Speaker
Description
ELT teachers’ professional development is a topic that garners significant attention in the academic world. In order to provide teachers with appropriate support for their development, it is of immense importance to be able to get insights into problems that they are facing. Online communities of practices have been growing in popularity as places where professionals of similar interests can benefit from mutual assistance, sharing their authentic concerns and seeking advice from peers. With the use of inductive content analysis, the current study aims to investigate the prevalent concerns of ELT teachers by systematically analyzing all relevant posts in a Facebook group of ELT practitioners which is based in Vietnam. The Facebook group was established in 2021 and has rapidly expanded to more than 23,500 members by August 2024. The results are expected to enlighten related stakeholders about common challenges encountered by ELT teachers during their teaching practice, thereby laying the groundwork for tailored training programs for both prospective and practicing ELT educators.
Keywords: ELT teachers' concerns, online communities of practice, professional development
