VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Intercultural competence (IC) has become an increasingly important goal in EFL education (Xu et al., 2025), yet opportunities for learners to develop IC through meaningful cultural engagement remain limited, particularly in extracurricular contexts. Arts-based approaches to language learning offer a promising avenue for bridging this gap, as they position learners as active participants in cultural exploration rather than passive recipients of cultural information (Khaled & Anderson, 2024). This study reports on the design, implementation, and outcomes of a three-workshop extracurricular series developed for EFL learners at a university in northern Vietnam, in which 156 participants explored American culture through film, literature, and music. Grounded in Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle, Byram's (1997) model of intercultural communicative competence, and Eisner's (2002) framework for arts-based learning, the workshops employed a station-rotation format centering on creative tasks, collaborative discussion, and short performances. Data were collected through a post-program survey combining Likert-scale items and open-ended responses. Findings indicate high overall satisfaction, strong perceived gains in intercultural awareness and communicative confidence, and notable improvement in retrospective self-assessments across all measured dimensions. Qualitative responses further identified music-based activities as particularly effective entry points for cultural learning. These findings suggest that arts-based extracurricular workshops can serve as a viable and engaging model for IC development in EFL contexts. Practical recommendations for EFL practitioners seeking to design and implement similar programmes are discussed.