APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By

[UWE DISSERTATION] September 15, 2015
DECLARATION i
APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI
A Dissertation by:
Bao Trung Nguyen
Student ID: 12037235
Submitted to:
Dr. Olivier Ratle
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for Masters in International Management by
Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, United Kingdom
Bristol Business School,
University of the West of England, Bristol
September 2015

DECLARATION i
DECLARATION
This dissertation is written in partial fulfillment of the requirement for Master‟s degree in
International Management by Bristol Business School, University of the West of England. It is
the original work of the researcher, conducted under the topic: Application of gap model in the
research of English language training service in Hanoi.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I firstly would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor – Dr. Olivier Rattle, whose
professionalism and courtesy always impress me. I am most appreciative and overwhelmed by
the effort and invaluable guidance you have sent to me. To a great extent, the impact of your
supervision to this research work can never be overemphasized; thank you very much.
My appreciation also goes to my direct manager, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Que. Your encouragement
and advice were getting me through the hard time of my life, thank for your empathy and
support to give me day release so that I could have implemented this research completely.
In addition, I value the help from my English teacher – Ms. Lan Hoa Hoang, Head of English for
Life Centre in Hanoi, who gave me a lot of valuable advice and assisted me when I conducted
my survey.
I am highly indebted to my mother. When our family was going through hardships and stresses,
your continuous prayers and belief in me inspired me never to give up in pursuing my academic
dream. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to all my family members, your love
motivation, encouragement, support kept me going throughout my study period.
Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the
lecturers, staff and students of the MSc International Management at University of the West of
England, who made my time a very enjoyable experience.

ABSTRACT iii
ABSTRACT
This study aims to explore the application of gap model in the context of the highly demanding
of service quality in English language training market in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach
- The study is based on a quantitative method that includes secondary research, and a
quantitative survey of 214 English learners in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Findings - The
study identified and quantified the five service gaps relating to language training service in
Hanoi and an importance finds that management should focus their attention on improving the
service specification and delivery with the availability of learning materials, physical facilities and
lecturers. Research limitations/implications - Despite the findings are statistically significant, it is
not quite at the level normally considered acceptable for research studies. Moreover, due to the
data was collected in a single geographic location (Hanoi), it is possible that the findings may
not be representative of the Vietnamese market as a whole. Practical implications - The paper
concludes that there is a considerable gap between the expectations of the students and the
specification, delivery, and advertisement of institutions delivering language training in Vietnam.
This gap represents an effectiveness of those organisations already operating in the
Vietnamese language training market but an opportunity for other organisations considering
entry. Managers are advised that they should improve the service quality by focus on teaching
quality including learning materials, physical facilities and lecturers. Originality/value - This
paper makes an original contribution to knowledge regarding gap model as well as service
quality in the language training market in Vietnam. The research also provides insight into the
measurement and conceptualisation of gap models and service quality.

LIST OF FIGURES iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Gap model 17
Figure 2.2: Gap model Extension 19
Figure 4.1: The comparison of means of service specifications of ELCs in Hanoi 36
Figure 4.2: Satisfaction level of teaching methods in ELT Service 39
Figure 4.3: How respondents get to know the English Language Centre 40
Figure 4.4: General satisfaction level for ELCs 41

LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Demographic information of respondents 31
Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics between Age and Length time of studying English 32
Table 4.3: Descriptive Statistics between jobs and time of studying English 32
Table 4.4: Satisfaction level of courses offered by the ELCs 33
Table 4.5: Means of service specifications of ELCs in Hanoi (210 respondents) 35
Table 4.6: Satisfaction level for staffs of English language centres in Hanoi (210
respondents)
36
Table 4.7: Means of organizational gap of English language centres in Hanoi (210
respondents)
38

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ...........................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..............................................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................ iii
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Research Background ................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Research Objectives.................................................................................................... 5
1.3 The structure of the research ....................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 7
2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 English language training (ELT) in Vietnam ................................................................. 7
2.2.1 Reasons of studying English........................................................................................ 7
2.2.2 The fact of English Training in Vietnam ....................................................................... 8
2.2.3 English teaching and learning environment ................................................................. 9
2.2.4 The impacts of technology........................................................................................... 9
2.2.5 English language training service in Vietnam..............................................................10
2.3 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................11
2.3.1 Service quality.........................................................................................................11
2.3.2 Service excellence.....................................................................................................15
2.3.3 Gap models.............................................................................................................16
2.3.4 Gaps in ELT service ...................................................................................................20
2.4 Conclusion..................................................................................................................21
CHAPTER III: METHOD AND METHODOLOGY .....................................................................22
3.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................22
3.2 Research philosophy ..................................................................................................22
3.3 Research methodology...............................................................................................23
3.4 Data collection procedure ...........................................................................................24
3.4.1 Data collection............................................................................................................24
3.4.2 Self-administered questionnaires................................................................................24

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
3.4.3 Sampling ....................................................................................................................25
3.4.4 Survey ........................................................................................................................26
3.5 Methods of data analysis ............................................................................................26
3.6 Ethic ...........................................................................................................................27
3.6.1 Reliability....................................................................................................................27
3.6.2 Validity........................................................................................................................27
3.6.3 Confidentiality.............................................................................................................27
3.7 Summary ....................................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION...........................................................................29
4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................29
4.2 Research findings .......................................................................................................29
4.2.1 Design of Questionnaire Section ................................................................................29
4.2.2 Demographic information...........................................................................................30
4.3 Gaps in English Language Training............................................................................33
4.3.1 Gap 1: Positional Gap.................................................................................................33
4.3.2 Gap 2: Specification gap.............................................................................................34
4.3.3 Gap 3: Service execution gap.....................................................................................37
4.3.4 Gap 4: Communication gap ........................................................................................39
4.3.5 Gap 5: Expectation gap .............................................................................................40
4.4 Discussions.................................................................................................................41
4.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................45
5.1 Summary of the research............................................................................................45
5.2 Recommendations......................................................................................................45
5.3 Further research .........................................................................................................47
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................48
APPENDICE..........................................................................................................................55
Appendix 1: Questionnaire survey in Vietnamese..................................................................55
Appendix 2: Questionnaire survey in English.........................................................................59
Appendix 3: Codes of Questions ...........................................................................................63

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
The importance of English Language
English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language in a
large number of countries. It is estimated that the number of people in the world that use in
English to communicate on a regular basis is two billion (Martinez Duboc, 2011). According to
Sarita (2014), English is the dominant business language and it has become almost a necessity
for people to speak English if they are to enter a global workforce, research from all over the
world shows that cross-border business communication is most often conducted in English.
More and more global enterprises have used English to be the main language. The above
statement is agreed by Crystal (2009) that English is being adopted by international firms from
countries that don‟t speak English to become the official language, replacing their own native
language. Its importance in the global market place therefore cannot be understated, learning
English really can change our lives.
Nunan (2003) explained the popularity of English as the result of influence of Great Britain and
the United States on international relations and political affairs for the past century has ensured
acceptance and proliferation of English as the main language spoken in many countries. For
high ranking officials and diplomats in major countries such as Russia, Italy, Brazil, South
Korea, France, Japan and Germany, a working knowledge of English is important. This way,
they can better comprehend the craft and nuance of international diplomacy and global affairs.
Therefore, the market for English as a Second Language is booming and more individuals are
studying courses such as this one that will help them improve your own accent and understand
native English (Kam, 2002). English learners opt to take English to cultivate ground for
communication socially with others and to become part of a global economy.

Demands of English Language in Vietnam
At the Sixth National Congress held in 1986, Vietnamese Communist Party adopted a socialist-
oriented market economy under the State management. Since this stage, the political, economic
and social relations between Vietnam and other nations in all over the world have improved.
Vietnam carried out the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement, became participated in
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), joined the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),
and especially has become one of the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Subsequently, investors all around the world, most of whom use English as communicative
means, have poured capital into the country. Tran & Fredric (2009) stated that due to this
international integration, the requirement for a highly skilled labor working force having efficient
capacity of English has become increased and therefore, English has been considered as first
choice of foreign language in Vietnam. Nevertheless, English competence of most Vietnamese
labour has not met the desires of the employers. Many fresh university graduates have not been
recruited by foreign companies as the result of lacking efficient English competence, especially
in English listening and speaking skills. Anh (2010) claims that several researches conducted
with the aim of improving the quality of teaching and learning English in Vietnam show that
“traditional pedagogy, emphasizing the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary rather than
communicative competence” is one of the causes of the problem.
Since the 1990s, therefore, English demand has quickly become popular in Vietnam. However,
until know, a large number of Vietnamese people still haven‟t used English proficiently to adapt
the requirement of foreign employers (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2007). This situation is mainly due to
the gaps in English Language Training in school, universities, companies and private English
centres.
Problems experienced in teaching English in Vietnam
The booming of English in Vietnam has caused the country a number of problems which can be
presented below.
First, there is disproportionate demand-supply. With a population of over 85 million, of whom a
sizeable proportion have a strong desire to learn English, the demand for English language
teaching far outstrips the supply of native speaker and competent non-native speaker teachers
(Kieu, 2010).

