THE STRATEGIES OF USING ‘WELCOME’ EXPRESSION TO COSTUMERS Developing the Students’ Language Competence and Performance -A Discourse Analysis StudyBy Fernandes Arung English Education Study Program Teachers and Education Faculty 2013

Abstract

One most important in doing public service is to maintain the relationship between the services supplier and the customers. In this case, that there must be problems to put into account in order to come to the best services deal with a public service. The thing is that most of customers feel dissatisfied when they come into a public service. They perforce come into such situation because they think that they cannot find any place that provides more than they expect. Based on this classic problem, the researcher would like to investigate what should be the points of the best services concerned with public service. The complicated thing in this investigation is the way of services supplier use the language expression to make the customers will be enjoyable. This study aims to investigate how a Customer Service used the expression of „welcoming‟ in providing services for customers and to study the strategy of using expression of „welcoming‟ costumers from the appearance of the level of structures. This research applied descriptive qualitative method. Qualitative research refers to the meaning, concepts, definitions, charateristic methapores, symbols and descriptions of things. In this sense, the research will find out the non-statistic data and then describes it. This method intends to describe everything related to the topic of the research. In this case, the researchers will describe about „The strategies of using “Welcome Expressions” by ticketing at Suita Tour and Travel agency‟. The strategies in using the expression of welcoming may be used as the basic ways in serving customers and used to improve the ability to use these expression in daily life of conversation and also can be the strategies of the students in developing their language competence and performance.

Key words: Strategies of Using Welcome Expression, Language Competence, Language Performance, Discourse Analysis, Speech Theory

Introduction Those who want to be the greatest should become the slave for others. Management Service become the most point of each firm in all over the world and it is the basic thing that should be applied in terms of services. The best service has become the characteristic of European Management, they do pay attention on their customers need in order to make them endure, comfortable, peaceful, and find their needs and interests during getting in touch with. No longer be denied that the European management has the best service by which they

Fernandes Arung, S.Pd, M.Pd University of Sembilanbelas November

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maintain their costumers appropriately. However, there was an ideal of public service (O‟toole, 2006) in a public administration and it is just for the customers. This is the most important thing to think of the best management service, there should be the standard of a service to decide in order to gain the establishment of guideline for the recognition of qualification (O‟toole, 2006). Looking at what we have seen in Indonesia in terms of its public service, it is absolutely different in the thing of service and we cannot deny that it is true. Mostly services that we have in this country are still far from expectation. It is not referring to its management but it is more to the qualification and or the character of the doers of management. It might be a possibility of human sources or human values as applied to the performance of public agencies (Talbot, 2010). We are of course apprehensive on this situation because mostly firms, agencies, both macro and micro are still not able to maintain the customers as maximal as possible. Whether they do understand or not or even because of the thing of personal quality that cause this matter will be the characteristic of Indonesian public service but the point is still real of such situation. In Indonesia, there are only few institutions or firms or anything concerned that has good service. It is clearly that most of institutions or firms are not expectable in doing public service and they are being still in such situation that they seemly keen on such situation. We sometimes meet good services but we often meet the bad one. Those firms should understand that the relationship between the firms and customers is determined by good public service. Customers need it because they need what they expect as long as they have their business finished in proper time. So, the research tries to solve the problem and provide the strategies in using appropriate expression deal with welcoming customers by analyzing all collecting data to meet the appropriate strategies. Actually, this research aims to develop the English learners‟ language comprehension in using welcome expression as the ability to use the language. The results will be very useful in providing the English learners the appropriate expressions in their daily conversations, both in formal and informal way.

Research Method This research applied a descriptive qualitative method and the Ticketing Customer Servicers of Suita Tour were the source of the data in this research. The researcher was at the Travel during work hours and starting to take data through the recording of the activity of the 2

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Ticketing. The recorder was turned on for each conversation between customers and Ticketing and it would be finished if the conversation contained the data needed. After taking the recording, the researcher got the customers to hold the interview in order to get the supporting data. These supporting data were in the recording and on notes. All recorded data were transcribed and analyzed to meet the findings.

Findings and Discussion

Findings This part discusses the strategies of welcoming expression used by the Ticketing in terms of Customer Services. 1.

