) respectively; however, only 1.7% is currently working with
Cathay Pacific Airlines.
Although the subjects are limited to five airlines; the results show that the
respondents could have previously worked for those airlines and are currently
working in some other airlines as well. Five missing cases are presented since the
respondents might no longer work as a cabin crew anymore.
36
Table 6. The respondents’ years of experience working as cabin crew
Years of
N
%
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
SD
60
100
2.0
16.0
5.632
2.9470
experience
The result shows that the minimum years of experience that the respondents
working as a cabin crew is 2 years, while the maximum is 16 years. However, the
average is 5.6 years of working in this career.
Table 7. The respondents’ past work experience
Field of work
N
%
Field of work
N
%
Accounting
2
3.33
Presenter
1
1.7
Administration
2
3.33
Programmer
1
1.7
Banking
1
1.7
Receptionist
3
5
Cabin Crew
10
16.67
Secretary
7
11.67
Passenger Ground Service
2
3.3
Translator
1
1.7
Hotel and Spa
5
8.33
Tutor
2
3.33
Sales and Marketing
2
3.3
Missing case
20
33.3
Petroleum
1
1.7
Total
60
100
37
Table 7 represents the respondents’ past work experience categorized
according to the field of work. Some of them might have moved from one airline to
another which is possible as the nature of the job provides. As a result, most of the
respondents (16.67%) used to work as a cabin crew at Asiana Airlines, Bangkok
Airways, Emirates Airlines, Gulf Air, and JALways. On the other hand, the second
field of work in which the most respondents used to work in is Secretary (11.67%),
and the third is Hotel and Spa (8.33%). However, the missing case presumably
represents those who are new graduates without previous work experience.
Table 8. Nationalities of people the respondents worked with
Nationalities
N
%
Nationalities
N
%
American
17
8.8
Korean
40
20.6
Arabian
1
0.5
Malaysian
1
0.5
Australian
1
0.5
Indian
6
3.1
Belgium
1
0.5
Filipino
18
9.3
British
1
0.5
Russian
2
1.0
Canadian
2
1.0
Singaporean
3
1.5
Chinese
17
8.8
Spain
1
0.5
German
1
0.5
Taiwanese
15
7.7
Hong Kong
3
1.5
Vietnamese
20
10.3
Indonesian
6
3.1
Uzbekistanis
1
0.5
Japanese
37
19.1
Total
194
100
38
The findings indicate that there are as varied as 21 nationalities of people that
the respondents worked with. It is noticeable that most of the respondents have
experience working with the Korean (20.6%), Japanese (19.1%), and Vietnamese
(10.3%) respectively.
Table 9. The respondents’ self-rating on their English proficiency while
working
Rating
N
%
Native like
2
3.3
Full professional
8
13.3
Professional
38
63.3
Limited
12
20
Total
60
100
As shown in Table 9, 63.3% of the respondents mostly rated their English
proficiency level while on duty as professional; while only 3.3% rated themselves as
native like.
4.2
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
The second section of the result identifies the respondents’ barriers to effective
intercultural communication which are divided into four factors including Cultural
biases, Language differences, Nonverbal misinterpretation, and High anxiety and
stress.
4.2.1
Intercultural Communication
This section examines the basic experience and attitude of the respondents
toward intercultural communication as a whole regarding their working environment.
39
The data obtained from questions 1-3 in Part 2 of the questionnaire was analyzed by
the means of the frequency distribution and percentage. The results are shown in the
following tables
Table 10. The respondents’ experience in intercultural communication
difficulties
N
%
Have experience
60
100
No experience
0
0
Total
60
100
It is obvious that all of the respondents have experienced some difficulties
communicating with people from other countries or intercultural communication.
Table 11. The most common problem in intercultural communication
Problems
N
%
Cultural biases
15
25
37
61.7
Nonverbal misinterpretation
6
10
High anxiety and stress
2
3.3
Total
60
100
Language differences and
difficulties
40
According to Table 11, language differences and difficulties are the most
common problem which the respondents found in intercultural communication,
followed by Cultural biases. High anxiety and stress, however, is the least problematic
area for the respondent when communicating with people from other countries.
Table 12. Groups of people which the respondents have problems
communicating with
Nationalities