Secondly, textbook writing and teacher retraining are the two important aspects to implement its
curriculum. As mentioned, textbook writing has been completed, but to do massive and long
term retraining of teachers in English competence would demand manpower and logistic
resources beyond the capacity of the system at present. This problem will be compounded
when Vietnam starts to carry out the new 10-year National Plan to introduce English nationally
(Nguyen, 2011).
Thirdly, despite the importance of English in the new context of integration and globalization,
English language teaching in Vietnam, due to its low quality, has not met the demand for
competent English-speaking people (Baurain, 2010). The main reasons are that (i) most of the
English teachers, particularly those who are teaching at primary and lower secondary levels are
disqualified, (ii) most teachers, except some who are teaching at tertiary level, have not had a
chance to study in an English-speaking country, and that (iii) many of them do not normally
communicate in English and cannot sustain teaching that mainly depends on communicative
interactions (Hiep, 2005).
Fourthly, there are classroom constrains: schools are often located in noisy places, with poor
ventilation, overloaded beyond their capacity to classes of fifty even sixty, with poor libraries and
poorly paid staff. Better teachers often go to the cities to seek employment in non-teaching
fields or leave the profession for other jobs in the country. There are the material constraints
too: tape recorders, electronic equipment, and language lab do not exist in average schools
except in the cities and in affluent private institutions. They only sure aids available are the
blackboard and sometimes a cassette player, and the frequent voice heard is the teacher based
on what she makes of the day‟s textbook lesson. To make matters worse, class contact hours
are few (only 2 or 3 hours a week) (Hoa, 2007).
Fifthly, although the rhetoric of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training stresses the
development of practical communication skills, this is rarely reflected at the classroom level,
where the emphasis is on the development of reading comprehension, vocabulary and
structural patterns for the purposes of passing the end-of-school and university entrance
examinations into colleges or universities. New teacher training programmes, pre-service and
in-service alike, have been designed and delivered with a focus on training communicative
teachers in a bid to address the faults of teaching methodology. Unfortunately, not much
improvement in terms of teaching methods has been noticed in English classes. During the

training course, Vietnamese teachers show great interest in new methodologies, but after they
return from those courses, they continue teaching in the old methods (Dang, et al., 2013).
Sixthly, there is a mismatch between testing and teaching in English language teaching in
Vietnam. While teaching follows the communicative approach, testing systems to focus on
measuring students‟ grammatical knowledge. To make matters more complex, at tertiary level,
what the Vietnamese tertiary institutions do is to adopt either TOEFT or TOEIC or IELTS as the
main yardstick to measure the students‟ knowledge and skills in English. These instruments, as
is known, are suitable for measuring the knowledge and skills of English of those students who
are going to study either in Britain or in the USA or in an English-speaking country (Anh, 2010).
And finally, the fact that English is introduced into primary schools in Vietnam makes some
people express their concern about the negative effects that early introduction of English is
having on national identity.
The situation of English Language Centre in Vietnam
English is becoming more and more important in Vietnamese society. Nunan (2003) states that
there has been a high proliferation for the need to study English as a second language in order
to gain access to job requirements or study subject areas in schools and universities. Therefore
English training institutions are strengthening marketing strategies to attract English learners
including students, pupils, staffs, freelance etc. However, despite of proliferation of learner
interests, and huge sums of tuition fee normally charged by institutions, funding and financial
management sometimes remains difficult (Anh, 2010). English language centres often face
limited financial power or resources that can cause difficulties in managing and running them.
Anh (2010) also illustrates this fact that those limitations can create significant material and
human resource implications. Firstly, due to the lack of money, it appears that one encounters
an inadequate amount of staff for necessary positions to run the whole institutions, which leads
to more complex problems in terms of service delivery. It is argued that because of insufficient
staffing, most of the working staff end up being overloaded with work, which in the long run
leads to staff taking sick leaves etc., leading to absenteeism and employee turnover. This may
result to management difficulties in terms of running the institution, because recruitment,
selection, and motivation of people may become impossible. Moreover, motivation plays a major
role in increasing levels of job satisfaction (Hamano, 2008). Because virtually there is no money
to spend on maintaining staff, it becomes extremely difficult to otherwise fulfill the “psychological

contract” with staff and also to give them a reason to stay. This psychological contract is
necessary for achieving expected outcomes for both employees and employers.
To mention the situation of English training institutions in Vietnam, Hiep (2005) identifies that
one of the key challenges is inadequate materials or supporting resources to facilitate
management to deliver quality and efficient services. Service quality is often determined by the
degree to which expected objectives achieved, client satisfaction, added value and fitness for
purpose of the institution (Asif, 2015). Almost all learners who take up English as their second
language go to English language institutions with different needs and requirements. To satisfy
complex and diverse demands, English language institutions need to set up facility with higher
level of elementary or basic resources and requirements. How to allocate limited financial
resources often takes a lot of management‟s time, which in itself leaves very little time for other
management tasks.
1.2 Research Objectives
A lot of researchers in the field of operation and marketing management are concerned about
how service business can enhance the quality and gain a competitive advantage in their market
by identifying the gaps between customers‟ expectations and management‟s perceptions, and
vice versa (Urban, 2009). Researches in such fields are essential so that managers can
understand the customers‟ demands and needs to improve the service quality to match their
requirements.
This research analyses the gaps between the customers‟ expectations and their perceptions on
experiencing service based on the level of satisfaction. It involved investigating customers‟
evaluation on the service quality within a particular industry (English language training) and
geographic population and region (Hanoi, Vietnam). This study may also contribute to the
academic field of service marketing and operation management by comparing related literature
review.
Moreover, this research investigated the significant differences among management‟s
perception, service specifications, delivery and external communication within of a business.
Therefore, this research can act as a practice guideline for operation process for firms‟
managers and policymakers, and helping them achieve a solid comprehension of operation
administration to serve a variety of customers with different demographic dimensions, especially

6
in English Language Training service. In general, the main objectives of the research are as
below:
- To explore the gaps between customers‟ expectations and management‟s perceptions of
English language training service across demographic groups.
- To identify the gaps among management‟s perception with service specification,
delivery, and external communication of English language centres in Hanoi.
- To determine the gaps between customers‟ expectations and perceptions on the English
language training service.
1.3 The structure of the research
Chapter 1: Introducing the background, the aims and objectives and the structure of the
research.
Chapter 2: Demonstrating the literature and theories on analysing the general situation of
English language training service in Vietnam; how to define service quality, service excellence,
gaps model, and application of gap models in English training service.
Chapter 3: Mentioning the methodology and methods adopted for collecting and discussing
data in this study, especially on how to design and implement questionnaire survey. Otherwise,
reliability and validity as well as limitation of the research are also presented.
Chapter 4: Presenting the findings and discussions of the research based on both primary
and secondary data.
Chapter 5: Drawing the conclusions, limitations and recommendations of the research
project.

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 7
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
English language training is increasingly a global norm, a basic skill, with the young learner
segment of the market (Kam, 2002; Sudhakar, 2015). As stated by Walley, et al. (2012),
demand for English is now greatest at the young learner level where parents put their children
on English courses because they see English as a key to future career opportunities for their
children. More and more young learners are being introduced to foreign language learning. So
English is more widely taught at primary and secondary schools in non-English speaking
countries, including Vietnam.
Many countries around the world are adopting early foreign language learning as part of their
educational policy and including foreign languages as a compulsory subject from the first year of
primary to high education. Foreign language skills are seen as economically valuable as they
can enhance trade, mobility, employability and offer an overall competitive edge in the market
(Syam, 2012). Educational systems have always tried to prepare future citizens who are able to
cope with the demands and challenges of the society they will be living in. Sudhakar (2015)
suggests that modern globalised societies require citizens with foreign language skills, and
governments prepare their future citizens by providing them with the skills required. Vietnam
has, for example, specified the key competences its citizens should have so as to be able to
respond to the needs of the fast-changing world.
2.2 English language training (ELT) in Vietnam
2.2.1 Reasons of studying English
There are numerous reasons why people learn English and how they use it. According to (Wolf,
et al., 2014; Crystal, 2009; Oommen, 2012), the customers‟ English demands will differ across
markets and impacts their expectations from their EL learning experience. From the survey of

