Social construction of professional development among Japan's migrant teachers via online forums

Abstract

Online discussion forums have proven potent in the social construction of professional knowledge among teachers. However, research examining their role in supporting migrant English teachers is scarce. This qualitative study responded by using netnography to investigate how one popular forum for English teachers interested in Japan addressed the issues of gaining teaching qualifications, navigating differences in educational culture between their origins and those associated with Japan, and increasing Japanese language competency. The research examined how community members addressed these issues, given the increased recruitment in Japan of English teachers from outside traditional English-speaking contexts, including ASEAN countries. A corpus of 944 discussion threads was subjected to an epistemological content analysis to foreground the social construction of what counted as educator knowledge. Findings shed light on the above questions while also revealing how the social construction of teacher knowledge responded to an increased presence of teachers from outside traditional English contexts.