TALK SHOW ''CULTURE EXCHANGE AS A PATHWAY TO NATIVELIKE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY''

Abstract

English proficiency has become an essential competency for university students in responding to the demands of global communication. However, opportunities for students to engage in authentic interactions with native speakers or international students remain limited, resulting in low self-confidence and insufficient intercultural communication experience. This community service program aimed to enhance students' English communication skills, self-confidence, and intercultural communicative competence through a talk show entitled Cultural Exchange for Fluency: Sharing Experiences with International Students. The program employed a Participatory Learning and Interactive Cultural Exchange approach consisting of presentations, interactive discussions, question-and-answer sessions, direct conversational practice, and reflection activities. The participants comprised 60 undergraduate students from the English Education Study Program and several other study programs at Universitas Madani Indonesia. The program was evaluated through classroom observations, documentation, and a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The findings revealed that 87.5% of the participants reported increased confidence in speaking English, 91.2% demonstrated improved intercultural understanding, 90.4% experienced higher motivation to learn English, and 94.3% expressed overall satisfaction with the implementation of the program. These findings indicate that the cultural exchange approach effectively created an authentic and supportive learning environment that encouraged students to communicate more actively in English while simultaneously strengthening their intercultural communicative competence. Therefore, this community service program provides an innovative learning alternative that contributes to improving students' English communication skills and fostering global perspectives.