Investigating short videos for scaffolding and engagement: a Community of Inquiry approach to analysing TikTok English instructional videos

This study examines English instructional videos on TikTok targeting Vietnamese learners through the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, investigating how teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence manifest in comment interactions on short-form video platforms. Analysis of 615 comment entries from 100 videos revealed that while all three presences are identifiable in TikTok-based language learning, they operate through distinctly different mechanisms compared to formal online learning environments. Teaching presence emerged through distributed, responsive micro-interactions rather than systematic instructional design, with content creators and peers providing collaborative peer support through question-answer sequences. Social presence manifested primarily through instrumental, knowledge-focused interactions rather than sustained relationship-building, with learners engaging pragmatically to seek specific information. Cognitive presence concentrated on triggering events and exploration phases, with limited progression to higher-order integration and resolution, a pattern that may reflect platform architectural constraints on sustained discourse as much as learner cognition. The findings suggest that the CoI framework’s operational indicators require contextual calibration for informal learning spaces, with teaching presence reconceptualised as distributed across multiple actors, social presence accounting for instrumental engagement patterns, and cognitive presence acknowledging varied trajectories through the Practical Inquiry model. The study contributes to understanding how TikTok comment sections function as spaces for peer support and collaborative knowledge construction in self-directed English learning in informal contexts.