Necessity of Inculcating Call Center English in Engineering Curriculum Need of the Hour Mrs.J.ARUNA ANGELINE M.A.,M.Phil.,(Ph.D.) Assistant Professor Department of Science & Humanities SNS College of Technology Coimbatore Mrs.R.Anitha Ph.D. Research Scholar Placement Training Head, SNS College of Technology Karpagam University Coimbatore. Mr.T. Charles Victor, Assistant Professor Department of Commerce and Computer Application Bharathidhasan College of Arts and Science Erode http://www.ijellh.com 56
ABSTRACT With the advent of new technologies, achieving success in the workplace depends on the effective communication skill. Communicating in English is extremely necessary for the sustenance of any organization as English has evolved as global language of business today. The ability to communicate effectively regulates the professional efficiency as a better disciplinarian. On the impact of globalization, in worldwide, India is developing industrially and technically day by day. Call centers play a vital role in this rapid development. Since, inherent ability to communicate in English has been the key factor required by Call Centers, effective communication in English is the core expectation. This paper endeavours to showcase the importance of call center English and to efficiently comprehend the language for understanding. Suggestions are recommended for reframing the existing curriculum and syllabi of the engineering students to broaden the employability ratio and to face the corporate world with ease. Key words: call centers, English, communication, soft skills, e-tutor. http://www.ijellh.com 57
INTRODUCTION Call centers are one of the booming branches in the service sector where services are delivered through information and communication technologies. The major aim of any engineering student is to get employed in a well-established concern with comfortable pay packages. Though 20% of them manage to get placed the other 30% choose a call center for employability and remaining 50% struggle to find a right job for want of communication skill. Among these, though some students are technically proficient in their academic area they fail to discharge their duties deliberately in the work place because of lack of appropriate communication skill. So there is a huge gap between the academic and corporate sectors. This gap can be bridged up by reframing the syllabus focusing the necessary area in enhancing the core stuff of the students. The syllabi must be reoriented to meet the requirements of the call center by integrating relevant business language. As [9] Richards and Rodgers (2002, pg: 204-5) noted, 196; an ideal situation for second language learning would be one where the subject matter of language teaching was not grammar or functions or some other languagebased unit of organization, but content, that is, subject matter from outside the domain of language. The language that is being taught could be used to present subject matter, and the students would learn the language as a by-product of learning about real-world content. This particular point is well stressed and addressed in below article. The syllabuses of the most of the universities are not updated frequently. It is not framed to meet the need of the hour. This must be analysed seriously should be reoriented to focus the necessary content to suffice the demand of the corporate sector, which will enable the students to face the job market with ease. A liaison should be made between the company and the educational institutions so that the requirements of the companies can be imparted in the syllabus. It is the duty of the Universities to develop knowledge economies; international surveys of the attractiveness of a country as an outsourcing destination routinely assess the quality and number of local graduates. For example, a report by the international consultancy McKinsey, in December 2005, indicated that only 25% of students out of 2.5 million university graduates each year are suitable for getting jobs in multinational countries. India may be in the shortage of 150,000 IT and 350,000 BPO and call center workers in next five. http://www.ijellh.com 58
Indian students, especially graduated from non-elite schools are lacking in spoken English skills, also quality of language staff and curriculum also influence their spoken English skills [1]. These shortages may erode India s competitive advantage by high staff turnover, and escalating wage costs. SERVICES OF CALL CENTERS Call center is the common term for a telephone based human service operation. It is acquainted with tele service, in which, the customers and the service agents are remote from each other. The employees must listen carefully and communicate clearly with customers half way around the world. Call centers are the preferred way for many companies to communicate with their customers. The call center industry is rapidly expanding in terms of economic scope. Hence, most of the students coming out of engineering colleges are being employed in these call centers. So the need to comprehend the English language has a great demand in the Academic campus [5]. Call centers are an increasing important link in the value chain for many firms. The employees must be equipped in identifying the customer needs, defining agent skills which must bring the callers and agents to come together efficiently. As new technologies emerge, the competition becomes fiercer. It is the core today s customer relations management. The call centers and mainly involved in following tasks: (1) Answering operator assistance enquires (2) Giving accurate number information (3) Receiving sales billing enquiries and taking orders (4) Taking fault reports from residential and business customers. IMPACT OF ENGLISH IN GLOBALIZATION The global triumph of English has evolved itself as a global language of business. This arises a need of reframing the methodology and practical resources teaching based on language shift of the Engineering students. Due to globalization developed countries outsource services to the developing countries because of its lower labour costs [3]. Global English has helped to accelerate this phenomenon and give India a competitive edge. This major reason must be considered with full vigour and the curriculum must be reoriented to focusing on enhancing the necessary skill set, which the students can apply on the job market. CURRENT STATE OF INDIAN CALL CENTERS According to David Graddol in English Next [4]: India has been triumphantly playing the English Card in establishing its Global leadership of outsourcing http://www.ijellh.com 59