British-Council (2006), the main reasons were economic, career or educational purposes, or for
holiday travel.
Moreover, participants listed those drivers of demand in English language markets such as the
need for English for business and professional reasons and a desire to participate in the
international marketplace/commercial arena, where English is the dominant language. (Kumar,
2012). According to Kumar (2012), economic reason is also necessary when parents want to
give their children the best opportunities, key skills from an early age. A number of countries
had the perception of English as being the important world language, thus they need a certain
percentage of the population who are good at English. They have to offer it to everyone, that‟s
what education is generally about, and so the provision has to be a massive provision.
Whereas, Galloway (2013) provides information that a significant reason is cultural interest in
which people are learning English for tourism, travel, self-improvement. Another choice which
was said to be partly driven by people finding that English because it is so widely used, is a
good way of communicating with people from other countries whether for business (a significant
driver), for going on holidays, or for meeting people from other countries (Pratama, 2016).
2.2.2 The fact of English Training in Vietnam
Although English has been recognised as the first foreign language, and the Vietnamese
Government clearly underlines the importance of developing English to better compete and
showcase the skills and talents of its workforce in regional and global markets. The study of Anh
(2010) illustrates that English in Viet Nam is treated as a subject for study rather than as a living
language to be spoken in daily conversation.
Her research has found out that being aware of the importance of English, the English language
training for primary and secondary education is always a priority in Vietnamese educational
system. In fact, an official curriculum for primary and secondary English was approved and has
been revised by the Ministry of Education ever since 2003 (Schulzke, 2014). Specifically, the
latest revised programme is claimed to take account of the needs of young learners in primary
school, which are different from the ones of elder pupils in secondary education. As mentioned
in the article, the principle of improving English programme is to focus on communicative
competencies and consequently enhances more communication teaching methods, through
coherent themes and topics which are meaningful and relevant to the student‟s world. The
guiding principle also ensures that there is a recognition that primary age students are still
developing cognitively. They are not able to think abstractly or to analyse the structure of

languages. Syam (2012) claims that such teaching methods are child-centred, based on actions
and with many opportunities to practise language skills in meaningful contexts.
2.2.3 English teaching and learning environment
The study of Natarajan (2011) identified the teaching and learning environment in Vietnam
includes physical environment, social situation and instructional arrangements. The physical
environment in most schools in urban areas of Ha Noi has been gradually improved so as to
enhance teaching and learning. A research of Nguyen (2011) has shown that classrooms are
furnished with adequate desks and chairs, good lighting and with paucity of modern multimedia.
Nevertheless, such improvements have led to big class size, ranging from 40 to 50 pupils in a
classroom. This problem affects the effectiveness of English teaching in class, especially for
teachers‟ difficulties such as failure to manage activities storytelling, survey, group work in which
pupils are supposed to move around the classroom. It appears that the physical environment,
greater and lesser extent, tacitly have an impact on the classroom interaction nature. In
addition, techniques of communicative and cooperative study require children to interact
comfortably with one another, but fixed spaces arrangements obstruct these (Hoa, 2007).
Therefore, it can be said that in terms of social and instructional arrangements, in general,
teaching English in Vietnamese schools has not met the criteria for contemporary teaching and
learning approaches.
2.2.4 The impacts of technology
In discussing the impact of technology on the EL course, British-Council (2006) claims that most
participants believed that while online learning options could be an effective supplement or
complementary partner to classroom based instruction, at least some component of face-to-face
teaching would continue to be demanded as an essential ingredient of the English language
learning process.
Zhang (2011) claims that while some people would try online programmes, most were cautious
about totally online methods and preferred some personal interaction with an English language
teacher. This reflects that learners don‟t learn languages through technology; they use
technology to complement face-face classroom-based learning. Online will coexist and
supplement face-to-face training. In fact, there are many ways to deliver speaking, such as via
broadband width and video conferencing. There will always be a segment without access to the
web. And many who prefer face-to-face instruction. However, the study of Wolf, et al., (2014)

has found out that students are not sufficiently motivated to learn by online study, instead of that
they need a teacher to direct them and so prefer face–to-face education.
Another participant felt improvements in broadband capacity would see an increase in video
conferencing as a medium for language teaching. However, Billings (2015) supposes that it
would not widely replace classroom English, rather join with it as a „blended solution‟ …so that
the two of them co-exist and give people different options. He gave an example that for person
who can‟t make a class on Wednesday, she can have a video conference class on Thursday
because she can‟t get to the school and the teacher can‟t get to her. Online delivery has been
talked about for years but there is still high demand for in-person education. For some
segments, online education is a relevant alternative delivery mechanism. According to Pan &
Block (2011), it is very important to have English training face to face, to be immersed in the
culture versus hearing a computer.
2.2.5 English language training service in Vietnam
The higher education market has seen continued growth in all major English language
destination countries in recent years. Furthermore the growth in demand for international
education is predicted to continue to increase. Even if this forecast significantly overestimates
the growth in demand, the data still points to an overall continued growth in the demand for
international higher education (Hiep, 2005).
Moreover, Tran and Fredric (2009) provides information that English language providers also
have opportunity to capitalise on the projected growing global demand for higher education -
such increasing demand should flow through to greater demand for English Language
instruction – fuelled by the position of English as the major language of global education (and
thus by the greater number of higher education students who require English language tuition
as a prerequisite to their studies); and as the dominant international language for business.
In Vietnam, increasing numbers of children learning English as part of the school curriculum and
countries put English into an international curricula. In a recent research, British-Council (2006)
has shown that establishing or increasing partnerships or links to overseas and local universities
and colleges help to meet the growing demand for English language learning from governments
and students, for instance providing quality Academic English programmes as a pathway to the
tertiary institution. As stated by Kieu (2010), contract work and consultancy - for example
providing English and exams, to international corporations on a consultancy basis, particularly

as many multinational corporations look increasingly to Vietnam for growth, where English
proficiency is still relatively poor
This presents an opportunity for English language providers in that as demand increases in
Vietnam, there exists the potential for UK providers of English to deliver programmes in source
countries or through third country provision, i.e. regional centres that act as regional educational
hubs (Nguyen, 2011).
2.3 Theoretical framework
2.3.1 Service quality
Definition
Quality has become a main area of attention to managers, researchers and practitioners due to
its strong effect on business lower costs, performance service, customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty and profitability during the past few decades (Ghotbabadi, et al., 2015). As
(Parasuraman, 2010) stated, most of the previous service quality studies have concentrated on
the general nature of service quality and its components. While the importance of quality was
becoming more widely recognized, its conceptualization and measurement have typically
remained understudied.The research on service quality with issues of measurement, modeling,
data collection procedure analysis etc. are still carried out leading to development of sound
base for business (Seth, et al., 2005).
According to Kassim and Zain (2010), Abili, et al. (2011), Andronikidis, et al. (2009), because of
the unique features of service such as intangible, performance oriented, inseparable, and
perishable, heterogeneous, it is complicated not only to measure service quality, but also to
provide the same standard of service quality to all clients. According to Aswad (2012), an
interactive model business connection includes various interactive, embedded processes and
the involved partners' personal relationships, which have created and shared values. Business
connections have been supported by the analysis of expectations and satisfactions of the
consumers, suppliers, employees and the competitors as well. Prakash and Mohanty (2013)
conclude that to mislead from both a policy and an operational perspective of the institution, it is
necessary to obtain adequate information on both the quality of services perceptions and
expectations of services received and feedback from clients and survey investigation.

Dimensions of service quality
In a recent research, Prakash and Mohanty (2013) mention that based on 4C (communication,
cost to satisfy, convenience to buy consumer's need) which are the original place of distribution.
These 4C matches the convenience of customers‟ consumption, and directly influences price, or
satisfaction level of customers. The author also states that with the lack of just one basic
component, it can cause dissatisfaction or total interruption in the business operation. So they
suggest that the more high-level elements are adapted the highest is, the more opportunity to
reach loyalty based on satisfaction.
With different viewpoint, the study of Seth, et al. (2005) identifies that service quality includes
features of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. According to him, the
most important of service quality for customers is reliability. It is defined as the capacity to
perform the promised service accurately and dependably. In different meaning, reality is doing
what the institutions illustrate they will do. This is supported by Tseng and Wu (2013) that the
customers‟ demands for the most vital factor of business to provide service quality is the
consistent promise of what a company‟s ability to deliver. Therefore, having a programme ready
upon register is an example of the reliability dimension.
Whereas, responsiveness is the willingness to help clients and to provide prompt service.
Clients evaluate a company‟s responsiveness by assessing the amount of time it takes and the
attentiveness that is offered in response to their questions, complaints, requests, and problems.
To gain the feedback and information from customers, Ho and Zheng (2004) claims that that
using automated phone systems usually put clients on hold, or consistently have long waiting
times, moreover long lines tend to be rated low on the responsiveness dimension. Therefore,
responding quickly to customers‟ complaints and requests leads to a higher rating
responsiveness.
Assurance is the third dimension of service quality (Seth, et al., 2005). Assurance is understood
as employees‟ courtesy and knowledge, or the ability of the company and its staffs to inspire
confidence and trust. In such as auto repair and medical services, the assurance dimension is
particularly important to offer high levels of credence qualities. The importance of the assurance
dimension increases in proportion to the risk, and the greater the inability for a customer to
evaluate the service (Abili, et al., 2011). The expertise of an endorser or a particular service
provider for a cruise vacation may affect the level of confidence and trust a customer has toward
that service.

