TEACHER TWEETING: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF TWITTER IN TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL LIVES

A research study originally submitted as a dissertation to The University of Manchester for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities1

2011

RICHARD WHITESIDE

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

1 This is a revised version of the original. Taking into account the feedback I received following submission, I made a number of amendments and corrections, therefore this is the second edition.

CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................... LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................ ABSTRACT..................................................................................................... DECLARATION........................................................................................... COPYRIGHT STATEMENT............................................................................. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE 1.1 1.2 Introduction An introduction to Twitter 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 What is Twitter? How does it work? What is it for? BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY INTRODUCTION 4 4 5 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 10 12 12 14 15 15 15 15 17 18 18 18 20 20 20 22 23

2 CHAPTER TWO 2.1 2.2 Situating the study

The target audience METHODOLOGY

3 CHAPTER THREE 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.2

Research beliefs Background to research Case study research

Design and procedures 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 The research questions The participants Acquiring the data

3.3

The interviews 3.3.1 3.3.2 Interview philosophy Interview practicalities

3.4 1

The reflective journal

3.5

Additional methods 3.5.1 3.5.2 Follow up emails Member checking

23 24 24 24 24 25 27 27 27 28 28 29 31 32 32 33 33 33 34 35 37 38 39 39 39 40 41 42 44 45

3.6

Data analysis 3.6.1 3.6.2 Analysing the interviews Analysing the text data DATA PRESENTATION

4 CHAPTER FOUR 4.1

Case Study A: Ruth 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.1.4 4.1.5 4.1.6 4.1.7 Profile Accessing Twitter Getting Involved Twitter as a Community Twitter as Information and Learning Resource Twitter as a Career Advancement Opportunity Doubts and Personal Issues

4.2

Case Study B: Sarah 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.2.6 4.2.7 Profile Accessing Twitter Getting Involved Twitter as a Community Twitter as Information and Learning Resource Twitter as a Career Advancement Opportunity Doubts and Personal Issues

4.3

Case Study C: Helen 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.3.4 4.3.5 4.3.6 Profile Accessing Twitter Getting Involved Twitter as a Community Twitter as Information and Learning Resource Doubts and Personal Issues

4.4

Discussion - Answering the research questions 4.4.1 4.4.2 time? 4.4.3 In what ways do the teachers believe Twitter contributes to their professional development? How do the teachers use Twitter and has this changed over

47

What role does Twitter play in teachers' professional lives? 47 49 52 54 54 54 55 56 57 63

5 CHAPTER FIVE 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Conclusion Limitations

CONCLUSIONS

Critical self-analysis Future research

REFERENCES APPENDICES WORD COUNT: 15832

LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Details of Skype interviews 22

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS App Computer software application DoS Director of Studies ELT English Language Teaching LMS Learning Management System PD Professional Development PDF Portable Document Format PLE Personal Learning Environment PLN Personal Learning Network TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language TESOL Teaching English as a Second Or foreign Language

Abstract This paper reveals the results of three exploratory case studies designed to investigate teachers' use of the social-networking and micro-blogging service 'Twitter'. The investigation centres on their networked use of Twitter as a means of engaging in self-directed professional development. The research is situated in the researcher's personal use of Twitter and his engagement in the same professional community as the participating teachers. The case studies reveal the teachers' positive attitude towards Twitter. They believe they are engaged in a very worthwhile professional development activity online, with Twitter playing a central role. Twitter is revealed to provide access to a community, acting as a platform for networking and the building of a PLN. It acts as an information and learning resource, acting as a news feed providing the teachers with classroom ideas, links to resources and teaching blogs as well as up-to-date industry information. It also provides teachers with the opportunity to gain acknowledgment for their interaction, increasing their status and potentially exposing them to career development opportunities. However, despite the teachers' general positivity, there are negative issues arising. Twitter can be a distraction, they describe feelings of rejection, particularly during initial use, and also express guilt related to worries about how much they give compared to how much they receive from the community. The paper begins with an introduction to Twitter, in chapter one, including reference to previous research. Chapter two situates the research within my experience of using Twitter in a similar way to the participants. Chapter three presents a detailed, reflexive account of the methodology. Chapter four presents the three cases one by one, before they are summarised and discussed, with the major themes related to relevant literature. Chapter five concludes with a summary, suggested limitations, critical self-reflection by the researcher and some proposals for further research.

DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in the dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification at this or any other university or other institute of learning. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the author. Copies (by any other process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the author. Details may be obtained from the appropriate Graduate Office. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any other process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the author. The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this dissertation is vested in the University of Manchester, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement. Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take place is available from the Head of the School of Education.

Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the part played in the research by the participants who kindly volunteered their time. Without their effort, cooperation and detailed explanation, I could not have completed this study. I would also think to thank my tutor, Diane Slaouti, whose contributions and advice were always helpful and much appreciated. Last, but certainly not least, I dedicate this work to Araceli, who has had to put up with a complete lack of attention whilst I've been battering away at my keyboard or hiding behind books or under paper. Thank you for the endless cups of tea, coffee and biscuits!

A wise old owl Sat in an oak The more he heard The less he spoke The less he spoke The more he heard Why can't we be more Like that wise old bird?

Ford, J. (1975) Paradigms and Fairy Tales, Vol. 1, p.68

1 CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Introduction

Johnson (2009) suggests that Twitter will change the way we live and believes it has unsuspected depth. He views Twitter as a hothouse of end-user innovation, which has led millions of people to use it in ways the originators did not foresee. The level of importance was underlined recently when Barack Obama, after the political impasse in Washington2, felt compelled to thank the American public not only for their letters and emails, but for your tweets as well (Marketwatch, 2011). Twitter is a hugely influential phenomenon, yet what teachers are using it for in their professional lives seems to be an unexplored area of academic research. 1.2 An introduction to Twitter 1.2.1 What is Twitter?

Twitter3 is an online micro-blogging platform on which users can post short messages of up to 140 characters4. It is a service which can be used directly through its own website or via a number of other apps, via either wired or wireless devices providing the ability to deliver data to interested users over multiple delivery channels (Krishnamurthy et al, 2008:19). It is a social media platform, characterised by networks of a follower following topology (Kwak et al), in which being followed requires no reciprocity (2010). On opening an account, a user is prompted to complete a profile page, including their name, location and a short biography, although some users prefer anonymity. Twitter has millions of users around the globe and has been growing in use incredibly quickly. In March 2011 it was reported that during the previous year the number of messages posted per day had increased from around 50 million to around 140 million, while the average number of new accounts listed every day

2 3 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_debt-ceiling_crisis www.twitter.com Although using the deck.ly application via Tweetdeck (for example) allows for longer tweets to be posted.

was almost half a million5. Although the main language of Twitter is English, only around 50% of the messages are written in English, with other languages increasing in use6. 1.2.2 How does it work?

At its simplest, Twitter merely requires the user to type a message into a text field and click a button to post it. This does not even require the user to access the Twitter website and log in, as the vast majority of its users interact with the service via software created by third parties (Johnson, 2009:2). It is possible, and of potential benefit, for users to remain permanently logged in, so they are able to be continuously updated (Dunlap and Lowenthal, 2009:2). A popular third-party app is Tweetdeck7 (appendix 1), which allows users to stream tweets separately and view personal mentions, direct messages or follow tags in different columns. There is a certain literacy involved with using Twitter, which at a basic level includes understanding the Twitter lexicon. Twitter has given rise to a number of new words, often based on its own name, explaining phenomena already in existence. For instance, to post is to 'tweet', to forward is to 'retweet'; they are conjugated as regular verbs and also act as nouns. Users are known variously as 'tweeters', 'twitterers', 'tweeps' or 'tweeple' and the environment itself is known as the 'twittersphere' or 'twitterverse'. There is so much related vocabulary that a glossary exists on the Twitter help page8. The need for Twitter literacy extends beyond lexis into behaviour, and knowledge of this enables users to interact competently. Messages can be directed at particular users by using @user, or privately with D user and can be retweeted with RT @user message. Including hashtags (#tag) adds contextual metadata to a tweet and makes messages relevant and searchable. On Fridays, a twitter-wide system sees many users send #FF (Follow Friday) messages, recommending other users worth following, whilst on Tuesdays #TT (Teacher Tuesday) does the same specifically for teachers.

