VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Intercultural communicative competence is an important component in an English language program. One of the suggested techniques to cultivate this competence in classroom contexts is culture bump analysis. According to Archer (1996, pp. 170- 171), a culture bump occurs “when an individual from one culture finds himself or herself in a different, strange or uncomfortable situation when interacting with persons of a different culture" This study explores the feedback of EFL students towards culture bump analysis activity. Questionnaires and interviews were employed to collect the data. 121 EFL students answered the questionnaires and 10 of them shared deeper thoughts in semi-structured interviews. The findings show that most of the students held positive attitudes towards this activity, reporting the activity could bring various benefits to their intercultural communicative competence. However, more than half of the students found this activity challenging due to their limited exposure to real communication with people from other cultures. Low level of English proficiency and lack of knowledge about even Vietnamese culture were also reported as the difficulties that the student faced with this activity. It is implied from the study’s findings that culture bump analysis activity should be employed in EFL classrooms to enhance the students’ intercultural communicative competence, and that they should be exposed more to intercultural or intergroup communication, online or offline. Moreover, EFL students should also be given more opportunities to observe and reflect on their own cultural practices.