Using simple utterances Setting of Extract 1: This conversation was happening at Suita Tour between Ticketing and customer, asking about a ticket to Surabaya. Extract 1: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

: OK. Selamat pagi pak. „Ok. Good morning, Sir. : Selamat pagi! „Good morning‟ : Silahkan duduk, bisa dibantu? „Sit down please, May I help you?‟ : Yah, Saya mau pesan Tiket mau ke .. Surabaya. „Yeah, I would like to book a ticket for.. Surabaya‟

In Extract 1,in the first meeting the Ticketing greeted the customer and asked him about helping and in that time the customer would like to book a ticket for surabaya. In extract 1, In this conversation there are two persons namely; Ticketing and customer. In the first sentence the ticketing said ”selamat pagi pak” (Good morning, Sir”) and customer direcly replied “selamat pagi” (Good morning). So What the Ticketing said in the first sentence indicates the Welcoming Expression. It means that welcoming expression in the first meeting by using greeting is very good expression. And in the second sentence the Ticketing said ”Silahkan duduk, bisa dibantu?” (Sit down, please. May I help you?) it means that phrase silahkan duduk (Sit down, please) showes the welcoming expression.

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Setting of Extract 2: They were talking about a ticket to Jakarta the following day at Suita Tour and Travel. Extract 2: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

: Selamat siang bisa dibantu! „Good afternoon May I help you?‟ : Ya mba‟, saya mau pesan tiket ke Jakarta besok „Yes Mom, I want to book a ticket for Jakarta for tomorrow‟ : Besok yah? „Is it for tomorrow?‟ : yah „Yes‟

In extract 2, the situation, when the customer came to the office, directly the Ticketing greeted and offered a help to customer and the Customer booked a ticket for jakarta. In the first line in extract 2, there is phrase ”Selamat siang bisa dibantu “ (Good afternoon May I help you?) it means that there is a good expression how to face the customer, therefore the sentence „Selamat siang bisa dibantu?” (Good afternoon. May I help you?) denotes good welcoming expression.

Setting of Extract 3: The conversations was held in the Suita tour office, where the customer wanted to book a ticket for jakarta.

Extract 3: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

: Selamat siang pak! Ada yang bisa dibantu? „Good afternoon, Sir. May I help you?‟ : Masi ada tiket ke Jakarta? „Could you tell me whether there is still a ticket or not for Jakarta?‟ : eee ke Jakarta mau naik apa pak? „eee What would you like to book for Jakarta, Sir?‟ : Lion aja „It‟s Lion, please‟.

In extract 3, there were two speakers who were Ticketing and Customer, For knowing the ticket to Jakarta the customer asked to Ticketing.

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In extract 3 showed that conversation between ticketing and customer have a good attitude. Beacaue ticketing expressed the good utterance as the first sentence said “selamat siang pak ada yang bisa dibantu?” (Good afternoon, Sir. May I help you?) So, we interprete the sentence that “Selamat siang pak ada yang bisa dibantu?” (Good afternoon, Sir. May I help you? included in welcoming expression. On the other hand people feel satisfied when welcoming expression is used on its condition. For example, when the Ticketing services the customer in the office.

Setting of Extract 4: The two conversations were between Ticketing and Customer; they were talking about Tour in the Suita Tour Office.

Extract 4: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

: Selamat siang pak, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu? „Good afternoon, Sir. I am Amelia, could I help you?‟ : Apa bisa dapat informasi tour? „May I get the tour information?‟ : Iya, betul sekali pak. „Yes, exactly, Sir‟. : „ [Unclear Transcription]‟

In extract 4, the speakers were communicating in the Suita Tour office. The Ticketing introduced her name (AMELIA), greeted and offered to Customer a help then the Customer would like to get information about Tour. We can interprete that when Ticketing said in the first sentence “ selamat pagi pak, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu?” (Good afternoon, Sir. I am Amelia, may I help you?) denoted good expression. Something that must be provided by people when encounter the people is demonstrating the good expression especially the use of welcoming expression. 2.

Level of Structures A. Syntactic Level Setting of Extract 4: This conversation takes place between ticketing and customer in the office of Suita Tour & Travel which has difference sex and status. The customer is a man and he wants to ask the tour information. Extract 4: a)

Ticketing

: Selamat siang pak, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu? 5

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b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

e)

Ticketing

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„Good afternoon sir, I am Amelia may I help you?‟ : Apa bisa dapat informasi tour? „May I get the tour information? : Iya, betul sekali pak. „Yes, exactly sir‟. : [Unclear transcription] : Iya, betul. Eee kebutulan bapak .. sedang duduk di depan orang yang … yang mengurus bagian Middle East, saya bagian timur tengah dan kami punya paket – paket tour untuk ke Holy Land. „Yes, exactly. Eee actually you.. are sitting in front of a person who eee…handles Middle Eastern, I am handling Middle Eastern and we have tour packages to go to Holy Land‟

In the first turn, the ticketing uses “Welcome Expression” „Selamat pagi, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu?‟ (Good afternoon sir, I am Amelia may I help you?) She uses welcome expression above to the customer when the customer comes to ask tour information. The ticketing directly uses “Welcome Expression” „Selamat pagi, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu?‟ (Good afternoon sir, I am Amelia may I help you?) is suitable based on the level of structure related to syntactic level, because she starts greeting, introducing then offering a help. This expression is systematic.

