Mastering Tourism Pitch: Exploring Undergraduate ESL/EFL Learners Pitching Ability in Southeast Asia Region

This study investigates pitching competency of university students from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines participating in the International Intervarsity Pitching Competition 2026. The study addresses two primary research questions: (1) What is the overall level of pitching competency demonstrated by university students participating in the International Intervarsity Pitching Competition 2026? (2) What are the strengths and areas for improvement suggested by the judges based on the assessment criteria used in the International Intervarsity Pitching Competition 2026? The data collected for this study were the judges’ evaluation scores of the tourism-themed pitching videos the participants had submitted to YouTube for the competition. Overall, the findings demonstrated that 67.6% of the participants scored 70 marks and above. 10.8% achieved excellent marks, whereas only 13.5% who scored below 60 marks required major improvement for their pitch. In general, participants from the three nations were able to embrace the “tourism vibe” in their pitch on a famous tourist attraction in their region. This may contribute to the understanding that ESL/EFL learners are able to perform in the academic setting as they were able to produce a tourism pitch. This study also contributes to the field of ESP, workplace communication as well as tourism education by providing empirical evidence of learners' pitching competency in an authentic Asian regional competition which offers valuable insights for various parties to strengthen ESL/EFL learners communicative competence as well as employability. This also provides a foundation for further research on communicative competence in pitching related to project-based learning in ESL/EFL context.

Communicative Competence, ESL/EFL, Project-Based Learning, Tourism Pitch, Workplace Communication

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