Quality Business Letters of Higher Education Institution Faculty Members: Content Material Evaluation

Abstract

This study focuses on quality business letters of the faculty members of a higher education institution in terms of unity, coherence, correctness in terms of grammar and punctuation, completeness, and conciseness. The researcher utilized content analysis research technique that deals with available documentary materials. She also employed purposive sampling technique where respondents were chosen based on these criteria: respondents should be faculty members of an HEI and have written an outgoing business letter. Also, the researcher used quota sampling where she set it to fifty (50) everyday letters and memoranda. Findings revealed one (1) error occurrence in terms of unity where a letter did not relate every sentence in the paragraph. In addition, there were seven (7) errors committed in terms of coherence, specifically in pronoun reference usage (2) and logical order of ideas (5). While in terms of correctness in grammar, there were forty-one (41) errors found, whereas, eighteen (18) errors were discovered in punctuation usage. Further, eight (8) errors were located in terms of completeness while twenty (20) errors occurred in terms of conciseness. Overall, there were ninety-five (95) errors uncovered across all sampled business letters. It was concluded that respondents do not have serious problems in achieving unity, however, there is a need to revise their letters to attain logical order of ideas. They also have difficulty in achieving grammar correctness, have confusion in using appropriate punctuation, and have failed to achieve completeness of the information. Thus, the researcher recommends to conduct training-workshops on technical and/or business letter writing, encourages the faculty to seek help from colleagues for revision, and urges faculty to read reputable references concerning business correspondence used in the Philippine setting.