Setting of Extract 2: This conversation takes place in the office of Suita tour. There are two female speakers who have difference status. One speaker is ticketing and one is a customer. The customer will buy a ticket for going to Jakarta tomorrow.

Extract 2: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

e)

Ticketing

: Selamat siang bisa dibantu! „Good afternoon. May I help you‟ : Ya mba‟, saya mau pesan tiket ke Jakarta besok. Yes Mom, I would like to book a ticket for Jakarta for tomorrow‟ : Besok yah? „Is it for tomorrow?‟ : yah „Yes‟ : Mau naik pesawat apa? „What plane you would like to book?‟ 6

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f)

Customer

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: Coba lion mba yah „Do you mind checking me the Lion, Mom?‟

On the extract 2, there is a conversation which takes place between ticketing and customer and the ticketing uses “Welcome Wxpression” „Selamat siang bisa dibantu!‟ (Good afternoon. May I help you?) to customer when she comes in front of the ticketing to buy a ticket to leave for Jakarta tomorrow. The welcome expression selamat siang bisa dibantu! (Good afternoon. May I help you‟) who is used by the ticketing to customer is not acceptable based on the syntactic level, because the expression is not use punctuation, such as „selamat pagi‟ (Good morning) actually it should be a comma ( , ) before she continuous the next expression „bisa dibantu‟ (May I help?) than at the end of the expression should be used question mark, because it is an interrogative expression. B. Semantic level Setting of Extract 2: This conversation takes place in the office of Suita tour. There are two female speakers who have difference status. One speaker is ticketing and one is a customer. The customer will buy a ticket for going to Jakarta tomorrow. Extract 2: a) b) c) d) e) f) On

Ticketing

: Selamat siang bisa dibantu! „Good afternoon. May I help you?‟ Customer : Ya mba‟, saya mau pesan tiket ke Jakarta besok Yes, Mom. I want to book a ticket for Jakarta for tomorrow‟. Ticketing : Besok ya? „Is it for tomorrow?‟ Customer : Ya „Yes‟ Ticketing : Mau naik pesawat apa? „What plane you would like to book?‟ Customer : Coba Lion ya mba‟ „Do you mind checking me the Lion?‟ the extract two, the ticketing uses “Welcome Expression” „Selamat pagi bisa

dibantu!‟ (Good morning. May I help you?) to customer when she comes in front of the ticketing and she wants to buy a ticket for going to Jakarta.

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The “Welcome Expression” „Selamat pagi bisa dibantu!‟ That is used by the ticketing to customer is ambiguous meaning because the ticketing does not use the question mark in the end of the expression, so it can appear other meaning based on semantic level. 3.

Kinds of Action in Utterances Setting of Extract 1: Two speakers were talking to each other at a Travel Agency. A female was the Ticketing and a male was the customer. The Ticketing is 25 years old and her name was Lina. The customer was 26 years old and his name was DK and he planned to leave for Surabaya from Makassar by Lion Air. Extract 1: a) b) c) d) In

Ticketing

: OK. Selamat pagi pak. „Ok. Good morning, Sir. Customer : Selamat pagi! „Good morning‟ Ticketing : Silahkan duduk, bisa dibantu? „Sit down please, May I help you?‟ Customer : Yah, Saya mau pesan Tiket mau ke .. Surabaya. „Yeah, I would like to book a ticket for.. Surabaya?‟ the first turn, Ticketing firstly greeted then gave customer (DK) the chance to

respond to. While in the second turn, Ticketing asked the customer to sit down then asked for customer‟s need. The concept of Ticketting‟s locution encouraged her to make conversation in hierarchical Turn-Taking model. She is able to use the language in welcoming the customer by asking for a response from the customer after greeting. She acts speech in three steps. In other words, she has a concept in thought (Locution), she is able to utter and use the language (Illocution), and she is able to get the response from her interlocutor as the effect of utterance she spoke to her customer (Perlocution). Setting of Extract 2: There were two females talking to each other concern the ticket booking at the Travel Agency. The first female was the Ticketing, her name was Iin Resma and she was 23 years old. The second female was the customer, she was 34 years old and her name was PKB. She planned to leave for Jakarta with somebody else from Makassar by Lion Air for the following day. Extract 2: a)

