The education landscape is in a constant state of flux, with technology endlessly evolving. As the popularity of social media has grown immensely in the past decade, it is not entirely surprising that more and more teachers have been relying on social media and participating in online teacher communities for professional learning purposes. Although an increasing number of studies investigating online teacher communities on various social media platforms have been conducted, to date, there is a dearth of studies specifically set in the context of Japan. The present study, which is part of a larger research project, aimed to understand how foreign language teachers in Japan are capitalising on technology-focused online teacher communities. Employing a mixed-methods research design, data were mainly collected through surveys and interviews: Firstly, the initial questionnaire was distributed to language teachers who were members of online teacher communities (n=181). To obtain a better understanding of the initial questionnaire responses, semi-structured interviews with 18 questionnaire respondents were then conducted. Several months after the interviews, a post-interview questionnaire was distributed to all the interviewees to ask additional questions which arose after all the interview data were analysed. The content analysis of the self-reported data suggest that language teachers were utilising online teacher communities for a multitude of different reasons—to obtain new ideas, ask questions related to technology and/or teaching, find emotional support, obtain a sense of belonging, and ameliorate their feeling of professional isolation. Overall, the findings seem to suggest that online teacher communities, which are free and available to anyone as long as they have access to the Internet, play an important role in supporting foreign language teachers in Japan, particularly those who have limited professional learning resources and collegial support at their workplace. The results were presented at several international conferences and internal seminars and published in an international peer-reviewed academic journal.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many teachers, if not most, were forced to temporarily teach remotely and learn how to use various online tools despite not being properly trained in online teaching. Without any other place to turn to, it appeared that numerous teachers had no choice but to rely on online teacher communities formed on various social media platforms for support. The present study, which is part of a larger research project, set out to examine the ways in which foreign language teachers in Japan were utilising online teacher communities where the primary discussions are on technology during the ongoing pandemic situation. Data were mainly collected via online observations of three technology-focused online teacher communities which predominantly consisted of members who were foreign language teachers teaching in Japan. Specifically, the content of the initial posts and number of likes, shares, and comments were monitored and recorded for a period of three months. The content analysis of the online posts shared within the three technology-focused online teacher communities illustrated that many online members used them to share information about events, including seminars, conferences, and “how-to” sessions on Zoom, reading materials, and websites and ask questions about teaching and technology to other professionals in the communities. In several of the communities, members seem to rely on them for emotional support, with some members checking up on their wellbeing, inviting them to participate in online social gatherings, and sharing information about how to enhance their physical and mental wellbeing. The study’s findings clearly demonstrated how the online teacher communities, particularly the ones which placed a focus on technology, were useful for many foreign language teachers, including those who were professionally isolated as a result of the pandemic. As the present study’s findings seem to suggest that there is a difference in activity between private and public online teacher communities, the next step of the study is to look at teachers’ perceptions towards the use of private and public online communities and examine as to whether there are any psychological barriers towards participating in public communities which are open to anyone. 

The main objective of the current research project was to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how Facebook groups targeted at language teachers can be used as a source of professional learning. Building upon data collected since 2018, the main data sources used in the current study were: 1) an in-depth online observation of a Facebook group which predominantly consists of members who are language teachers using technology for teaching purposes; 2) a questionnaire distributed to language teachers on Facebook; and 3) interviews with some of the questionnaire respondents. The findings illustrated that many language teachers around the world were using Facebook groups to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Since the study took place during the ongoing pandemic, the study also sheds light on the reality of how language teachers, including those who were forced to teach online without little or no technical training, were utilising Facebook groups during a pandemic. In times of a pandemic, the demand for the Facebook groups appeared to be even greater since language teachers were able to connect with like-minded teachers without the need for in-person interactions. The main results were presented at EUROCALL 2021, an international conference on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL).