Articles

Developing EFL Students’ Communicative Performance Through Experiential Cross-Cultural Interaction with International Tourists: A Mixed-Methods Study at TSES English Club

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The disconnect between formal language instruction and real-world communicative competence remains a core challenge in global EFL education. This convergent mixed-methods study examines an innovative experiential learning model at the TSES English Club in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where university students practise their English skills via structured, authentic interactions with international tourists in public spaces. The quantitative data, collected over an 18-week intervention period, comprised pre/post-test scores of 11 students assessed using a 100-point rubric, alongside student post-intervention perception surveys from 71 students and 7 expert facilitators. The qualitative data, gathered via semi-structured interviews with 3 facilitators and 5 students, underwent reflexive thematic analysis and were supplemented by ethnographic observation. Findings reveal significant practical communication score gains (t(10)=24.06, p<.001, d=7.25), indicating an extremely large effect. Post-intervention surveys indicated over 77% of students improved across all criteria. Thematic analysis revealed three primary catalysts: authentic communicative pressure, intrinsic motivation from meaningful cross-cultural exchange, and peer scaffolding with emotional support. Three principal barriers emerged: accent-triggered anxiety, cultural and pragmatic misunderstandings, and environmental noise. The study theoretically operationalises experiential learning and intercultural competence frameworks within this non-institutional, tourism-driven context. Practically, it offers ten evidence-based, actionable recommendations to maximise pedagogical impact for language clubs.

English Majors’ Perceived Effects of the Use of TikTok on Self-Regulated Learning

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The use of social media platforms has been popular among EFL learners and has become a topic of interest to researchers around the world in various academic contexts. This study, therefore, investigated the perceived effects of TikTok on self-regulated language learning strategies of English majors at a private university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, for comprehensive insights. The study involved 103 English-majored freshmen, who participated in the completion of the questionnaire; concurrently, 10 of them were recruited for the semi-structured interviews via convenience sampling. Subsequently, quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS 27, and qualitative data were examined through thematic analysis. There were 64 females (62.1%) and 39 males ( 37.9%), whose responses were considered valid for the analysis procedures. The findings of the numerical data and interview responses indicated that the use of TikTok for SRL activities was frequent and regular, with general positive perceptions towards its effects on autonomous learning, which were illustrated through 4 dimensions: Metacognition, Cognition, Motivation, and Behavioural/Emotional aspects. Moreover, the results of Skewness and Kurtosis fell within the recommended thresholds of ±1, suggesting acceptable normality of the data distribution. By acknowledging the favourable results, this study demonstrates TikTok’s potential as a valuable tool for self-regulated English learning, fostering learners’ autonomous behaviour and motivation. However, limited generalizability due to small sample size, reliance on self-reported data, cross-sectional design, and the focus on one group of participants remained the limitations of the current study, leaving room for future suggestions on longitudinal and multi-context studies.