INVESTIGATING THE ESP STUDENTS’ GROUP-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AFFECTING THEIR COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PHAN THIET

Tóm tắt

Group-based learning has increasingly been recognized as an effective pedagogical approach in second language education, particularly in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) contexts where communicative competence is essential; however, empirical evidence examining its impact on different dimensions of language competence in Vietnamese higher education remains limited. This study aims to investigate the effects of group-based learning activities, specifically pair work and group work, on the development of English language competence among ESP students at the University of Phan Thiet. Quantitative research design was employed, involving 120 undergraduate students from three academic disciplines. Data was collected through a structured Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) verson 26, with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analyses conducted to examine the relationships among variables. The results showed that there was a positive and statistically significant correlation between group-based learning activities and English language competence at the 0.01 level. Both pair work and group work were found to be significantly associated with cognitive competence and specialized competence. In addition, the regression results revealed that group-based learning activities were significant positive predictors of English language competence. Specifically, group work was identified as the strongest predictor of cognitive competence (B = .348), while pair work also showed a significant positive effect (B = .291). Overall, the results of the study indicated that group-based learning activities explained approximately 29.5% of the variability in cognitive competence (R2 = .295), while the remaining 70.5% may be attributed to other variables not included in this study. In addition, the effect sizes of the regression models were found to be at a moderate to large level, indicating meaningful contributions of the independent variables.