N
Total score
Other airline staffs
60
222
Purser/ In-flight Manager
60
197
Colleagues
60
174
Passengers
57
156
Others
35
147
From Table 12, the respondents mostly have problems with other airline staff
by 222 scores, followed by purser/in-flight manager (197 scores), and colleagues (175
scores) respectively. In the area of other airline staff, it includes flight crew, catering
staff, and passenger ground service staff who are frequently in contact with cabin
crew. On the other hand, the “other” group of people could have another function not
directly related with the nature of the job, but inevitably in contact with cabin crew as
specified by some respondents as hotel staff at line station.
41
4.2.2
Four Barriers to effective intercultural communication
The data obtained from questions 4-27 in the questionnaire was analyzed by
means of arithmetic mean (x) and standard deviation (SD) in order to provide the
average degree of the problems and difficulties; as well as opportunities and benefits.
The arithmetic means were interpreted as follows:
For questions which elicited the
For questions which elicited the
problems and difficulties. (-)
opportunities and benefits. (+)
4.21 – 5.00
Strongly Disagree
4.21 – 5.00
Strongly Agree
3.41 – 4.20
Disagree
3.41 – 4.20
Agree
2.61 – 3.40
Neutral
2.61 – 3.40
Neutral
1.81 – 2.60
Agree
1.81 – 2.60
Disagree
1.00 – 1.80
Strongly Agree
1.00 – 1.80
Strongly Disagree
42
Table 13. Cultural biases as barriers to effective communication
Cultural Biases
Strongly
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Agree
1. I am comfortable to communicate
with people from other countries.
(+)
Strongly
Mean
SD
0
3.90
.752
3.90
.775
Disagree
12
32
14
2
(20%)
(53.3%)
(23.3%)
(3.3%)
2. It is difficult for me to
communicate with people from
other countries. (-)
0
1
18
27
14
(1.7%)
(30%)
(45%)
(23.3%)
3. I am always aware of cultural
differences of each individual.
(+)
10
33
14
3
0
3.83
.763
(16.7%)
(55%)
(23.3%)
(5%)
6
44
9
1
0
3.92
.561
(10%)
(73.3%)
(15%)
(1.7%)
11
29
18
1
0
3.85
.738
(18.3%)
(48.3%)
(30%)
(1.7%)
22
24
13
1
0
4.12
.804
(36.7%)
(40%)
(21.7%)
(1.7%)
23
33
4
0
0
4.32
.596
(38.3%)
(55%)
(6.7%)
24
22
14
0
0
4.17
.785
(40%)
(36.7%)
(23.3%)
6
17
15
19
3
2.93
1.103
(10%)
(28.3%)
(25%)
(31.7%)
(5%)
4
20
22
13
1
2.78
.922
(6.7%)
(33.3%)
(36.7%)
(21.7%)
(1.7%)
3
11
17
21
8
3.33
1.084
(5%)
(18.3%)
(28.3%)
(35%)
(13.3%)
6
15
21
16
2
2.88
1.027
(10%)
(25%)
(35%)
(26.7%)
(3.3%)
3.75
.426
4. I acknowledge differences in
communication and interaction
styles when communicating with
people from other countries. (+)
5. Communicating effectively with
other people involves
understanding their distinct
cultural beliefs. (+)
6. Working in another country, I try
to learn as much about the culture
of the country as possible. (+)
7. I am flexible in working with
people from other countries as I
acknowledge differences among
cultures. (+)
8. I always treat everyone equally
and ethically regardless of their
differences in language, races,
nationalities, etc. (+)
9. There are people from some
countries I do not feel
comfortable to communicate with
because of cultural differences.(-)
10. I make generalizations about an
individual based on his/her
nationality. (-)
11. Past experience with people from
a particular country make me
avoid communicating with others
from the same country. (-)
12. Harmony in the team decreases
as people from different cultures
are present. (-)
Interpretation = Agree
43
As seen from Table 13, item 7 which has the highest mean score of 4.32,
represents the respondents being flexible in working with people from other countries
since they recognize the differences among cultures; and the item was recognized as
strongly agree. On the other hand; items 9, 10, 11, 12, are in the same range of mean
score, which is between 2.78 – 3.33. This indicates that the respondents recognized
these biases as neutral. However, item 10, with the lowest mean score of 2.78,
indicates that the respondents commonly make generalizations about an individual
according to his or her nationality.
Table 14. Language differences and difficulties as barriers to effective intercultural
communication.
Language differences and
difficulties
1. Without good English, it is
impossible to communicate with
people from other countries. (+)
2. I tend to assign the meaning of
my native language to other
language when communicating
with people from other
countries.(e.g. open the light -->
