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384382

Exploring the Informal Online Practices of In-service English Language Teachers on Facebook as part of their Continuing Professional Development

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Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Although the use of social networks, especially Facebook, has become a common practice among educational communities in Egypt, studies have yet to explore the online practices of in-service (language) teachers as part of Continuing Professional Development (hereafter CPD). Therefore, this study investigated English language teachers' informal online professional development that may include some types of language learning for improving their pedagogical content knowledge. It also explored differences between teachers' perceived use of Facebook as a venue of CPD. This study employed a mixed-method design, collecting qualitative and quantitative data via content analysis and a questionnaire. The participants were 180 English-language Egyptian in-service teachers. The qualitative analysis of teacher's posts demonstrates that CPD informal groups, as maintained by Egyptian EFL teachers, display different aspects of professional knowledge. Results showed that the data yielded seven main categories: General Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Content Knowledge (CK), L2 Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Knowledge of L2 Learners, Knowledge of Educational context and Knowledge of (professional) self and miscellaneous topics. Besides, ANOVA's Welch test indicated significant differences in the means of the sum scores of the questionnaire as well as two sub-domains (PK and CK) among primary, preparatory and secondary teachers in some aspects, such as pronunciation and vocabulary. This study concludes that CPD Facebook groups provide wide options and spaces for continuous learning and informal study for EFL teachers. Pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research were suggested.

DOI

10.21608/opde.2024.384382

Keywords

in, service English Language Teachers, Informal Online Practices on Facebook, Continuing Professional Development

Authors

First Name

Mahmoud M. S.

Last Name

Abdallah

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Associate professor Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction, Faculty of Education, Assuit University

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Orcid

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First Name

Hanan

Last Name

Waer

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Associate professor Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction, Faculty of Education , New Valley University

Email

hananwaer1@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-4484-9941

Volume

87

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

50844

Issue Date

2024-07-01

Receive Date

2024-10-06

Publish Date

2024-07-01

Page Start

517

Page End

544

Print ISSN

1110-2721

Online ISSN

2735-3591

Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/article_384382.html

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https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=384382

Order

16

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,140

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education

Publication Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Exploring the Informal Online Practices of In-service English Language Teachers on Facebook as part of their Continuing Professional Development

Details

Type

Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024