TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part A: Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 1
1. Rationale………………………………………………………………………………. 1
2. Aims of Study...……………………………………………………………………….. 1
3. Scope of the Study...………………………………………………............................... 1
4. Research Question…………………………………………………………………….. 1
5. Methodology of the Study…………………………………………............................... 2
6. Organization of the Thesis..…………………………………………………………… 2
Part B: Development……………………………………………………………………. 2
Chapter 1 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background………………… 2
1. Literature Review……………………………………………………………….. 2
2. Theoretical Background………………………………………………………… 2
2.1. General Description of Discourse Analysis………................................ 2
2.2.. Characteristics of Resignation Letters…………………………………………….. 3
Chapter 2: Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation
Letters…………………………………………………………………………………..
3
2.1. Detail Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters…………………....3
2.1.1. Move 1 – Opening……………………………………………………...................3
2.1.2. Move 2 – Addressing……………………………………………………………..3
2.1.3. Move 3 – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Day of Work……………....3
2.1.4. Move 4 – Giving the Reason of Resignation Positively……………………….…4
2.1.5. Move 5 – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition……………....4
1.1.6. Move 6 – Requesting Interest from the Old Company……………………….…..4
1.1.7. Move 7 – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success…………………………….….5
1.1.8. Move 8 – Ending……………………………………………………………….…6
2.2. General Analysis of Move Types in Vietnamese Resignation Letters………..……6
2.2.1. Move 1’ – Opening……………………………………………….………………7
2.2.2. Move 2’ – Addressing……………………………………………………….……7
2.2.3. Move 3’ – Introducing Oneself……………………………………………….….7
2.2.4. Move 4’ – Stating Resignation & Informing the Last Working Date……….……8
2.2.5. Move 5’ – Stating the Reason of Resignation ………….………………………..8
2.2.6. Move 6’ – Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition……………..8
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2.2.7. Move 7’ – Committing Onself to Fulfill One’s Duty……………………………8
2.2.8. Move 8’ – Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success……………………………...8
2.2.9. Move 9’ – Requesting Interest from the Old Company………………………….9
2.2.10. Move 10’ – Ending……………………………………………………...……..10
Chapter 3: Comparing and Contrasting discourse structure of English and
Vietnamese resignation letters……………………………………………………….10
3.1. The Surface Features of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters………...…10
3.1.1Length of Discourse…………………………………..…………………….........10
3.1.2. Paragraph, Sentence, Vocabulary…….…………………………..………..……10
3.2. The ‘Move Analysis’ of English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters……….…..11
3.2.1 The Analytical Framework………………………………………………..……..12
3.2.2 General Analysis of Move Types in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letter…
3.2.1. Opening………………………………………………………………….………13
3.2.2. Addressing………………………………………………………………………13
3.2.3. Stating Resignation and Informing the Last Day of Work……………………...14
3.2.4. Giving the Reason of Resignation………………………………………………15
3.2.5. Expressing the Willingness to Help with the Transition………………..………15
3.2.6. Requesting Interest from the Old Company…………………………………….15
2.3.7. Showing Gratitude & Wishing Success…………………………………………15
3.2.8. Ending………………..…………………………………………………………15
Part C: Conclusion ………………………………..………………….........................16
1. Conclusions………………………………………………………………………….
2. Recommendations……………………………………………………………………
References………………………………………………………………………………
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PART A – INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale:
A Business Letter, the most popular and the most widely written type of letter, is
used to serve as a means of communication written for various commercial purposes. These
purposes can be a business deal, complaint, warning, notice, invitation, declaration,
information, apology and various other corporate matters. There are many types of business
letters such as Application Letter, Acceptance Letter, Demand Letter, Letter of Complaint,
Resignation Letter, Sales Letters, etc. Among these types of letters, the Letter of
Resignation may receive the least notice because people often think that when they leave
their jobs they have nothing to do with their old company and old employer. However, a
good resignation letter can help the employee maintain a positive relationship with his/ her
old boss, and pave the way for him or her to move on. In addition, the employee might need
a reference from the previous employer. These show that knowing how to write a good
resignation letter is very important. Nevertheless, it seems that no researchers concern this
kind of letter in English and Vietnamese. Hence, in order to help people have better
understanding of resignation letters and see the similarities and differences in writing style
of English and Vietnamese resignation letters, this study focuses on comparing and
contrasting discourse structure of English and Vietnamese resignation letters.
2. Aims of the Study:
The aims of the study are:
To review the background knowledge of discourse analysis and resignation letters.
To point out the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English
and Vietnamese resignation letters.
To give some suggestions for writing resignation letters in English and Vietnamese.
3. Scope of the Study:
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Conducting this study, I do not have the ambition to cover everything about discourse
analysis of English and Vietnamese resignation letters. I only concentrate on analyzing
English and Vietnamese resignation letters in terms of discourse structures.
4. Research Question:
What are the similarities and differences between discourse structures of English and
Vietnamese resignation letters?
5. Methodology of the Study:
‘Move analysis’ approach is applied in this research to analyze the discourse
structure of resignation letters in English and Vietnamese. Besides, in order to find out the
similarities and differences between discourse structure of English and Vietnamese
resignation letters, the author uses comparison and contrast method.
6. Organization of the Study: the study is divided into five main parts as follows:
Part A – Introduction
Part B – Development
Chapter 1 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background
Chapter 2 – Methodology
Chapter 3 – Analysis of Discourse Structure in English and Vietnamese Resignation Letters
Chapter 4 – Comparing and Contrasting Discourse Structure of English and Vietnamese
Resignation Letters
Part C – Conclusion
References
PART B – DEVELOPMENT:
Chapter 1 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background
1. Literature Review
Discourse analysis is usually known as the study of the relationship between
language and the contexts in which it is utilized. Harris (1952), Austin (1962), Hymes
(1964), Searle (1969), Grice (1975), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Widdowson (1979), Brown
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and Yule (1983) are linguists who greatly contribute to the overall picture of discourse
analysis because they have provided a fundamental theory of discourse analysis. In
Vietnam, there are many linguists having joined in the trend of researching on
discourse analysis as well. Among these linguists, Tran Ngoc Them is regarded as the
first one studying this new field. In terms of genre analysis, there are a number of
researches on academic genres such as research article (Swales,1990), sales promotion
letters, job applications (Bhatia, 1993), sociology articles (Brett,1994), dissertations
(Hyland, 2003), or “Genre Analysis of Personal statements
Therefore, it is necessary to have a research in terms of discourse structure of
resignation letters in English and Vietnamese. Hopefully, this study can bring some
contributions to the theory and implications of teaching and learning writing skill,
especially writing English and Vietnamese resignation letters.
2. Theoretical Background
2.1. General Description of Discourse Analysis:
Discourse Analysis:
We can say that discourse analysis gives us insight into various aspects of language
in use such as: how discourse norms and their realization in language differ from culture to
culture; how talk follows regular patterns in a wide range of different situations; or how
texts are structured beyond sentence level.
2.2. General Description of Resignation Letters:
A resignation letter is one kind of business letter which the employee uses to
formally inform the employer that he is leaving his job. A resignation letter can help the
employee keep a good relationship with his employer, and at the same time it helps him
make progress in his new career easily.
Chapter 2 – Analysis of discourse structure in English and Vietnamese
Resignation Letters
2.1.Detail Analysis of Move Types in English Resignation Letters
2.1.1 Move 1 – Opening
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