turn on the light). (-)
3. Different English accents are
problems to communication with
people from other countries. (-)
4. Adjusting speaking style to
everyone helps make a better
communication with people from
other countries. (+)
5. I objectively listen to people
from other countries without any
presumption. (+)
Strongly
Interpretation = Neutral
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Mean
SD
3.07
1.103
3.18
1.033
2.13
.892
Disagree
6
18
12
22
2
(10%)
(30%)
(20%)
(36.7%)
(3.3%)
2
14
22
15
7
(3.3%)
(23.3%)
(36.7%)
(25%)
(11.7%)
14
29
13
3
1
(23.3%)
(48.3%)
(21.7%)
(5%)
(1.7%)
16
32
10
2
0
4.03
.758
(26.7%)
(53.3%)
(16.7%)
(3.3%)
5
19
31
4
1
3.38
.804
(8.3%)
(31.7%)
(51.7%)
(6.7%)
(1.7%)
4
24
24
8
3.60
.807
(6.7%)
(40%)
(40%)
(13.3%)
11
23
13
11
2
2.50
1.097
(18.3%)
(38.3%)
(21.7%)
(18.3%)
(3.3%)
3.13
.426
6. Hearing people speaking with an
accent makes me believe that
they are less capable. (-)
7. There are lots of grammatical
errors in my communication with
people from other countries. (-)
Agree
Agree
44
According to table 14, item 4, with the highest mean score of 4.03, represents
that in order to have better intercultural communication, the respondents agree that
adjusting speaking style to everyone helps. Item 3, with the lowest mean score (2.13),
represents that the respondents agree that different English accents are problems to
communicate with people from other countries; however, they disagree that people
with accents are less capable as can be seen from item 6, with the second highest
mean score of 3.60.
Table 15. Nonverbal misinterpretation as a barrier to effective intercultural
communication.
Nonverbal misinterpretation
Strongly
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Agree
1. When communicating with
people from other countries, I
always understand each
individual’s nonverbal cues
(body language, facial
expression, tone of voice, etc.)
(+)
2. Differences nonverbal cues
used by each country (body
language, facial expression,
tone of voice, etc.) create
problems to communication. (-)
Strongly
Mean
SD
0
3.75
.795
0
2.35
.860
3.05
.558
Disagree
8
34
13
5
(13.3%)
(56.7%)
(21.7%)
(8.3%)
9
27
18
6
(15%)
(45%)
(30%)
(10%)
Interpretation = Neutral
Table 15 represents another bias in intercultural communication which is the
misinterpretation of nonverbal cues. As seen, the respondents agree to both items that
although differences in nonverbal cues create problems, they always understand them
with the mean of 2.35 and 3.75 respectively.
45
Table 16. High anxiety and stress as barriers to effective intercultural
communication.
High anxiety and stress
Strongly
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Agree
1. I have no confidence in my
English skill so I avoid
communicating with people
from other countries as much
as I could. (-)
2. I prefer communicating with
people sharing the same mother
tongue with me. (-)
3. Unfamiliarity with culture of
people from other countries
makes me withdraw myself
from communicating to them.
(-)
2
Strongly
Mean
SD
4.15
.880
2.83
1.107
3.85
.899
3.61
.739
Disagree
0
(3.3%)
7
29
22
(11.7%)
(48.3%)
(36.7%)
5
21
19
9
6
(8.3%)
(35%)
(31.7%)
(15%)
(10%)
1
2
17
25
15
(1.7%)
(3.3%)
(28.3%)
(41.7%)
(25%)
Interpretation = Agree
As can be seen from Table 16, items 1 and 3 are in the same range of mean
score, which is 3.85 – 4.15, which indicates that they disagree with the both items. In
other words, they had confidence in their English skills and didn’t avoid engaging in
intercultural communication. Also, being unfamiliar with the different culture didn’t
make them withdraw themselves from communicating with people from other
countries. Conversely, they neutrally prefer communicating with Thai people as can
be seen from item 2, with the mean score of 2.83.
4.3
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
The last section of the results identifies the respondents’ suggestion and opinion
towards better intercultural communication for Thai cabin crew working in
international airlines. The data obtained from questions 1-3 in Part 3 of the
questionnaire was analyzed by the means of the frequency distribution and percentage
which are shown in the following tables, while the additional comments are discussed
later in Chapter 5.
46
Table 17. Practical suggestions for better intercultural communication
N
%
01. Does your airline provide you with a course or training in
intercultural communication for cabin crew?

