An analysis of a Facebook mentoring group as a professional development tool for EFL teachers

Professional development is a lifelong process for a teacher that requires active learning. Mentoring plays a significant role in teachers' professional development. Facebook groups are preferred by teachers as a mentoring tool. The purpose of the study was to find out EFL teachers' perceptions on a Facebook mentoring group and how teachers could benefit from Facebook as an online professional development tool. In accordance with this purpose, a Facebook group called "Innovative Teachers of English" (ITE) was selected within the frame of criteria defined by the researcher. Data collection was conducted through a mixed-method research design. The participants of the study were group members of ITE. The data was collected through two data collection tools. Firstly, teachers' posts and comments shared during 6 weeks were recorded. In total, 174 posts and 1935 comments were saved and analyzed deductively with the help of content analysis method by regarding other researchers' and experts' opinions. The data were analyzed with the help of the codes which were obtained from a previous study. Secondly, semi structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants to explore their perceptions on usage of this group. In this content, 7 interview questions were created with the contribution of other researchers and experts. The data including teachers' responses for interview questions were analyzed and coded by English teachers including the researcher himself. The qualitative data were analyzed inductively using content analysis. At the end of the analysis, the results showed that teachers used this group mostly to find new activities and materials related to their lessons. It was also found that teachers also used the group for different education techniques and strategies that could be integrated into lessons. Moreover, another finding showed that teachers also joined this group for their professional development and follow innovations related to teaching. Additionally, teachers stated that they found these kinds of groups more useful than in-service trainings. Finally, it was seen that teachers in this group communicated with each other and shared their feelings about some situations they came across in their classrooms. As a result, it can be said that this group is very useful for teachers in terms of their professional development.