Empathy is the way how the business implements caring individualized attention the company
provides its clients (Seth, et al., 2005). Customers are aware of the level of a company‟s
empathy by the degree of personalized service they received. Valmohammadi and Beladpas
(2014) provides the information that clients want to be known on an individual basis and it
appears that they expect the company knows and addresses their individual needs. This is
agreed by Sudhakar (2015) that to compete with firms that enjoy economies of scale, medium
and small companies tend to focus on empathy to earn greater market shares. Therefore in
English language training service, service providers show concern for a guest who English
capacity is not adequate to take IELTS (International English Language Testing System) to
study in abroad is a way to improve the overall perceived service quality.
The final dimension of service quality is tangibles (Seth, et al., 2005). Tangible is about the
appearance of equipment, physical facilities, communication materials and personnel. Service
industries such as English training service rely heavily on tangibles. Ou, et al. (2011) states that
customers often judge the quality of an English service experience on the quality of the physical
environment and tangible amenities.
Each time customers experience a service, they are evaluating the service quality of the
organization. They judge the overall service quality by looking at its five dimensions during all
interactions with service providers. Companies need to perform well on all dimensions of service
quality to insure a positive overall evaluation (Seth, et al., 2005).
How to make service quality successful
There is a list, which covers the findings of international researchers regarding service quality
and what characterizes successful service companies:
Service quality has become a strategic area of development and an important part of the
business plan and the vision of the company‟s development. It is also a central task for
management at all levels (Srivastava, et al., 2012). The managing director should be the leading
practitioner of a professional and operative leadership. That means, among other things,
creating and spreading a quality policy, developing challenging goals, plans and rituals, and
dividing the responsibility in the organisation. It means that successful service companies are
characterised by a multiple focus. So the leaders needs to manage to satisfy the needs and
expectations of customers, co-workers and owners at the same time (Valmohammadi &
Beladpas, 2014).

Quality is considered as everyone‟s responsibility. Every co-worker has the knowledge,
resources and authority to achieve high quality. They have to commits on customer-perceived
total quality by emphasising on quality in results, processes and prerequisites for the service
and how these interact. Gil-Gómez, et al. (2014) claims that the co-workers also need to control
the quality of their own work that is based on the customer orientation. In addition, service
development and service construction needs to focus on not only to prevent faults or to detect
the ones already made, but also to build-in prerequisites for the right quality when developing
new services. To do that, the company needs to develop the complaint management that
detects customer dissatisfaction, learning to repair mistakes, compensate and explain the cause
of the quality failure. This is agreed by Parasuraman (2002) that more and more firms use
satisfaction ratings as an indicator of performance for services and consequently an indicator of
company‟s future. Since service quality is a vital element in creating customer satisfaction, it
also plays an important role in sustaining profit levels of companies. The systematic measuring
of the service quality needs established to measure quality from the point of view of customers,
co-workers and other interested parties.
One of effective models to evaluate the service quality is SERVQUAL questionnaire (Burböck,
2014). It measures the five aspects of service which include assurance, responsiveness,
empathy, reliability and tangibles. Tangibles include physical facilities, equipment and
appearance of personnel. Reliability refers to ability to perform the promised service
dependably and accurately. Responsiveness refers to willingness to help customers and
provide prompt service. And empathy (including access, communication, understanding the
customer) refers to caring and individualized attention that the firm provides to its customers.
Assurance refers to Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and
confidence. Therefore, the SERVQUAL approach contains a questionnaire that evaluates five
generic service dimensions or factors to evaluate both expectation and performance (Abili, et
al., 2011).
In the English language training, products are produced and consumed simultaneously, while in
other industries production and consumption are separated in time and space (Kam, 2002). For
this reason, a high quality standard is hard to achieve. Another issue is direct contact between
employees and consumers, which inevitably leads to errors that can easily contribute to the
possible collapse of the system. If it is accepted that these errors are inevitable, then the goal is
to minimize them. The battle for quality determines the path that everyone in the ELT industry
needs to follow. Zhang (2011) concludes that using a quality system, service managers try to

eliminate errors and improve the guest‟s perception of quality issues. Quality is not defined by
category, but by the capability to deliver products and services that have district characteristics,
and are designed in a way to please the guests and fulfil their needs.
2.3.2 Service excellence
Service excellence is defined as the provision of service that exceeds customer expectations
and entails customer delight. Delight is an expression of very high satisfaction resulting from
surprisingly good performance (Asif, 2015).
A number of models have also been developed to facilitate better understanding of the concept
and approaches to implementation. One of the most famous model of service excellence is
Johnston‟s model. In general, there is a lack of systematic approaches to the implementation of
service excellence, resulting in fragmentation and confusion over the understanding and
approaches to implementation. The paper of Johnston (2007) highlights the unique strengths
and weaknesses of each model, and shows how organisations can leverage the strengths of
each model to develop an overarching service excellence system. The findings can help
practitioners to set a course for developing service excellence. The rest of the paper is
structured as follows: the next section elaborates the concept of service excellence and
provides a review of different service excellence models. Then the paper analyses service
excellence models and highlights the unique features of each model. The critical analysis of the
models lays the foundation for an integrated approach whereby key features of each model are
used to develop a holistic service excellence system. The application of the framework is
demonstrated through service excellence initiatives of top-notch service firms.
Subsequently, there are two key points in defining the concept of service excellence: delighting
the customer and a systematic approach (Lemay, et al., 2009). Delighting the customer is the
cornerstone of the conventional concept of service excellence. Delight as an emotional element
can positively shape the intentions of the customer, increase customer loyalty, and lead to
repurchase intentions. Whereas, customer delight is quite different from customer satisfaction.
The latter refers to a state when the expectations of the customer are met; but the former occurs
when customers receive a positive surprise that is beyond their expectations. The difference
between satisfaction and delight can further be understood in terms of „experienced
performance‟ and „presence of expectations‟.

The element that is critical in defining service excellence is a systematic approach. This is
because excellent service is not about one-time good experience, rather consistent provision of
excellent service. Studies of Walley, et al. (2012) show that excellent service requires an
organized and systematic approach whereby various service driven practices and procedures
must blend together within a service system to produce excellent service. A systematic
approach ensures that structures and systems required for service excellence are in place,
thereby enabling provision of excellent service on a consistent basis, and ensuring repeatability
of procedures and outcomes. When firms lack systems, they continue making recurring
mistakes, and, therefore, losing customers. In such cases, Burböck (2014) suggests that
sincere apologies and friendly customer staff do not appease the annoyed customer nor regain
the lost customer. Indeed “systems, not smiles, deliver continuous service quality”. Further, a
systematic approach builds in the opportunity for assessment, improvement, learning,
innovation, and knowledge sharing, thereby enabling a gain in maturity. A systematic approach,
therefore, is the key feature of a service excellence system.
According to Singh and Khanduja (2010), service excellence is mainly about being easy to do
business with, and not necessarily exceeding expectations. What customer really want is just a
satisfactory solution to their problem. Trying too hard to delight customers makes only marginal
difference. Based on this notion Sappington (2005) developed a model for service excellence
that comprises four key elements: (i) delivering the promise; (ii) providing a personal touch; (iii)
going the extra mile; and (iv) dealing well with problems and queries. The model requires
organisations to focus mainly on delivering the promise, and if and when things go wrong to
have good systems in place to deal with them. Dealing well with problems is a critical
component of service excellence since customers are willing to accept problems provided that
they are dealt with effectively. A personal touch and few extra touches can contribute to the
perception of service excellence.
2.3.3 Gap models
Definition
A model known as the „gaps model‟ or „service quality model‟ has been developed to identify
problems in service delivery 1990, which defines quality service through customer satisfaction
(Aswad, 2012). The idea is to identify problems and mistakes through recognizing gaps in the
model and trying to avoid them. English language training management can influence service
delivery by narrowing organizational gaps and by improving service quality and customer