Yes
37
61.7

No
23
38.3
60
100
Total
02. Do you think cabin crew should have a special course or
training regarding intercultural communication?

Yes
58
96.7

No
2
3.3
60
100
49
36.3
30
22.2
30
22.2
26
19.3
135
100
Total
03. What types of courses or training should the airline provide?

Language course

Getting to know the country you are working for. (e.g.
people, culture, beliefs, etc.)

Understanding the differences and nature of passengers
from each country.

Social etiquette in international settings
Total
47
From Table 17, it is obvious that most of the airlines the respondents are
working for provided them with courses or training regarding intercultural
communication. However; they mostly suggest that the airline should provide them
with such courses and training. As can be seen, the most important area of courses
and training airlines should focus on is language course (36.3%); while getting to
know people, culture, and beliefs of the country the respondents work for, as well as
understanding the differences and nature of passengers from each country is ranked as
the second important area (22.2% each). The third rank is social etiquette in
international settings.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSION AND RECCOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents (1) a summary of the study, (2) a summary of the
findings and discussions, (3) conclusions, and (4) recommendations for further
research study.
5.1
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
This study was aimed to examine the barriers to effective communication of
Thai cabin crew working in foreign airlines where English is not the first language
spoken; in terms of cultural biases, language differences and difficulties, nonverbal
cue misinterpretation, and high anxiety and stress associated with intercultural
communication; as well as the practical suggestion for effective intercultural
communication for Thai crew working in such international settings.
5.1.1
Objectives of the study
This research study has the following objectives:
5.1.1.1 To identify the most common intercultural communication
problems found among Thai cabin crew working in international airlines
5.1.1.2 To investigate the area of language difficulties of Thai cabin
crew working in international airlines, especially the most commonly used skills
which are speaking and listening skills.
5.1.1.3 To
determine
the
practical
suggestions
concerning
intercultural communication of Thai cabin crew.
5.1.2
Subjects, Materials, and Procedures
The subjects of this research study were 60 Thai female cabin crew who are
currently working for or used to work, for at least two years, with foreign airlines
where English is not the primary language. Those airlines included Asiana Airlines,
China Airlines, Emirates Airlines, EVA Air, and JALways. Simple random sampling
49
method was used to select the sample of the study and the research instrument used
for collecting data was a self-administered online questionnaire by Google Docs. The
contents of the questionnaire consisted of three parts including; Personal data of the
respondents, Four barriers to effective intercultural communication, and Practical
suggestion concerning intercultural communication of Thai cabin crew. The survey
was conducted from December 2010 to January 2011. The data obtained was
analyzed through SPSS Program and presented in frequency, percentage, mean and
standard deviation.
5.2
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The results of the study can be summarized into three parts as follows:
5.2.1 The Respondents’ Background Information
The respondents in this study included 60 Thai female cabin crew, with at least
two years of experience working in five selected foreign airlines including Asiana
Airlines, China Airlines, Emirates Airlines, EVA Air, and JALways. A quarter of
them were aged 30 years old and most graduated with Bachelor‟s Degree (86.7%).
More than half (53.3%) of the respondents speak English as a second language with
an average TOEIC score of 785, and most (63.3%) rated themselves as professional in
terms of English proficiency during work. The majority of them (30%) are currently
working as cabin crew at Asiana Airlines. The average years of experience in the
career is 5.6 years, and most have previous work experience as cabin crew (16.67%).
With an exposure to international working environment, the respondents have
experienced working with as many as 21 nationalities of people and most of them are
Korean (20.6%).
However, there are some respondents who might have worked with more than
100 nationalities of people and the answer in the questionnaires was shown as
“many”, “various”, “more than 100 nationalities”, etc. The reason was that those who
have experienced working with such a diverse nationality of people are mostly current
Emirates Airlines cabin crew or those who used to work there, where the recruitment
and employment is generally done throughout the world with people of more than 100
nationalities. Also; some other industries such as Sales and Marketing, Hotel and Spa,
50
and Passenger Ground Service, are also clustered with a diverse multination
workforce.
5.2.2 The Respondents’ Experiences in Intercultural Communication
In accordance with the first objective of the study aiming to identify the most
common intercultural communication problems found among Thai cabin crew
working in international airlines, as well as the Research Question One: Are
language differences and difficulties dominant causes to ineffective intercultural
communication for Thai cabin crew working in foreign airlines?, the majority of the
respondents revealed that the dominant factors that they commonly encountered as
problems in communicating with people from other countries are language differences
and difficulties. Also, the group of people in which the respondents mostly have
problems communicating interculturally with was other airline staff including flight
crew, catering staff, and passenger ground service staff who are periodically in
contact with cabin crew, followed by Purser/ In-flight manager, colleaques, and
passengers respectively.
Based on the research study of Sirinad Tantiraksa (2006) on “Opinion of Thai
