Analysis of Activities that Enhanced Students’ Communication Skills and Cross-Cultural Understanding of ASEAN Community through English Camp: A Case Study of International Inter-Cultural Expedition Camp at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Abstract

          This study analyzed the impact of International inter-cultural expedition camp activities from February 8-11, 2019 at UNIMAS Sarawak, Malaysia. It aimed to 1) find out which types of camp activities helped enhance the students’ communication skills and increase their cross-cultural understanding and awareness. The samples of the study consisted of 36 participants who volunteered to answer the questionnaire. Their ages were ranged between 18 and 37 years. There were 9 males and 27 females.  Data for analyses were based on the questionnaires. Both descriptive analysis and basic statistics were employed to present the data. The findings revealed that all the assigned activities from Day 1 to the last day of the camp have different positive impacts on the participants’ communication skills and cross cultural understanding and awareness. The order of  favorite camp activities from the highest included Ice Breaking Activities (91.66%), Family Time (77.77%), Trip to the Heritage Village(72.22%), Team Building (66.66%),Going to Water Front(63.88%),Treasure Hunts (49.49%), Night at the Museum (41.66%), and Cultural Performance(36.11%). It was also found that the types of camp activities that helped make the participants become more resilient were Night at the Museum (91.66%), Visiting the Cultural Heritage Village (83.33%), Team Building (80.55%), Family Time (74.99%), and Cultural Performance (69.44%). Outdoors activities should be integrated in teaching English to develop students’ communication competence, good character, and cross-cultural understanding of ASEAN community in Thailand.