ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSE FOR CALL
CENTER AGENTS (CSR)
Written by: Miss Nida Jawaid
M.A (TEFL)
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Abstract:
The aim of this report is to investigate the need analysis of Call centre agents in the light of
English for the specific purpose as ESP, is the methodology of teaching English for
professionals in the various field. So for knowing the needs of the students, Researcher
designs two questionnaires for two groups (students & Teachers) and distribute these
questionnaires among them and analyse the questionnaires which help him to determine the
needs of students. After analysis, the Researcher prepare a course outline/ syllabus for the call
centre agents. In the end, he designs one comprehensive lesson plan from the course outline.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Questionnaire
Analysis of Questionnaire
Course outline
Lesson Plan
Conclusion
Recommendation
References
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Introduction:
English for specific purposes (ESP) is a subset of English as a second or foreign language. It
usually refers to teaching the English language to university students or people already in
employment, with reference to the particular vocabulary and skills they need. As with
any language taught for specific purposes, a given course of ESP will focus on one
occupation or profession, such as Technical English, Scientific English, English for medical
professionals, English for waiters, English for tourism, etc. Despite the seemingly limited
focus, a course of ESP can have a wide-ranging impact, as is the case with Environmental
English.
English for Specific Purposes, or ESP, is the methodology of teaching English for
professionals in various fields, focusing on types of expressions, vocabulary, standard and
formal structures that will be used most of all in a specific field, etc. The most common ESP
is Business English; there are also e.g. English for law, English for medical purposes, English
for tourism, English for science purposes, etc.
Importance of English for Specific Purpose:
The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English.
ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and
are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform
particular job-related functions.
NEED ANALYSIS:
Needs analysis is the formal process defined by K Tara Smith that sits alongside
Requirements analysis and focuses on the human elements of the requirements.
NEED ANALYSIS FOR CALL CENTRE AGENTS
Our Customer Services & Call Centre ESP courses address direct customer contact situations
that are common place and relevant within a typical direct customer centred environment.
This could range from telesales, after sales support, telephone and face to face bookings and
orders to complaints and customer feedback. In conjunction with the course trainer, materials
will be selected to help improve on the specific areas you want to develop. An average
English Training Lounge ESP Customer Services & Call Centre course covers conflict
management skills, emailing, placing orders, managing customer accounts, sales English and
various other areas that the learner would like to study.
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CALL CENTRE REQUIREMENT:
The course and the questionnaire are in alignment of the call centre need.
Questionnaire for Students
Q1. What is your name?
Ans.
Q2. Your Age in between?
.15-------20
.21-----25
.25------30
.30------35
Q3. What is your qualification?
. Matric
. Intermediate
. Graduation
. Masters
. Others
Q4. What is your language Proficiency level?
.Beginners
. Intermediate
. Upper Intermediate
. Advance
.None of the above
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Q5. What is your profession?
Ans.
Q6. What is the reason of your motivation for the job?
.Extrinsic
.Intrinsic
Q7. Why are you willing to adopt this profession?
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Questionnaire for Teacher (open ended question)
Q1. What is the language proficiency level of your students?
Q2. What kind of ESP course they require?
Q3. How long would the course be?
Q4. What qualification do they require for the profession?
Q5. What are the qualities do you think the call centre agents must have?
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Analysis of the Questionnaire
The course and the questionnaire are in alignment of the call centre needs. After analysing the
students and teachers’ questionnaire we come to know their perspectives that all the students
apply to call centre profession. So they require English for specific purpose course for call
centre CSR (Customer Service Representative).
According to teachers, they require almost three months training for call centre. So the course
outline is design according to the need and requirement of the profession.
Most of the students have completed their intermediate level but according to teacher
proficiency of students must stand on an advanced level. Most of the teachers are more
focusing to develop convincing ability in their students in that way they can communicate
with their clients without any difficulty. He must be polite and patiently deals with them.
The first and foremost requirement according to teachers and students opinion that Call
centre agents must have good listening ability because better listeners are good speakers.
They know how to convey their messages with clear and simple language without using any
phrases, idioms and flowery language as all these things create ambiguity and clients can get
confused and it would become a reason for wastage of time.
The second thing he must aware of the importance of time management. In call centre
scenario, Customer care representative (CSR) deals with two kinds of call, inbound calls and
outbound calls. In inbound calls, a CSR officer is bound to complete his call in limited time
duration.
In outbound calls, the CSR officer has to upsell their company product to their customer so
he must have convincing ability to pursue his conversation with a decent and polite manner
and persuade his clients to sell their product Upselling is a sales technique where a seller
induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades or other add-ons in an
attempt to make a more profitable sale.
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COURSE OUTLINE FOR CALL CENTRE AGENTS:
The ESP course outline for call centre (CSR) is design according to the students and teachers’
perspective and the requirement of the profession. The course outline are as follows:
 To develop Listening ability
 Improving aspects of English to communicate clearly in a customer environment
 To develop argumentative ability to pursue their conversation with the customer
 Negotiating and persuading for selling product
 Participating in telephone and face to face conversations
 Presentation skills and feedback
 Writing reports, emails & business documents
 Interview skills
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Lesson Plan for Call Centre Agents
Lesson Focus:
With this lesson, students will learn to comprehend listening and speaking ability and focus
on the accuracy of the language.
Duration: 2hrs
Learning objectives:
Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
 To attune their ear to listen, native speaker,
 To develop a speaking skill which is quite close to the native-like speaker
 To improve their pronunciation and focus on the accuracy of the language
Materials: Audio-visual rooms, hand outs, Headphones.
Presentation: 35mins
Teacher takes them into audio-visual rooms where they ask to listen native CSR Agent’s
voice call in that way their ear attune with their voice to get the idea of call centre scenario.
Hand out are also given to them. Then with the help of headphones and hand out, students
ask to listen and read simultaneously.
Practice: 25 mins
Teacher divide them into pair and ask them to practise with each other and make sure that
each group takes participate in this activity.
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Production: 60 mins
Mock call practices will be performed. Teacher asks each group to play role-play activity in
front of the class. Teacher gives a different situation to each group and assigns them a
different role according to the situation. One student plays the role of the customer while the
other one becomes Customer service representatives. One by one each group call in front of
the class and perform mock call activity. The teacher is more focusing on the production of
accurate language with better pronunciation.
Conclusion:
In the end we may conclude that ESP is understood to be preparing learners to use English
within academic, professional, or workplace environments. A key features of ESP course
design is that the syllabus is based on the needs of the students. So for this we designed two
separate questionnaire for the call centre students and teachers’ to know their perspective and
in light of their opinion and student’s need we have designed course outline for ESP for call
centre agents and then design one comprehensive lesson plan as per requirement of call
centre scenario.
Recommendation:
It is recommended to teach ESP at every level and profession as in ESP course language is
learnt not for the sake of gaining general English competency but to gain linguistic efficiency
in students’ specific environment. ESP course foster professional growth and help
professional people to perform their job in a better way.
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References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_for_specific_purposes
https://www.usingenglish.com/articles/teaching-english-forspecific-purposes-esp.html
http://englishtraininglounge.com/customerservicescallcenter/
http://englishtraininglounge.com/customerservicescallcenter/
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