satisfaction. The service quality model assumes that the difference between the service that the
customers expect and the service they actually get is due to organizational gaps. These gaps
can be split into: positional gap, specification gap, service execution gap, communication gap,
evaluation gap.
Figure 2.1: Gap model
(Source: Seth, N., Deshmukh, S. & Vrat, P. (2005), Service quality models: a review.
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 22(9), pp. 913-949.)
Customers have expectations for service experiences and they use them to measure against
the perceived service performance in their judgment of service quality. (Douglas & Connor,
2003) states that it is essential, then, that managers determine what those expectations are
when designing the service.The size of the gap is dependent on the extent of upward
communication (from customers to top management); the number of layers of management; the
size of the organization; and most importantly, the extent of marketing research to identify
customer expectations.
The second gap is referred to as the design gap. It is measured by how well the service design
specifications match up to management‟s perception of customer expectations. The extent of
this gap is dependent on management‟s belief that service quality is important and that it is

possible, as well as the resources that are available for the provision of the service. A language
training service manager may understand customer expectations for being served within 20
minutes of ordering, but may not have the resources or the appropriate number of staff to insure
that speed of service (Natarajan, 2011).
Gap three represents the variation in service design and service delivery. Known as the
performance gap, its extent is a function of many variables involved in the provision of service.
Since individuals perform the service, the quality may be affected by such factors as skill level,
type of training received, degree of role congruity (agreeability) or conflict, and job fit. According
to (Siami & Gorji, 2012) Some service providers (i.e. waiters, front-desk staff) do not have a high
service inclination, despite training. Service recovery efforts along with extent of responsibility
and empowerment also affect the size of this gap.
The fourth gap is called the communications gap. It is the difference between what is promised
to customers, either explicitly or implicitly, and what is being delivered. (Kumar, 2012) claims
that language centre institutions use advertising, personal selling, and sales promotion to
inform, persuade, and remind guests about its products and services. Showing modern
classrooms, refreshing receptionist areas, and comfortable study environment in an
advertisement communicates to the target customers. The extent of communications between
the company and the advertising agencies will affect the size of the gap (Sudhakar, 2015).
Over-promising is commonly responsible for the communication gap. Each gap has a
cumulative effect from the preceding gaps.
Gap 5 is the total accumulation of variation in Gaps 1 through 4 and represents the difference
between expectations and perceived service. Furthermore, consumers evaluate perceived
service along five quality dimensions (Parasuraman, 2010).
The extension of gap model
The research of (Aswad, 2012) suggests that the goal of the model is to identify the gaps
between the customer's expectation and the services provided at different stages of services
and to disappear the gap and improve the customer services. However, recently in the big
competition on the market the customers expect high quality product together with high quality
services. Producers don't always offer excellence quality consumer services that meet the
expectations of consumer are hard to sustain in a competitive market. So he has extended the
model including additional gaps and bridges with:

Figure 2.2: Gap model Extension
(Source: Aswad, D. (2012), The extension of the gap-model for services. Advanced Logistic
Systems, 6(1), pp. 51-56.)
Gap 6 refers relationship between past experience and customer needs. Accordingly, the basic
model excludes the research of mutual connections among the starting sectors, determined by
the customer expected services. Direct connection can be found between the past experiences
and the personal needs. Therefore, gap or a bridge should be built in the context of the
connection‟s direction and power.
Gap 7 is between word of mouth communication and past experiences. There is additional
direct connection between the past customer experiences and the company‟s customer
communications. An effective external communication can modify the customer‟s past

experiences, to give new focus point for the quality of the product and the services. This
process can accelerate gap-reducing influence.
Gap 8 is between interaction among the customer and word of mouth communications. (Aswad,
2012) proposes that the basic model doesn't deal with the internal customer‟s communication
and the external Company's communications. Effective external communications can positive
impact on the customer‟s interactive communication of the product and the services. The
relevant research of the customer needs should be restricted by the uncertain customer's
expectation.
2.3.4 Gaps in ELT service
The business environment in the English language training service is highly competitive, each
centre or school directly or indirectly competing with the others. The highly competitive
environment prompts English language training managers to meet their customers‟ expectations
as for as possible to enable the survival and success of the business (Ou, et al., 2011).
The management perception-service quality specification gap can occur when ELT
management correctly perceives guest expectations, but is unable to translate this information
into clear specifications. Researchers suggest that four factors may account for this
discrepancy, including: management commitment to service quality, existence of goal setting,
task standardization and perception of feasibility. Specifications, along the service quality
dimensions, are useful to define what quality is. Frequently, organizations do not possess any
kind of formal specification, which results in aggravated service variability and lower quality.
Specifications are required to guide personnel in their activities. Specifications are also required
as a means of comparison for effective quality evaluation. Candido and Morris (2000) assert
that this gap exists because of a lack of analysis, design and definition of service quality
specifications, or when specifications exist because of an inconsistency between those
specifications and the strategy content or the perceptions that management held of customers‟
expectations. Several more factors can create this gap, including: short-term profit orientation,
internal communication-levels of management, poor service design, and absence of customer-
driven standards. The size of the specification gap in any ELT organizations is proposed to be a
function of: designing specifications, task standardisation, perception of feasibility, levels of
management, HRM and integration/coordination.

Moreover, the ELT perceptions of guest expectations with regard to the desired quality of a
training service may not be in sync with real learners‟ expectations. It is suggested that the size
of the positioning gap in any service firm is a function of marketing research orientation, upward
communication, and levels of managers. Candido and Morris (2001) stated that the gap is
defined as a management lack of understanding of customer‟s expectations and perception of
the service. It is motivated both by lack of initiatives to listen to the customer and by the lack of
correct understanding when these initiatives are taken. The authors suggested that the gap
could be further enlarged to include a lack of understanding of other external information,
namely a service positioning gap or service quality strategy (Uran, 2010).
2.4 Conclusion
The service quality strategy and gap model help to identify the organization‟s competitive scope
and its concepts of quality, through a selection of, and positioning on, the fundamental quality
dimensions it wants to compete with. In order to create a sustainable advantage, ELT managers
seek to develop core competencies: unique combination of processes, skills and/or assets. As
competitors move more closely together in terms of service quality, developed by these core
competencies, which will be used more often to create a competitive distinctiveness. Service
quality can be utilized in determining how a business produces and delivers its products and
services; in how it manages its teachers and staffs; and in how it builds a strong brand identity
and reputation.

CHAPTER III: METHOD AND METHODOLOGY 22
CHAPTER III: METHOD AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter focuses on discussing the research method and methodology in accordance with
the nature of this research objective. Firstly, the research philosophy is introduced. Then the
research approach and strategy are mentioned. In this study, the research approach is
positivism philosophy that appropriate to the study. Along with positivism approach, the author
used deductive research, and research strategy is quantitative method. To investigate the study,
the primary and secondary data were used to analyse the facts. For data collection process in
quantitative research, the author sent questionnaires to more than two hundred respondents
who had experiences with the service of English language centres in Hanoi. Finally, the
limitation in this research including reliability, validity and confidentiality will be discussed.
3.2 Research philosophy
Research philosophy includes two main types as interpretivism and positivism. The positivist
researcher views the world as reality that is independent of the observer therefore it is able to
be predicted and measured (Coates & Sloan, 2008). This approach focuses on cause-and-
effect oriented, empirical data collection and deterministic. It means that positivist philosophy is
logical because it is mainly about priority theories. This is agreed by (Creswel, 2009) that
positivist studiers consider inquiry as a set of logically related steps, they tend to believe in
multiple perspectives from participants rather than a single reality.
While the interpretative studiers consider observation, human participation, context and time
which occur in real life (Creswel, 2009). It is supported by Bryman and Bell (2011) that
interpretative investigators think that there are a lot of interpretations of reality, equally valid
which are dependent on the scale, context, moment they are made. In addition, the focus on
human interpretations of events leads to the implementation of qualitative study.
However in this research, positivism philosophy was adopted due to the research
implementation reflects the empirical study as positivism. Specifically, the research is based on