Cabin Attendants in JALways about The Intercultural Communication in
Organizations”, one of the intercultural communication barriers was language
differences. Thai people tend to be adaptive to new enviroments and languages thus
trying to adjust themselves by initial use of English as a means of communication.
However, Japanese people generally do not use a third language in communication
which make Thai cabin crew study more Japanese language. As a result, this does not
only improve the communication quality among Thai and Japanese cabin crew, but
also with Japanese passengers since most of them are not able to communicate in
English and expect all cabin crew on Japenese carrier to communicate in the same
language as they do.
The issue of communication problems between cabin and cokcpit crew has
always been controversial. Several incidents and accidents have been reported as a
result of cabin and flight crew‟s communication failures. According to Chute and
51
Wiener (1995), misunderstandings and problems in coordination and communication
could be as a result of differences between cabin and flight crew. Each of them are
seperated into two geographical and sociological environments although they work on
the same aircraft with distinct boundaries, space constraints, technological
differences, and cultures. The flight crew were found to use task-oriented, systemsoriented reasoning, preferring a cognitive style of problem solving, and working in a
highly-structured atmosphere with highly-specialized tasks. On the other hands, the
cabin crew prefer an affective cognitive style and decision, and are socially
interactive. Likewise; the study of Merritt‟s (1993) on cabin crew attitudes towards
appropriate crew behavior found that good crew coordination was seen as important
for cabin crew, while for flight crew pre-flight briefing, verbalization of plans, and
coordination of cabin and flight crew were percived to be less important.
Based on the Reseach question two: Is there a relationship between the cabin
crew years of experience and intercultural communication problems?, it is apparent
that all of the respondents have experienced some difficulties in intercultural
communication regardless of the years of experience they have been working as cabin
crew.
5.2.3 Barriers to Effective Intercultural Communication
5.2.3.1 Cultural biases
Research Question Three asked which cultural bias is the key barrier
to effective communication for Thai cabin crew working in foreign airlines.
According to the finding, it revealed that the most prominent cultural bias is making
generalizations about people based on their nationalities; in other words, stereotyping.
Nevertheless, stereotyping does not always lead to miscommunication and/or
communication breakdown, it can help us to predict the behavior of people and it tells
us how to communicate with them while inaccurate or negative stereotype could lead
to misunderstanding (Zhang & Deng, 2009).
On the contrary, the respondents strongly agreed about treating everyone
equally regardless of nationality, race, or language differences; this could imply that
there‟s no discrimination among Thai cabin crew to people from other countries.
52
Additionally, they were flexible working with people across the cultures since they
acknowledge the differences among them and tried to learn more about such
differences when working in another country. As a result, none of them strongly
agreed that it is difficult for them to communicate across the culture.
5.2.3.2 Language differences and difficulties
In terms of language differences and difficulties, the majority of the
respondents strongly agree that adjusting speaking styles to each individual from
other countries helps make better communication. Based on the second objective of
the study which is to investigate the area of language difficulties of Thai cabin crew
working in international airlines, the findings showed that the most problematic area
was different accents people have when communicating in English. Similarly, the
research studies of Ganchalie Permtanjit, as well as Meta Ketkaew confirm that
unfamiliar accents and pronunciation are the major areas of language difficulties for
Thai cabin crew as well.
According to ETS (The Educational Testing Services)‟s Advisory
Proficiency Chart, the average TOEIC score of the respondents, 795, was rated as
Level B. In other words, the respondents were evaluated as “Is capable of
communicating appropriately in most situations. Understands ordinary conversation
well and can respond naturally. He/she also has the ability to respond in some fashion,
even when the topic relates to specialized fields. There are typically no great barriers
to communicating in usual business situations. While some individual disparities exist
in the level of correctness and fluency, and he/she also sometimes makes grammatical
and structural mistakes, they are not sufficient to prevent him/her from being
understood.” However; the main emphasis on TOEIC examination for cabin crew
generally focuses on Listening and Reading Skills, although their English proficiency
scores on average were considerably high, many of them admited that there are a lot
of grammatical errors in their English communication.
53
5.2.3.3 Nonverbal misinterpretation
People generally assign meaning to nonverbal cues differently based on
many factors including body languages, tone of voice, facial expression, etc. The
majority of the cabin crew commonly agreed that they have no problem understanding
nonverbal cues when communicating with people of different countries; although
those cues might have created some problems affecting their communication
interculturally.
5.2.3.4 High Anxiety and Stress
There is a possibility that some people avoid communicating with people
of different languages and limit communicating only to those sharing the same mother
tongue because of anxiety over speaking proper English (Barna, 1997). As a result of
having a high average score on the English proficiency test, as well as self-rating as
Professional during work in terms of English language usage, the majority of the
respondents strongly disagreed that they have no confidence in communicating with
