The World of English Teachers in a Facebook Common-Interest Group

Agnieszka Dzięcioł-Pędich

University of Białystok, Poland

Abstract

In view of the fact that teacher discussions in professional online communities are not frequently researched, the author decided to conduct a small scale study with the aim to analyse discussions held by members of two Facebook groups for English language teachers. The findings show that members of both groups want to know how they could help their students, and discuss their own professional and personal needs. Moreover, members of both groups show their appreciation not only towards practical solutions, but also towards the theoretical content suggested by others. Furthermore, the analysis has revealed that language teachers need to be constantly motivated, inspired and reassured that they are doing their job well. Finally, the findings show that, apart from creating their own personal learning networks in Facebook groups, their members treat them as arenas for promoting their products, services, or events.

Keywords:

language teachers, Facebook groups, professional development, personal learning networks, self-promotion