relatively structured methodology with questionnaire in order to draw statistical analysis that is
the basis of positivism approach.
3.3 Research methodology
To represent the common view of the nature of the relationship between social research and
event, there are two main approaches as deductive and inductive. However, these two
approaches are different from together. “Deductive research is based on reasoning which
transforms general theory into hypothesis. By contrast, inductive research is based on
reasoning which moves from specific observations to broader theories” as stated by Bryman
(2008, p. 78).
In this report, the research methodology is deductive that is based on reasoning transforming
general theory into hypothesis (Bryman & Bell, 2011). The deductive theory also represents
almost all the common views of nature of a relationship between research and theory.
Therefore, the researcher carried out a hypothesis that is subjected to empirical scrutiny. Along
with the hypothesis, the concepts need translating into researchable entities. This is supported
by Saunders, et al. (2009) that the social researchers have to deduce a hypothesis, afterwards
they translate hypothesis into operational terms.
Waters (2011) states that the research strategy is defined as how researchers implement their
own research strategy, or the strategy that they intend to adopt to complete empirical study.
Research strategy includes main types such as survey, case study, ethnography, historical
research, experimental research, grounded theory and action research.
The research strategy will be based on quantitative research due to the research approach of
deductive. Bryman and Bell (2011) claims that quantitative research reflects the relationship
between theory and deductive research when it involves the collection of numerical data.
Quantitative research is considered as an objectivist conception of social reality, or a
predilection for a natural science approach. Therefore, when researchers implement quantitative
research, they can find out that it has the characteristics as causality, measurement, replication
generalization.
In addition, Anderson (2013) supposes that quantitative research has the feature that data is
able to be counted and quantified to explore factors of social situations and organizations. The
variety of data then can be analysed with the help of computer software like SPSS, Excel so

that it can be measured, counted, described, and compared together. So, quantitative
research‟s data plays an important role to answer questions of research. By quantitative data
analysis, the studier can investigate the research study situation in terms of central tendency,
frequency, and dispersion.
3.4 Data collection procedure
3.4.1 Data collection
According to Creswel (2009), the data collection procedure is often carried out by documents,
observations, interviews and visual materials. In this research, the secondary data is collected
from qualitative documents that are based on primary sources with interpretations of events
(Bell, 2008). Secondary data consists of existing information which was collected by other
organizations and people with different aims (Waters, 2011). In this study, the secondary data is
obtained from a lol of sources like journals, books, annual, reports websites of English
Language Centre and other types of data. Primary data is another source in data collection
process. Whereas, primary sources are those from real facts in the period under research (Bell,
2008). The researcher used questionnaires for this type of data.
3.4.2 Self-administered questionnaires
The researcher designs the survey including a list of structured questions so that he can
generate dependable responses from the population sample (Collis & Hussey, 2009). According
to Saunders et al. (2009), the questionnaire is one of the most widely used data collection
techniques within the survey strategy. For quantitative data collection, a self-administered
questionnaire is carried out to gain the data. Saunders, et al. (2009) also states that this type of
method research is often used for explanatory research, which enables the research to explain
and examine the variable relationships. Moreover, this way is also efficient to reduce costs,
collect data from a large sample. More significantly, because of retaining anonymity, it
encourages people to express their opinion honestly. Moreover, Waters (2011) also supposed
that the selection of self-administered questionnaire design is affected by the importance of the
respondents‟ answers, rather than the types of questions the researcher wants to ask.
Therefore, the author planned to send respondents self-administered questionnaires which have
the closed ended format based on Likert type scale to five people as the pilot study. This pilot
study was targeted to test the questionnaire instrument and allowed researcher to adjust the
survey before it was sent to the sample population. From the researcher‟s viewpoint, the closed

ended format, Likert scale, is the most reasonable type of questionnaire for this research
because of its specific content. Doing that the researcher expected to maximize the response
rating and to ensure the validity and reliability from respondents.
The researcher designed the questionnaire with two different parts. The first one includes eight
demographic questions for respondents to answer. To gain the fundamental demographics of
target market, the basic profile of aimed customer arises, and supporting marketers to evaluate
the efficiency and the size of the aimed market, even in case other segmentation variables were
used. The most frequently used demographic segmentation variables mentioned in the
questionnaires include age, sex, education attainment, job, English study length.
The second part consists of 23 statements to acquire the respondents‟ responses toward the
gaps in English language training service. It is based on Likert five-point rating scales (Kumar,
2012) where respondents were required to assess their viewpoints towards the statements from
“very unsatisfied” (1) to ― “very satisfied” (5).These questions were designed to acquire the
satisfaction degree of the respondents toward the English language training service. In data
collection process, the questionnaire was distributed in Vietnamese that is the official language
in Vietnam.
3.4.3 Sampling
Saunders, et al. (2009) defines that sampling is carried out to select a sufficient amount of
fundamentals from the population; hence a research sample and an understanding of its
properties would help us generalize characteristics and properties to the population features. In
this study, the researcher‟s aim is to identify the gaps (based on gap model) to evaluate the
satisfaction level of learners on English training servicers of English language centres in Hanoi,
Vietnam.
The questionnaire survey was distributed randomly to learners who have experiences in English
studying in Hanoi through Internet survey. A larger sample is necessary in order to reduce
sample error, as suggested by Bryman and Bell (2011), that ― as sample size increases, the
lesser the sample error. The researcher administered 234 questionnaires to a sample of English
learners. Afterwards, 210 valid questionnaires were completed that can be used for further
analysis, representing an adequate response rate of 89.7%.

3.4.4 Survey
The survey was implemented on English learners through online questionnaires. The
researcher sent online survey to potential respondents who had experiences in English training
service. The author expected that respondent would open the attachment and complete the
questionnaire before giving it back to the researcher, often using the „reply‟ command, to its
originator. According to Bell (2008), online survey is so effective that it can minimize the time it
takes to complete a survey and collect data, and be managed in a time-efficient manner.
The researcher made the questionnaire through a web survey tool with the help of technological
innovations. The author sent e-mail attached the survey link to respondents, and received reply
directly from respondents‟ emails. Nonetheless, online survey has its own weaknesses when a
number of respondents tend to spend time distinguishing between a spam message and an
online survey; or there is no human contact with respondents in this type of research. Moreover,
Evans and Mathur (2005) provide information that several people may feel unsatisfied, and do
the survey without answering all the questionnaires that can lead to the low response rates. To
fix this difficulty to increase the responsing rate, the author sent out follow-up reminders to
participants. The 5-point Likert scale is mostly used in this questionnaire,. The question is the
extent on which the respondents contend that the item is important to the service quality of ELT
service.
3.5 Methods of data analysis
The data analysis process, as viewed by Creswel (2009), involves preparing the data for
analysis, conducting analyses by different techniques, representing the figures, and making an
interpretation of them. This is supported by Waters (2011) that data analysis consists of
continual reflection about the data supplied by respondents, asking investigative questions, and
writing notes throughout the research. The researcher can use data analysis in explanatory or
descriptive analysis methods (Saunders, et al., 2009)
In this research, both explanatory and descriptive analysis are deployed. Descriptive analysis
will be implemented by having entered figures, tables, and graphs to allow the researcher to
explore, describe and evaluate relationships between trends from collected data and the theory.
In surveys, explanatory analysis is emphasized to examine the gaps in service quality in ELT.

3.6 Ethic
3.6.1 Reliability
Reliability is one of the limitations that is considered in this study, as it refers to the consistency
of a measure concept. From the viewpoint of Bryman and Bell (2011), the reality often has
correlations with the survey of whether the used questionnaires‟ measures are consistent with
the study reality. This research emphasized on evaluating the level satisfaction of learners on
English language training service, it will be able to ensure the results‟ stability, and accordingly
the measures for a sample of participants do not fluctuate. In addition, the indicators that make
up the scale or index are consistent; it means that participants‟ scores on indicators are returned
consistently based on the same format in each survey sent to respondents.
3.6.2 Validity
Bryman and Bell (2011) also mentions that validity frequently concerns with the conclusion in
research reliability, it is about the gauge from the measurement of the occurrences really
quantifies the concept. In this study, the measurement guarantees the construct validity when
the questionnaires are to get information and evaluate the gaps in English training service such
specifications, delivery, or internal communication gaps. However, this research could meet the
validity limitation because there are 234 respondents as English learners in this research, while
there were thousands of people who had English language training experiences.
3.6.3 Confidentiality
Another important factor in relating to the professional standard of maintaining relationships of
trust is confidentiality. Anderson (2013) notes that confidentiality is important that respondents
who participate in the study are aware of, and agree to arrangements relating to any
communication of information. In fact, this limitation could be solved because the researcher
used to work part-time as an English teacher in English for Life Centre (an English Language
Centre in Hanoi). It was convenient for the researcher to approach the respondents to
implement the research. The respondents who join the research will be sent reminder email for
the aim and purpose of the study before receiving the survey. When respondents know what to
do, they felt friendly to give the accurate information by answering the questionnaire.