Ticketing

: Selamat siang bisa dibantu. „Good afternoon. May I help you?‟ 8

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b)

c) d) e) f) In

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Customer

: Ya mba‟. Saya mau pesan tiket ke Jakarta besok. „Yes, Mom. I want to book ticket to [I would like to book a ticket for] Jakarta [for] tomorrow‟. Ticketing : Besok yah? „Is it for tomorrow?‟ Customer : Yah. „Yes‟. Ticketing : Mau naik pesawat apa? „What plane would you like to book for?‟ Customer : Coba Lion mba yah. „Do you mind checking me the Lion, Mom?‟ the first turn, Ticketing greeted and offered a help. She uttered the expression with

slow voice and flat intonation. She did not mention her own name and did not let the customer sit down but she just actuated her arm. This is the simple welcoming when a customer service welcomes her or his customers in the mid day during work hours. In the concept of her thought concern language function, she knows that a customer only needs a quick service especially in the mid day of work hours so she just greets and offers a help. Setting of Extract 3: Two speakers were talking to each other at the Travel Agency. The customer service which was the Ticketing was a female. Her name was Ester and she was 21 years old. The second speaker was a male which was the customer, he was 42 years old and his name was H. He planned to leave for Jakarta from Makassar at 03.55 pm by Lion Air. Extract 3: a)

Ticketing

b)

Customer

c)

Ticketing

d)

Customer

In the first turn of

: Selamat siang pak! Ada yang bisa dibantu? „Good afternoon, Sir. May I help you?‟ : Masi ada tiket ke Jakarta? „Could you tell me whether there is still a ticket or not for Jakarta?‟ : eee ke Jakarta mau naik apa pak? „eee what would you like to book for Jakarta, Sir?‟ : Lion aja „It‟s Lion, please‟. conversation, Ticketing, as usually, greeted and offered a help to

customer. When she greeted her customer, she used a proper pronoun „Sir‟ at the end of her greeting. In this extract 3 as well as extract 1 and 4, the Ticketing uses „Sir‟ to direct to a proper customer‟s sex. By the concept of a locution, the Ticketing has had a patterned unit of language in thought to utter concerning with habitual action of speech in welcoming a

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customer. She knows of course what proper pronoun to use when she is facing with a woman and she must use „Mom‟ or „Miss‟ or „Mrs‟ instead. Setting of Extract 4: There were two speakers talking to each other at the Travel Agency. The female was the Ticketing, her name was Erna Amelia and she was 26 years old. Amelia was the person who handled the Tour Package for Middle Eastern. The second speaker was a male, his name was BA and he was 37 years old. He just actually wanted to get information of Tour Package. Extract 4: a) b) c) d) e)

In

Ticketing

: Selamat siang pak, saya Amelia bisa saya bantu? „Good afternoon, Sir. I am Amelia, may I help you?‟ Customer : Apa bisa dapat informasi tour? „May I get the tour information?‟ Ticketing : Iya, betul sekali pak. „Yes, exactly, Sir‟. Customer : „ [Unclear Transcription]‟ Ticketting : Iya, betul. eee kebetulan bapak .. sedang duduk di depan orang yang eee … yang mengurus bagian Middle East, saya bagian Timur Tengah dan kami punya paket paket tour untuk ke Holy Land. „Yes, exactly. eee actually you .. are sitting in front of a person who eee … handles Middle Eastern, I am handling Middle Eastern and we have tour packages to go to Holy Land. the first turn, Ticketing used a welcoming expression by mentioning her own name

before offering a help and in the beginning of the sentence she welcomed by greeting the customer. Language pattern that the Ticketing has in her thought enable her to use appropriately the expression. She has a good language pattern and knows how to use the language so that it encourages her to express the language. Her interlocutor; customer, must be feeling enjoyable, knows her name or knows to whom he talks to and feeling looked lively. Data Display NO

EXPRESSIONS a. OK. Selamat pagi pak.

1

b. Selamat siang pak, saya

EXTRACT

LEVEL of STRUCTURES

1 4

Locution Syntactic Level

Selamat siang bisa dibantu.

