A Blended Learning Based Program for Developing EFL Written Communication Skills of Customer Service Employees in the Telecommunications Sector

The current study examined the effectiveness of the English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) program for developing EFL oral communication skills among customer service employees in the telecommunications sector. Participants were selected based on specific criteria and divided into experimental (n = 30) and control (n = 30) groups. The equivalence of the study groups was confirmed using an independent sample t-test to calculate the difference between the scores of trainees in the experimental and control groups in the EFL oral communication skills pre-test. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design. The experimental group received training through the EOP program, and the control group was trained according to the general programs provided by Telecom Egypt's Training and Development Sector. It was conducted at Telecom Egypt's Tanta Training Center. The study utilized three instruments: a needs analysis questionnaire, an EFL oral communication skills test, a scoring rubric, and the EOP program with an instructor's guide. A needs analysis was conducted to determine the specific EFL oral communication skills. Based on the results, a 10-week EOP program was developed, focusing on developing linguistic competence, discourse competence, sociocultural competence, and fluency through interactive face-to-face sessions. Pre- and post-tests were administered to evaluate the participants' EFL oral communication skills. The findings revealed statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the post-test, as the experimental group showed significant gains in all the targeted oral communication sub-skills. Effect sizes ranged from 0.637 to 0.871, indicating a significant impact of the EOP program.