Effect of Team-Based Learning on Workplace Communication Skills among Chinese Vocational Students

Background and Aims: China's vocational education faces a critical theory-practice gap in cultivating workplace communication skills essential for employment (Ministry of Education, 2013; Guo, 2021). While Team-Based Learning (TBL) has demonstrated efficacy in medical and higher education contexts (Michaelsen, 2002; Michaelsen et al., 2020), its application to vocational communication skills training remains empirically underexplored. This study addresses this lacuna by examining TBL's effect on first-year vocational students' communication competencies using a validated pretest-posttest design. Methodology: A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed with 50 first-year students from Yunnan Tin Vocational and Technical College. Participants completed a 13-hour TBL-based Communication Skills course spanning five weeks. Data were collected through validated observation rating scales (25 items, five dimensions) and a satisfaction questionnaire (9 items, 5-point Likert scale), analyzed using paired t-test and one-sample t-test. Results: Post-intervention communication skills scores (M=73.28, SD=6.92) significantly exceeded pretest scores (M=58.42, SD=8.35) at a p<0.01 level (t=15.832), representing a 14.86-point improvement. The mean score surpassed the 70% competency benchmark (t=3.354, p<0.01). Student satisfaction was high overall (M=4.26, SD=0.67), with sub-dimensions of teaching method (M=4.17), team collaboration (M=4.32), and learning outcomes (M=4.28) all rated above 4.0. Conclusion: TBL significantly enhanced vocational students' workplace communication skills and satisfaction within a condensed 13-hour intervention. This study extends TBL theory into Chinese vocational education contexts, demonstrating that competence emerges from structured collaborative practice rather than passive knowledge transmission. The findings provide an evidence-based model for sector-wide vocational education reform, though longitudinal validation is warranted.