“Why Do Ted Talks Matter?” A Pedagogical Intervention to Develop Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence

ABSTRACT

In this study, we sought to measure specific changes in Vietnamese higher education students’ intercultural communicative competence, drawn from the theoretical frameworks of intercultural communicative competence and student engagement. By adopting a concurrent mixed-method approach, this study aims to generate a fresh insight into how Vietnamese college students can learn English by engaging in TED Talks to support their acquisition of intercultural experiences. Findings showed changes in the student participants’ levels of engagement in intercultural communicative competence, both cognitively and behaviourally. For the purpose of filling missing literature and providing pedagogical implications, this publication also proposes future research avenues in order to fill literature gaps and discover further pedagogical implications.

Keywords:

• intercultural communicative competence
• student engagement
• Vietnamese higher education
• authentic materials
• English language education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/parents-and-children/information-for-parents/tips-and-advice/011-the-cefr/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ngoc Tung Vu

Ngoc Tung Vu is a teacher, educator and trainer of the English language in Vietnam. He has more than five years of work experience, and his works have been published in many leading journals in the field. He can be reached at [email protected]

Thi Thanh Lan Tran

Thi Thanh Lan Tran is a junior researcher with five years of working experience at IRED Institute of Education in Vietnam. She is currently a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Her research interest is educational equity and youth development. She can be reached at [email protected].