Supporting First-Year Undergraduates' Transition From General English to Business English in an EFL Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60087/jklst.vol5.n2.004Keywords:
Business English, First-Year Undergraduates, Student Perceptions, Gamified Learning, EFLAbstract
The transition from General English to Business English presents significant cognitive and affective challenges for first-year undergraduates, particularly in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) contexts where learners often have limited prior exposure to business-related concepts and communication. This study examines a practice-based pedagogical framework designed to support novice Business English learners at a business-oriented university in Vietnam. The framework is grounded in three core pedagogical principles: affective support to reduce emotional barriers to participation; scaffolded instruction implemented through collaborative mini-projects exploring business themes and case-based tasks; and active retrieval practice through gamified vocabulary and content review activities. Data were collected through a mixed-methods end-of-course survey (N = 55), combining Likert-scale responses with qualitative student feedback. The findings indicate that students perceived the framework as highly supportive of their learning experience, with over 90% of participants rating instructional clarity at the highest level. Students also reported greater perceived improvement in speaking and listening skills than in reading skills. Qualitative responses suggest that this pattern may be associated with a supportive classroom environment in which learners felt comfortable communicating despite imperfect language use. In addition, students identified the classroom “bonus-point hunting” system as a motivating element within the gamified review activities, encouraging active participation and engagement. The study concludes that combining affective support, scaffolded collaborative tasks, and retrieval-based review activities may help facilitate engagement and perceived learning among novice Business English learners. Implications for the design of first-year Business English courses in tertiary EFL contexts are discussed.
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