This further confirms the new urgency to increase the educational level so that to maintain the country s competitive advantage. The Engineering students coming out of the colleges must be aware of the circumstances prevailing outside the campus. Due to globalization developed countries outsource services to the developing countries because of its lower labour costs. English has helped to accelerate this phenomenon and give India a competitive edge. English for job arena such as interviews, writing resumes, reports, arranging campaigns, etc. are demanded [7]. Call centers are recruiting English trainers to conduct accent sensitizing and accent neutralizing programmes. The students must be enabled in communicating one idea, agreeing, convincing, narrating, requesting, ordering and explaining. E- TUTOR CULTURE IN INDIA Each day at 4.30am 20 well educated Indians start work in their call centers in Kerala,India. This provides one-to- one tutorial help in subjects such as Maths and Science to Californian school children. One of the recent estimates suggests that over 20,000 American school children now receive e-tutoring support from India [8]. This substantiates the importance of Call centers in Indian Economy. The syllabus must be framed accordingly to focus on the ability to use the language effectively and convincingly. The lacunae imparted in the classroom must develop critical thinking and leadership qualities. Nevertheless the most important suggestion regarding curriculum is to obtain information that they can apply outside the academic world. Call center have become a major point of contact for serving customers and generating new ideas in the variety of industries. Managerial, professional or technical jobs are created in most call centers. The quality dimensions of customer call services are established to scale the problem severity and the solutions provided by the employees. Here are some of the major instructions given by SujathaSrinivasan, ehow contributor [2]: Requirements such as focusing on pronunciation, intonation, grammar and vocabulary must be the major part to enhance the core stuff. Hire speech language pathologists to help modify accents. Promote reading related to the call centers business. Instill self-learning by distributing pocket books on common English business phrases and idioms or suggest the use of the Merriam_Webster online dictionary. http://www.ijellh.com 60
Create an environment of immersion. Have your human resources division collaborate with the instructor to develop in-house games that impart lessons in a fun manner. Come up with creative ideas to deepen the learning experience or have a scrabble competition where participants focus on just business words. LANGUAGE AND SOFT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT The students must be trained to equip themselves with Interview skills, Phrasal verbs, Listening skills. Also developing their personality by overcoming shyness and building confidence by inculcating attitude, self-motivation, body language, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, time management, conflict management-managing anger and abuse stress management. They must be motivated to be aware of types of customers-customer handling techniques and basic aptitude. Students must be exposed to the corporate culture such as professionalism, youthfulness, dynamism, goal oriented, employees most valuable asset. The students must be empowered with common communication styles telephone etiquette, confidence over phone call\telephone handling, inbound\outbound calling, cycle of calls, active listening, script writing, customer service and sales technique, presentation skills, clarity, oral/written, making customer understand, understanding the customer [6]. Learning, to a constructivist, involves a process where knowledge is constructed not transferred. CONCLUSION The teaching methodology should be devised so that it must integrate skill related learning experiences. The corporate sector now seeks vibrant candidates with technical knowledge as well as efficiency in soft skills. The students must be trained practically and industry ready and become productive in the workplace. http://www.ijellh.com 61
REFERENCES 1. Business Week Dec 16, 2005 2. Instructions by SujathaSrinivasaneHow Contributor 3. Economic Times India 27 April 2005 4. English Next by David Grandol. 5. C Dudley-Evans, Tony and Maggie Jo St John (2002). Developments In English for Specific Purposes, A Multi-disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 6. Flowerdew, John and Matthew Peacock ((2001). Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 7. Hutchinson, Tom & Alan Waters. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 8. Jordan, R. R. ((1997). English for Academic Purposes, A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 9. Christian Science Monitor 23,May 2005. Richards Jack C. and Theodore S. Rogers (2002). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.ijellh.com 62