3.7 Summary
This chapter presents the research philosophy, approach, strategy, methods of data collection,
data analysis as well as the research limitations. The research philosophy is positivism, and
research approach is deductive. In accordance with deductive approach, the quantitative
research was followed by collecting numerical data to exhibit a view of the relationship between
theory and research. The data collection process is carried out by questionnaire survey with the
participation of about 250 English learners in Hanoi. The questionnaires are delivered with
online survey by sending email to respondents and then reply to the researcher. The method of
data analysis is based on descriptive analysis or quantitative analysis technique. Finally, the
reliability, validity and confidentiality are analysed to reflect limitations in this research.

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
This chapter contains the key findings from the primary and secondary research. The author
firstly addressed the findings of general information of the respondents that includes two main
parts: demographic details and English studying experiences. The next part is about analyzing
service gaps of English language centres in Hanoi based on the evaluations of respondents. It
is the positional gap about the differences between customers‟ expectations and management‟s
perceptions in gap 1; management perceptions and service specifications in gap 2; service
specification and service delivery in gap 3; service delivery and external communication in gap
4; and customers‟ expectations and their perceptions in gap 5. After analyzing those figures, the
author focused on discussing the gap model in service management of English language
centres in Hanoi.
4.2 Research findings
4.2.1 Design of Questionnaire Section
The questionnaire includes two parts: Basic information of the respondents. So as to get
objective and valid materials, anonymous was used. Views of gap model applied in ELC through
evaluations of learners. The author used different questionnaires to get the assessment of
respondents on each gap. In gap 1, the respondents asked the satisfaction level of respondents
of the courses or programmes offered by the ELC to judge the difference between customers‟
expectations and managers‟ perceptions. After that, questionnaires about measuring the
satisfaction level of learners on the procedures, facility, equipment, websites, study environment
to recognize the gap between management perceptions and service specifications in gap 2. The
questionnaires were relevant to service specifications, specifically in this study they were to
evaluate the teachers‟ capacity with elements like experience, well preparation, responsibility,
friendliness, teaching methods, etc. To measure the discrepancy between service delivery and
external communication of gap 4, the author used the questionnaires about how respondents
decided to choose their English language centres; moreover this part includes the measurement
on front-line providers. Finally, gap 5 included a questionnaire on the overall satisfaction rate of

the ELC service to find out the variety between their expectation and perceptions after taking
part in one or several courses in their ELCs.
Based on the collected sample of 234 English learners, the author gets the general overview of
the sample as follows:
 Total number of survey online submitted was 234.
 The number of eligible votes was 210 that reach 89.7% of expected sample size (with
234 respondents).
 The number of eligible votes ensures standards of sample size and process of collecting
information set up in above parts of the subject.
4.2.2 Demographic information
General information describes attributes including two major set of demographic groups: (1)
traditional demographic groups: sex, age, job, and (2) the English studying experiences: length
of time studying English, names of English language centres, reasons for studying English
which are mentioned in Table 4.1:
Table 4.1: Demographic information of respondents
Classification Frequency Percentage (%)
Sex
Male 109 45. 3
Female 125 54.7
Age
Under 18 21 9.0
Between 19 – 25 110 47.0
Between 26 – 34 72 30.8
Over 35 31 13.2
Job
Student 97 41.5
Government Officer 48 20.5
Private business 52 22.2

Freelance 37 10.8
Length of time studying English
Under 2 years 7 3.0
Between 2 – 5 years 45 19.2
Between 5 – 10 years 102 43.6
More than 10 years 80 34.2
Have respondents participated in any ELC?
Yes 210 89.7
No 24 10.3
It is shown that the number of female respondents (54.7%) is slightly higher than males
(45.3%). The majority of respondents belong to age group 19- 25 years old (47%) and 26 - 34
years old (30.8%). Furthermore, there are a large number of respondents who are students and
work for private business, which represents 41.5% and 22.2% respectively.
Regarding the length time of studying English, nearly than half of the respondents had been
studying English for 5-10 years (43.6%). Meanwhile, a third of the respondents had studied
English for more than 10 years. Only a small number of respondents studied English for less
than 2 years (3%).
Respondents studied English for many reasons, however the most demands are for study,
work, travelling, culture, and hobby and advises from family members, friends, managers or
colleagues.
In addition, the respondents in this study used to study participate in one or many famous
English Language centre in Hanoi, for instance British Council, ACET, English for Life, Oxford,
E-quest, Language Link, Apolo.
The descriptive statistics between Age and the Length time of studying English is shown in
Table 4.2 and the statistics between the Job of customer and the Length time of studying
English are shown in Table 4.3.

Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics between Age and Length time of studying English
Length time of studying English
Under 2
years
Between 2 -
5 years
Between 5 -
10 years
More than 10
Years
Count Count Count Count
AGE
Under 18 5 6 7 3
Between 19 –
24
2 10 65 33
Between 25 –
34
0 22 20 30
Over 35 0 7 10 14
Source: Calculating from SPSS 20
It can be seen that all of the age groups studied English mostly between 5 – 10 years. In
specific, the large numbers of the respondents who have studied English for 5 – 10 years are
from 19 to 24 years old. Due to English has become an important subject in Vietnam for a long
time, the number of people studied English for more than 10 years is quite large. The number of
respondents who study English less than 2 years is the least sub-groups. This could be
explained that they did not consider English as the main foreign language, instead of that they
chose to study other language such as French, Chinese, Japanese, Thai etc, after that they
have changed to study English.
Table 4.3: Descriptive Statistics between jobs and time of studying English
Length time of studying English
Under 2
years
Between 2 -
5 years
Between 5 -
10 years
More than 10
Years
Count Count Count Count
JOB
Student 3 17 48 29
Government
Officer
2 9 21 16
Private Business 1 11 16 24
Freelance 1 8 17 11

The table illustrates that student is the largest group who study English in the English Language
Centre, mostly from 5 to 10 years. Student group is also the largest to study English for more
than 5 years. Within the job group, students may have the most flexible time to study in ELCs
when they only spend half of the day studying at school, so they spend the rest on studying
English. The another reason is that English is a compulsory subject in almost all schools in
Vietnam, thence students have motivations to study in ELCs to enhance their English
knowledge and skills. Government officers and people work for private business study English
mostly for the reasons of work. They often interact with foreigners and read materials in English,
so choosing to study in ELC is to help them improve English. Freelance is the least group who
used to study in ELC, this could be due to their work is less relevant to English. The number of
respondents who have studied English for less than 2 years is also the least.
4.3 Gaps in English Language Training
4.3.1 Gap 1: Positional Gap
Positional gap represents the general incompatibility between company management and
customers. The basic cause of its existence is that the institution does not understand the
customers‟ real expectations (Large & Konig, 2009). The table reflects that the more than half of
respondents felt satisfied with the programmes offered by the ELTs where they used to study.
Nearly a third of respondents had neutral ideas about this. The amount of people were
dissatisfied accounts for a small number. The satisfaction level of learners is measured in the
table 4.4:
Table 4.4: Satisfaction level of courses offered by the ELCs
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid
very unsatisfied 5 2.1 2.4 2.4
unsatisfied 28 12.0 13.3 15.7
neutral 58 24.8 27.6 43.3
satisfied 57 24.4 27.1 70.5
very satisfied 62 26.5 29.5 100.0
Total 210 89.7 100.0
Missing System 24 10.3
Total 234 100.0

Therefore the positional gap is actually the result of non-existence of demand analysis, wrongly
interpreted information concerning customers‟ expectations, market information and inadequate
perception of the relationship between the business and its customers. Parasuraman (2010)
explains that the important reason for the appearance of this Gap due to too many levels of
organisation that can alter and restrain certain levels of information about the demands and
expectations. In addition, not understanding the customers‟ demands could be the result of
lacking an orientation on marketing research, or weakness in managing customers‟ complaints.
So the criteria that the English Language Centre provides good choice of courses can be used
to measure the discrepancy between customers‟ expectations and management perceptions.
4.3.2 Gap 2: Specification gap
This gap represents the discrepancy between perceptions of the management about the
expectations of customers and specifications of service quality. For instance, employers of a
business could realize the actual customers‟ demands but do not know how to set up a system
of measures that enables the delivery of a desired quality (Tsai & Lin, 2014). Reasons that
cause specification gap are frequently from a wrongly designed services which are undefined
and unclear, or a new service development is implemented unsystematically according to a new
service development. Furthermore, lack of standards defined from characteristics of customers
could be another cause. So in service quality, standards are not identified respecting customers‟
needs, or there is no procedural management emphasizing upon the demands of customers.
Physical elements and inadequate service ambience may also be essential causes which lead
to the failure of service delivery. Accordingly, the company usually meets failure to develop
perceptible values in accordance with customers‟ demands; there is a fact that service
ambience is not made to match the demands of employees and customers. In addition,
problems can be caused by the inadequate resources, too growing demand and lack of
engagement of business employers.