people from other countries, they do not avoid interacting with them, as well as not
withdrawing themselves from communicating to them. On the other hand, many of
them prefer to communicate with Thai people who share the same mother tongue,
which could be as a result of perceiving themselves as producing a lot of grammatical
errors.
5.2.4 Practical Suggestions for Better Intercultural Communication
The last section of summary of the finding and discussions deals with the third
objective of the study, which is to determine the respondents’ practical suggestions
in order to help improve intercultural communication for Thai cabin crew working in
international airlines. More than half of the respondents revealed that the airline they
are currently working for provides them with special courses or training relating to
intercultural communication. In addition, the majority of them suggested that all
airlines should provide cabin crew with courses or training, especially language
courses, as the most important thing that the airline should provide to cabin crew,
which could be the the local language of the airline they are working for such as
54
Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. Aside from languages, they also recommended that
understanding the cultures and beliefs of the country they are working for is as
important as understanding the differences and nature of the passengers from each
country. However, social etiquette for international settings was percieved to be less
important for them.
5.3
CONCLUSIONS
The discusssions above lead to the conclusion that the most dominant barrier to
effective intercultural communication for Thai cabin crew working in international
airlines was language differences and difficulties. Purser/ In-flight manager,
colleagues, and passengers who were periodically in contact with the respondents
were not the group of people they mostly had problems communicating with, but
other airlines staff including flight crew, catering staff, and passenger ground service
staff were the major area of concern. Regardless of the number of years they have
been working for, all of the respondents have experienced some difficulties in
communicating with people from other countries. Considering cultural biases as one
of barriers in intercultural communication, stereotyping is the most prominent factor.
Although stereotyping can lead to misunderstandings, on the other hand, it can help us
to foresee the behavior of people and tell us how to communicate with them. This
circumstance was explained by Zhang and Deng in „Stereotype Communication‟.
Discrimination did not generally happen among the respondents since they believe in
treating everyone equally regardless of differences in nationalities, races, or
languages. In terms of language, a different accent was what created the most
problems for them in communicating with people from other countries. Even though
nonverbal cues could have created problems in communication across the cultures, the
majority of the respondents revealed that they had no problem understanding them.
The results on the last barrier which is high anxiety and stress indicated that the
respondents had confidence in communicating with people from other countries, did
not withdraw themselves nor avoid interaction with them when English is a means of
communication. The data supports this finding since ETS or The English Testing
Services has evaluated their average TOEIC score as being fluent, capable to
communicate appropriately although they sometimes made grammatical mistakes.
55
Finally, the respondents suggested that understanding local language training was
important and a language course should be provided for cabin crew working in
foreign airlines such as Korean language for Asiana Airlines cabin crew, or Chinese
language for China Airlines cabin crew.
5.4
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH STUDY
Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following
recommendations are made for further research study:
5.4.1 The generalization of the study is limited to only 60 samples in 5
selected foreign airlines where other languages are used as the primary language. In
the absence of a larger base of data, a larger sample size may extend some degree of
generalization.
5.4.2 The questionnaire of this study should be modified. For example,
Question 3 should be made in another form of question in order not to make the
respondents confused about how to answer. The researcher intended to make them
rank each group of people from 1 to 5 individually, but the form of the questionnaire
allowed them to rank repeatedly in each category. As well in Question 8, more
choices or categorized nationalities of people into regions such as Asian, European,
etc. should be added since there could be more than 100 nationalities the respondents
have worked with.
5.4.3 Similar studies should add more factors on nonverbal misinterpretation
and high anxiety and stress in order to gain a broader view of the respondents in the
extents of barriers to effective communication.
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APPENDIX A
Questionnaire
This questionnaire is a part of the research study entitled “Barriers to Effective
Communication of Thai Cabin Crew Working in International Airlines Where English
is not the Primary Language” for the Master’s Degree in English for Career of
Thammasat University, Bangkok Thailand.
Please kindly take a few moments to complete this questionnaire, read each of
the statement carefully, answer the questions or rate them in terms of the extent to
which you agree or disagree with the statements referring to the provided scale.
The questionnaire is confidential and anonymous. Your responses to this
questionnaire are valuable for the success of this research study. Thank you very
much for your time, kind cooperation, and suggestions.
Yossinee Tontanavetchakul
60
PART 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION
01. Age ____________________
02. Other languages spoken (please include English)
1) _________________________
2) _________________________
3) _________________________
4) _________________________
03. Your English language proficiency test score

