Lurkers or posters? How teacher identity influences self-presentation on social networking sites

ABSTRACT

The ways in which educational practitioners represent themselves on social networking sites (SNSs) continue to provoke discussion and potential controversy. This study investigates how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Vietnam manage their self-presentations within SNSs for professional learning purposes. Participants in this mixed methods study included 19 teachers in four focus-group interviews, and 393 respondents to an online survey. We applied teacher identity to interpreting teachers’ self-presentation on virtual platforms. Our findings reveal that although participants frequently use SNSs for professional learning, they prefer a lurking presence and less visible interaction. It is also evident that self-presentation on SNSs is not simply ‘represented’ or ‘reflected’. Rather, these teachers prefer their self-presentation to fit with how they are perceived in Vietnamese society. Teachers’ self-presentation within SNSs is thus robustly mediated by culture. The study contributes to the ongoing interest in teachers’ increasing use of SNSs in their professional lives.

KEYWORDS:

• Social networking sites
• self-presentation
• teacher identity
• Vietnam
• mixed methods

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants who spent time and shared their expertise in the focus group interviews and the online survey, as well as all colleagues and individuals who helped us recruit the participants. Also, our special thanks go to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors for their useful comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript.

Ethics statement

Ethics approval was granted by Murdoch University’s Human Research Ethics Committee in 2019 (Project Number 2019/085). Teacher-participants gave informed consent prior to starting the focus group interviews and signed electronic consent forms before completing the online survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).