VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Developing functional writing skills remains a challenge for many English-major students, who often struggle with grammatical accuracy, lexical choice, and communicative appropriateness in authentic contexts. This study investigates the effectiveness of an auction-based approach in enhancing English majors’ functional writing skills through the integration of gamification, collaborative learning, and communicative practice. The study involved 44 first-year English-major students at Quang Nam University who participated in a series of auction-based activities requiring them to analyze, evaluate, and bid on language expressions before applying them in email and letter-writing tasks. Data were collected through classroom observations, student feedback surveys, and comparative analyses of writing samples produced before and after the intervention. The findings indicate that the approach increased student engagement and participation, improved learners’ ability to identify grammatical, lexical, and tone-related issues, and enhanced the overall quality of their written products. Students also demonstrated greater coherence, accuracy, and communicative appropriateness in their writing and reported higher levels of motivation and confidence. The study suggests that auction-based learning can serve as an effective pedagogical strategy for developing functional writing skills for English learners.