TOEIC
____________________

IELTS
____________________

TOEFL____________________

OTHERS (Please specify)____________________
04. Highest education

Bachelor’s Degree ________________________________________

Master’s Degree

Others (Please specify)
________________________________________
________________________________________
05. Current airline you are working for ______________________________________
06. Cabin crew work experience
____________________Years
07. Past work experiences
1) _________________________
2) _________________________
3) _________________________
4) _________________________
08. Nationalities of people you worked with
1) _________________________
2) _________________________
3) _________________________
4) _________________________
61
PART 2: BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
01. Have you ever experienced any difficulties in communicating with people from
different countries?

Yes

No
02. What are the most common problems in communicating with people from different
countries?

Cultural differences

Language differences

Nonverbal misinterpretation

Anxiety and/or stress

Others (Please specify) ________________________
03. Please rate the group of people you have most problem communicating with. (1 =
most, 5 = least)

Passengers

Colleagues

Pursers/ In-fight Managers

Other airline staffs

Others (Please specify) _________________________
62
A. CULTURAL BIASES
Please rate the following statement
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
04
I am comfortable to communicate with people
from other countries.
05
It is difficult for me to communicate with
people from other countries.
06
I am always aware of cultural differences of
each individual.
07
I acknowledge differences in communication
and interaction styles when communicating
08
with people from other countries.
Communicating effectively with other people
involves
09
Working in another country, I try to learn as
much about the culture of the country as
10
possible.
I am flexible in working with people from
other countries as I acknowledge differences
11
among cultures.
Working in another country, I try to learn as
much about the culture of the country as
12
possible.
There are people from some countries I do not
feel comfortable to communicate with because
13
of cultural differences.
I make generalization about an individual
based on his/her nationality.
14
Past experience with people from a particular
country make me avoid communicating with
15
others from the same country.
Harmony in the team decreases as people from
different cultures are present.
DISAGREE
NEUTRAL
AGREE
STRONGLY
AGREE
63
B. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES AND DIFFICULTIES
Please rate the following statement
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
16
Without good English, it is impossible to
communicate with people from other countries
17
I tend to assign the meaning of my native
language to another language when
communicating with people from other
countries.(e.g. open the light  turn on the
light)
18
Different English accents are problems to
communication with people from other
countries.
19
Adjusting speaking style to everyone helps
make a better communication with people
from other countries.
20
I objectively listen to people from other
countries without any presumption.
21
Hearing people speaking with an accent
makes me believe that they are less capable.
22
There are lots of grammatical errors in my
communication with people from other
countries.
DISAGREE
NEUTRAL
AGREE
STRONGLY
AGREE
64
C. NONVERBAL CUES MISINTERPRETATION
STRONGLY
Please rate the following statement
DISAGREE
NEUTRAL
AGREE
DISAGREE
23
STRONGLY
AGREE
When communicating with people from other
countries, I always understand each
individual’s nonverbal cues (body language,
facial expression, tone of voice, etc.)
24
