Facebook for Professional Development: Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Centre of Teachers’ Online Communities

Figures & data

Table 1. Examples of professional knowledge requested within the Facebook groups.

Category	Example
PCK+	We have read [book title] in my year-five class. The students loved it. Now I want another book that can build their love of reading. Do you have any suggestions?
CK	I’m a bit frustrated with the word [schysst] … SAOL [i.e., a dictionary] only mentions [“juste”, “sjyst”, and “schyst”]. Not with double “s”, which seems to be the most accepted alternative among people, including the new commercial from [a company] … What is it that really applies?
PK	I need help create a blog for my students where they are going to publish texts and assignments, blogging, etc. … I want it open to just my students – it should not be able to be read by outsiders. [name of a blog service]? Other suggestions? Anything I should consider?
KEC	How do you organize other tongue education for your L2 learners?
KEE	On the national test, part C, one of my students wrote about the pros and cons of grades, but did not come to a conclusion. Can this assignment still be approved?

Table 2. Numbers of posts, comments, and other interactions following posts, in each group.

Group	Posts (N)	Interactions of various modalities following posts					Comments/post (n/N)
	Comments (n)	Likes^a n (m)	Images (n)	Links (n)	Documents (n)
SV1	83	623	1279 (708)	4	71	3	7.5
SV2	107	917	1666 (1191)	9	91	6	8.6
SV3	96	276	534 (173)	11	45	1	2.9
MA1	98	644	2132 (666)	18	61	5	6.6
MA2	84	851	1299 (984)	33	105	4	10.1
MA3	85	267	629 (208)	26	63	4	3.1
Total	553	3 578	7539 (3930)	101	436	23	6.5

^a“Likes” were counted in responses to posts (n) and in the ensuing thread of interaction (m).

Table 3. The distribution of speech functions in each group.

Speech function	SV1 n = 87 %(n)	SV2 n = 110 %(n)	SV3 n = 95 %(n)	MA1 n = 90 %(n)	MA2 n = 84 %(n)	MA3 n = 84 %(n)	% of total %(n)
Statement	10.3(9)	3.6(4)	3.2(3)	5.6(5)	10.7(9)	9.5(8)	6.9(38)
Question	48.3(42)	51.8(57)	48.4(46)	53.3(48)	52.4(44)	14.3(12)	45.3(249)
Offer	37.9(33)	37.3(41)	47,4(45)	37.8(34)	29.8(25)	66.7(56)	42.5(234)
Command	3.4(3)	7.3(8)	1.1(1)	3.3(3)	7.1(6)	9.5 (8)	5.3(29)
Total	99.9(87)	100(110)	100.1(95)	100(90)	100(84)	100(84)	100(550)

Table 4. Responses to the speech functions.

Speech function	Expected response	Discretionary response	Both expected and discretionary responses	No response
Statement	17	3	7	11
Question	209	1	–	39
Offer	206	5	8	15
Command	12	0	1	16
Total	444	9	16	81

Table 5. Knowledge requested in the posts.

Knowledge base	SV1	SV2	SV3	MA1	MA2	MA3
PCK+	24	34	31	33	23	6
CK	2	5	1	2	6	4
PK	2	2	5	2	8	0
KEC	7	12	3	4	5	2
KEE	2	2	1	3	2	3
Total	37	55	41	44	44	15
Unrelated	6	7	5	7	5	0

Table 6. Knowledge offered in the posts.

Knowledge base	SV1	SV2	SV3	MA1	MA2	MA3
PCK+	14	17	33	22	12	16
CK	2	0	0	0	2	11
PK	4	2	8	4	2	2
KEC	1	2	0	1	0	1
KEE	8	8	1	3	3	4
Total	29	29	42	30	19	34
Unrelated	8	11	2	3	5	21