2

Illocution Perlocution

Amelia bisa saya bantu? 2

KINDS of ACTION

Semantic Level

Locution Illocution

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3

Syntactic Level

Locution Illocution Perlocution

Discussion All the extracts discussed above present the strategies of using „Welcoming‟ expressions that are used by a Customer Service in general and or Ticketing of a Travel Agency in serving the customers to find their needs. Referring to extract 1, 2, 3, and 4, the Ticketing always use greeting in welcoming the customers such as „…Selamat pagi…‟ „Good morning‟ (Extract 1), „Selamat siang…‟ „Good afternoon‟ (Extract 2, 3, and 4) in her utterances. These, of course, are the basic strategy in how to welcome appropriately. The next is as shown in extract 1, 3, and 4, the Ticketing use proper gender in her utterances such as „…Selamat pagi, Pak…‟ „Good morning, Sir‟ (Extract 1), „Selamat siang, Pak‟ „Good afternoon, Sir‟ (Extract 3), and „Selamat siang, Pak…‟ „Good afternoon, Sir‟ (Extract 4). Especially in extract 4, one of the Ticketing mentions her own name in her utterance like „Selamat siang, pak. Saya Amelia, …‟ „Good afternoon, Sir. I am Amelia,...‟. The last is a closing welcoming that the Ticketing use in her utterances such as „… bisa dibantu‟ „… „May I help you?‟ (Extract 2), „… ada yang bisa dibantu?‟ „Is there anything to help?‟ (Extract 3), and „… bisa saya bantu?‟ „May I help you?‟ (Extract 4). The findings above show the structured strategy of utterances. An utterance means the way of expressing something in a simple way. Thus, the way of welcoming is to use simple utterances. In extract 1, 2, 3, and 4 show the simple utterances that are used by the Customer Service in welcoming the customers. Simple does not mean to be very short (Verspoor & Sauter, 2000) but it is more to a syntactically practical use. Simple refers to something expressed or uttered that is semantically understandable. The extract 2 shows this case as a simple utterance „Selamat siang bisa dibantu?‟ „Good afternoon. May I help you?‟ From the view of the level of structures; syntactic level, this utterance is far from good structure of a sentence but it still has meaning; semantic level, to show an expressing of welcoming. As well as extract 2, in extract 3 and 4 also show the same thing of unstructured utterances; „… ada yang bisa dibantu?‟ „…Is there anything to help?‟ and „… saya Amelia bisa saya bantu?‟ „… I am Amelia, May I help?)‟ but these two utterances are still understandable as an offering a help and they are assumed as a welcoming expression in general. 11

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Mostly utterances that are used by Ticketing in welcoming the customers really contribute to the kinds of action in speech. In extract 1, 3, and 4 indicate the complete kinds of action in speech because there is a mutually influence between Ticketing and the customer when they are being in a conversation. Firstly, the Ticketing as a professional customer service has a good concept in thought about how to welcome appropriately the customers, they are trained to have such concept when they tend to serve any need of customers. Extract 4 is the most utterance that indicates trained professionalism which is being saved as a concept in the thought. Structurally, the utterance is uttered in an impression of trained habit. The expression „Selamat siang, Pak. Saya Amelia bisa saya bantu?‟ „Good afternoon, Sir. I am Amelia, may I help you?‟ will show the case of a concept in the thought. The Ticketing knows what should say and what utterance should express in terms of welcoming. In other words, the Ticketing are able to show the Locution. Second, the Ticketing are able to impart what in their thought are in a speech act because they realize that „Words alone are, however, not enough‟ (Gustavsen, 1992). They have the ability in Illocution; the ability to use or to express or to produce the language in a speech act. By imparting their sophisticated action in producing the speech, they then are able to give impression or effect on the customers so that they can feel enjoyable, acceptable, looked lively, and respond to what the Ticketing ask to do in their utterances; the kind of Perlocution appears to be the final result of applying the strategies of using the expression of welcoming.

Conclusion As the professional Customer Service at Suita Tour and Travel, the Ticketing use the applicable strategies in welcoming their customers. The first step is to use the simple utterances as the result of trained habit due to the work of Ticketing Department. Second step is to apply the level of structures such as Syntactic Level and Semantic Level; the words that arranged in the shape of utterances with good intonation, stress, and sounds. The last strategy is to apply the kinds of action in speech which is the abilities in Locution, Illocution, and Perlocution.

Suggestion Those who want to be professional in structuring the discourse then they should pay attention to the strategies of using expressions. There are many kinds of expressions that we

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can use formally, informally, and politely. These findings suggest to those customer services, the academic staff, and the students so that they know and are able to use these expressions in order to serve customers or anyone that needs services or any help.

References Gustavsen, Bjorn. 1992. Dialogue and development. Netherlands: Van Gorcum, Assen O‟Toole, Barry J.. 2006. The Ideal of Public Service Reflections on the higher civil service in Britain. New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library Talbot, Colin. 2010. Theories Of Performance - Organizational and Service Improvement in the Public Domain. New York: OXFORD University Press Verspoor, Marjolijn et. al. 2000. English Sentence Analysis - An Introductory Course. Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V.

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