Table 4.5: Means of service specifications of ELCs in Hanoi (210 respondents)
Elements/Dimensions Min Max Mean Std.
Deviation
RPA1 The entry procedure is brief and simple 1 4 4.41 0.721
RPA6 The ELC provides flexible learning time 1 5 3.82 1.151
RPA7 The centre place is easily accessible 1 5 4.00 1.141
RSS1
The classroom is clean, comfortable and
has the air conditioners
1 5
4.25 1.083
RSS2
Textbooks are given at the beginning of
each course
1 5
4.05 .987
RSS3
There are adequate projector, computer
and multimedia equipment in the
classroom
1 5
3.98 1.089
RSS4
The website provides online
documentation
1 5
3.46 .959
RSS5 Spaces for leaners to practice together 1 5 3.76 1.214
Table 4.5 illustrates typical service specifications of ELTs that managers consider to establish
their service design. From the reflection of respondents, it appears that they highly appreciated
the feature of entry procedure is brief and simple (mean 4.41), and the comfortable feeling they
spent in classrooms of their English Language centres (mean 4.25). In fact, the respondents in
this study used to spend their time in well-known English language centres in Hanoi such as
British Council, Language Link, or Apolo which are set up based on international
standardization, therefore analysis of means reflect exactly what happens in the fact.
By contrast, the feature of website provides online documentation (mean 3.46), spaces for
learners to practice together (3.76), and flexible learning time for learners (mean 3.82) are the
lowest measurement for the service specifications of such English Language Centres in the
research. Many learners felt that it was inconvenient when ELCs‟ website did not support online
documentations such as e-books, homework, or online learning materials. In addition, beside
the classroom, the learners need spaces for practicing English by themselves or with others
such as the library, study room, or entertainment place, however many ELCs does not adapt

such demands from learners. Moreover, a significant number of respondents were
uncomfortable with the learning time of their ELCs.
Figure 4.1: The comparison of means of service specifications of ELCs in Hanoi
After all, in the table 7.2 it can be seen that the service specifications of ELCs that learners felt
most satisfied with are RPA1 (the procedure is brief and simple), RSS1(The classroom is clean,
comfortable and has the air conditioners) and RSS2 (Textbooks are given at the beginning of
each course). However, these centres need to focus on features of RSS4 (online documentation
is given by website), RPA6 (the flexible learning time) and RSS5 (spaces for learners to practice
together).
Table 4.6: Satisfaction level for staffs of English language centres in Hanoi (210 respondents)
Elements/Dimensions Min Max Mean Std. Deviation
RPA2 Staffs are friendly, enthusiastic
and supportive
1 5 4.22 1.025
RPA3 Staffs have highly professional
knowledge
1 5 4.06 .921
4.41
3.82
4
4.25
4.05
3.98
3.46
3.76
RP A 1 RP A 6 RP A 7 RS S 1 RS S 2 RS S 3 RS S 4 RS S 5
COMPARING MEANS AMONG SERVICE SPECIFICATION

As a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by front-line
providers, table 10 shows that most of learners satisfied with them (mean 4.22) because those
staffs were friendly, supportive and helpful to provide reasonable advices to learners. However,
a number of respondents did not suppose that the front-line providers had highly professional
knowledge (mean 4.06). In fact, these staffs take responsibility on making procedures,
consulting learners the suitable English class level, so the requirement of professional
knowledge is not so important.
4.3.3 Gap 3: Service execution gap
Service execution gap represents discrepancy between service quality specification and
attributes of the procedure of service production and delivery. Especially, it is the discrepancy
between what employers have defined as service quality standard and the process how a
service was actually carried out. The cause for the appearance of Gap 3 is mainly because of
oversights in the human resources management. Specifically, the occurrence of unclear roles,
conflict of interests, poor system of evaluation and praising often exist in the business.
Moreover, this gap can be caused by inadequate jurisdiction or lacking of team work .In
addition, the business often expresses the ineffective cooperation with clients when they do not
understand or do not know what their responsibility and role in the service process. The failure
of this gap can be because of problems from servicing agents in controlling consistency and
quality, or conflicts concerning targets and implementation inefficiently harmonised offer and
demand.
The gap of discrepancy between service specifications and service delivery in English
Language Centre service was tested in the Hanoi in order to assess the size this gap. This gap
focuses on the features of English teachers who play the most important role in delivering the
service of ELC to learners. The results are presented in table 8.
According to the result of the research, the biggest problem of the Hanoi English Language
Centre is using English teachers with high experiences (mean 3.92) and well-preparations for
each class (mean 3.94). On the other hand, this is the area that can be addressed and
developed to increase service quality. Still, the general assessment of the organisational gap of
English Language Centre (average value 5.00) is that, although the managers understand the
limitations of English teachers who are native in speaking and listening teaching, they prefer use
native English teachers. They often request the lower salary and working environment than
foreign English teachers.

Table 4.7: Means of organizational gap of English language centres in Hanoi (210 respondents)
Elements/Dimensions Min Max Mean Std.
Deviation
RTM1 Knows his/her subject well 1 5 3.97 .990
RTM2 Expertise and knowledgeable 1 5 4.10 .932
RTM3 Highly Experienced 1 5 3.92 .997
RTM4 Teacher training 1 5 4.15 .908
RTM5 Take responsibility for learners‟
progress
1 5 4.24 .866
RTM6 Friendly, open and polite 1 5 4.27 1.015
RTM7 Make learners work hard 1 5 4.21 .893
RTM8 Well-prepared 1 5 3.94 .974
The teacher is the fundamental element English language training and is therefore pivotal to
learners. As the custodian of knowledge, learners depend on him or her for transfer. He
occupies a critical position which determines the nature of knowledge obtained by the students.
Whatever he knows or does not know gets transferred. It is incumbent on the teacher therefore
to incorporate the new insights into his teaching; to expose learners sufficiently to language,
direct them to real English by exposing errors in performance.

Figure 4.2: Satisfaction level of teaching methods in English Language Training Service
4.3.4 Gap 4: Communication gap
In many cases, companies made promises through communication and advertising media raise
customer demands. By contrast, over-promising in advertisement does not suit the actual
service quality, it can cause a communication gap. Customers are disappointed as the result of
the promised service delivery is not like the expected service and therefore may seek alternative
product sources.
In this case, the communication gap reflects the variation between delivered service and what
clients were actually advertised about the service quality of the institution. However, the main
causes for not fulfil these promises, which leads to the appearance of communication gap, is the
lack of integrated service marketing communications. This could be explained that each external
communication is observed independently; interactive marketing is not considered as a part in
communication plan. Moreover, the company can lack of a developed programme of internal
marketing. This leads to management of customers‟ expectations is insufficient because of
lacking of the management of customers‟ demands through all sources of communication.
1.9 1.4 1.4 1 0.5 3.8 0.5 1.4
5.7
3.3 5.2 2.9 2.9
3.8
5.2 3.8
18.6
20
29.5
20.5
16.7 7.7 12.9
30.5
34.8
33.8
27.6
31.9
31.9
31.9
35.7
28.1
39 41.4
36.2
43.8
48.1
53.3
45.7
36.2
RT M1 RT M2 RT M3 RT M4 RT M5 RT M6 RT M7 RT M8
Very unsatisfied Unsatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very satisfied

Figure 4.3: How respondents get to know the English Language Centre
The bar chart reflects that most respondents (36%) choose whether to study in one ELC due to
the recommendations and introductions from their friends, teachers or other people. This way
appears to be the most reliable when respondents‟ friends used to spend experiences in those
ELC, and could find out their progress after participating in one or several courses there. In fact,
the customers now become smarter when they often ask for advices from other experienced
users before making the final decision on any product or service. Website of the ELCs is also an
effective marketing channel to attract learners, it occupies for 29% of total replies in this
research. In fact, the website provides almost all of information relevant to the course from
introduction of centre place, facility, teacher, length of the course, and tuition fee. This
information is displayed attractively and conveniently so that customers can choose the most
suitable course for them. Other sources of advertising method such as Internet, television,
newspaper, magazines are not as popular as the two mentioned methods.
4.3.5 Gap 5: Expectation gap
Gap 5 reflects discrepancy between customers‟ expectations regarding the service and their
perception about the specific service. Therefore, the expectation gap is the result of all the
previous gaps. In this research, this gap is based on the general assessment of respondents on
the service of the ELCs.
19%
29%
16%
36%
How respondents get to know the English Language Centre
Internet Website Other media Recommendation from others

APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By

APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By

Similar to APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By (20)

More from Sabrina Ball

More from Sabrina Ball (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

APPLICATION OF GAP MODEL IN THE RESEARCH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING SERVICE IN HANOI A Dissertation By