Differences nonverbal cues used by each
country (body language, facial expression,
tone of voice, etc.) create problems to
communication.
D. HIGH ANXIETY AND STRESS
Please rate the following statement
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
25
I have no confidence in my English skill so I
avoid communicating with people from other
countries as much as I can.
26
I prefer communicating with people sharing
the same mother tongue with me.
27
Unfamiliarity with the culture of people from
other countries makes me withdraw myself
from communicating to them.
DISAGREE
NEUTRAL
AGREE
STRONGLY
AGREE
65
PART 3: PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
01. Does your airline provide you with a course or training in intercultural
communication for cabin crew?

Yes

No
02. Do you think cabin crew should have a special course or training regarding
intercultural communication?

Yes

No
03. What types of courses or training should the airline provide?

Language courses (e.g. Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.)

Getting to know the country you are working for (e.g. people, culture, beliefs,
etc.)

Understanding the differences and nature of passengers from each country.

Social etiquette in international settings.

Others (Please specify)
04. Additional comments
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX B
The Educational Testing Service’s Advisory Proficiency Chart
Chart Showing the Approximate Correlation between TOEIC Scores and Level of Ability
Level
TOEIC
Score
Evaluation (Guidelines)
Can usually communicate adequately as a non-native speaker. Within his/her own
realm of experience, he/she is capable of sufficient understanding and can
typically respond with appropriate expressions even about topics outside his/her
field of specialization.
A
Although speech is not equivalent to that of a native speaker, he/she has a strong
grasp of vocabulary, grammar, and structure and also has the ability to use the
language relatively fluently.
B
-860-
Is capable of communicating appropriately in most situations. Understands
ordinary conversation well and can respond naturally. He/she also has the ability
to respond in some fashion, even when the topic relates to specialized fields.
There are typically no great barriers to communicating in usual business
situations.
While some individual disparities exist in the level of correctness and fluency, and
he/she also sometimes makes grammatical and structural mistakes, they are not
sufficient to prevent him/her from being understood.
C
D
-730-
-470-
Sufficient knowledge for daily activities and conducting business within certain
limits. Can understand the gist of an ordinary conversation and has no trouble in
forming a response. However. He/she shows some disparities in the ability to
respond correctly and to make himself/herself understood in more complicated
situation. He/she has acquired a fundamental knowledge of grammar and
structure, and has the vocabulary to communicate essential information even when
he/she is lacking in expressive power.
Is capable of the minimum level of communication in a ordinary conversation.
He/she can understand simple conversations when the other person speaks slowly
or repeats and/or rephrases what was said.
He/she is capable of responding to familiar topics.
His/her knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and structure is generally inadequate.
However, if the other party is used to dealing with non-native speakers, he/she can
manage to make himself/herself understood.
E
-220-
He/she is not able to communicate adequately.
Even in a simple conversation at a slow pace, he/she can only partially
understand.
He/she is able to communicate in isolated phrases but not in full, grammatically
correct sentences and does not effectively serve to make himself/herself
understood.
Educational Testing Service (ETS), May 1st, 1997