Why do teachers participate in technology-focused online language teacher communities on Facebook?

Abstract

The study sets out to examine why language teachers from 78 different countries are utilizing technology-focused online language teacher communities on Facebook. The findings which were collected via a questionnaire (n = 482) and in-depth interviews (n = 31) illustrated how these online communities are being used in a multitude of ways—to explore ideas, keep abreast with the latest educational technologies, ask for techno-pedagogical help, experience a sense of belonging, to name a few. The study’s diverse dataset offers much-needed answers for understanding how technology-focused online language teacher communities on Facebook are valuable for supporting technology-using teachers, especially those who are on a tight budget, have a busy work schedule, or have unsupportive coworkers at their workplace.

Keywords:

• Online teacher community
• technology-focused online language teacher community
• technology
• teacher learning
• online professional development
• Facebook
• social media, survey research

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is a part of the outcome of research performed under a Waseda University Grant for Special research Projects (Project Number: 2022 C-255).

Notes on contributors

Yurika Ito

Yurika Ito, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include online teacher communities on social media, teacher education, and computer-assisted language learning (CALL).