Enhancing English proficiency through interactive activities: an action research at Kolej Vokasional Port Dickson

This paper describes the design, implementation, and outcome of an intervention program that was designed as part of an action research to address two main issues; (1) to provide a platform for vocational students to practise their English speaking and interpersonal skills through purposefullydesigned activities, and (2) to increase university students’ confidence by playing the role as facilitators. The program involved six English language lecturers, 100 vocational students and 20 student facilitators. The program was designed as a half-day event which included activities including ice-breaking, a talk on the importance of English and communication for employability, and several group activities that were gamified through the use of a leaderboard to encourage the students to win prizes. From the feedback received by the university students, several claimed that the program helped improve their communication and social skills. The vocational students who were involved in the program were also observed to be highly participative due to the gamification elements that were implemented through the games and activities in the program. Overall, the intervention met the desired objectives. However, for similar programs in the future, we received recommendations from the student facilitators to increase the difficulty of some games and to randomise the groupings of the vocational students to further encourage them to communicate with others. Overall, the successful implementation of this program reports several best practices that can help educators and students design better activities to enhance students’ English communication skills.