5 6 7 8

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/twitter-user-statistics_n_835581.html http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/24/twitter-languages/ www.tweetdeck.com http://support.twitter.com/articles/166337-the-twitter-glossary

1.2.3

What is it for?

Twitter appears to be for whatever the user wishes, within the limits of what the medium can practically allow. The site originally proposed that users regularly updated their status by answering the question: What are you doing?. However, in November 2009 the site dropped this question, which had been described by Solis (2009) as the wrong question all along. In fact, Mishaud (2007:37) reported that 58.5% of his sampled tweets failed to adhere to this requirement. In actual fact, it is being used far more for conversation and collaboration than originally intended. Honeycutt and Herring (2009:1), found that: short dyadic exchanges occur relatively often, along with some longer conversations with multiple participants that are surprisingly coherent. There is significant potential for accessing information through Twitter. Johnson argues that the value of searching for information via your extended social network will start to rival Google's approach to the search (2009) and that if you're looking for advice...an article recommended by a friend of a friend might well be the place to start. Zhao et al used interviews to determine informal use within an IT company. They concluded that: people use Twitter at work to keep up with what's new and what's happening with one another and to share and exchange information needed. It provides a new informal communication channel complementary to other media (2009:8). A noteworthy aspect of this sharing of information is the capacity to include hyperlinks in the messages. According to Boyd et al sharing links is a central practice to Twitter and 22% of tweets and 52% of retweets analysed in their study included URLs to external sites. A useful function of Tweetdeck is that it can automatically shrink long URLs into shorter ones for convenience, though this can also be done by using 'bitly'9 or 'tinyurl'10.

9 www.bitly.com 10 www.tinyurl.com

10

In the field of education, Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) have investigated Twitter's potential for use with students. They note, amongst other things, how it has mashed up personal publishing and communication, the result being a new type of real-time publishing, so that it can be used to facilitate a PLN in the edublogosphere, thus allowing for bloggers to connect. Dunlap and Lowenthal (2009) explored the use of Twitter as a means of increasing social interaction between participants in an online course. Their trial suggested that both cognitive presence and teaching presence were enhanced by the use of Twitter alongside a typical LMS. A popular Twitter activity within the ELT community is ELT Chat11, described as a ready-made PLN for ELT professionals, which was mentioned frequently by the participants in this research. At two separate times every Wednesday there is an open, one hour long discussion forum, using the hashtag #eltchat in which a particular topic is discussed. Following the chat, a participant volunteers to write a summary of the discussion and it is shared via a blog; the chat transcript itself is published via a wiki. Other forums focused on education take place using other hashtags, for example #ukedchat.

11 http://eltchat.com/

11

2 CHAPTER TWO 2.1

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Situating the study

I decided to situate this research in the context of my own experience of online interaction. However, I wished to avoid importing preconceived ideas and imposing them on my work (Charmaz, 2006:165); as this is an exploratory study, I wanted to wait for themes to emerge and then identify the relevant literature to help discuss my findings. I have been using Twitter and blogging since early 2009 and have gradually become connected to a network of other teachers. They are predominantly English language teachers, but some are practitioners in other fields of education, particularly those interested in educational technology. I use a suite of tools (Downes, 2007) that comprise a PLE (Personal Learning Environment), allowing me to organise this online professional development. It was mainly due to my online interaction that I began learning about the potential of educational technology. I became interested to the extent that I enrolled in the MA course in Educational Technology and TESOL at the University of Manchester. Whilst on the course, I have explored some areas related to this interaction. I have written about the potential of constructing a PLE, including Twitter, to take control of one's own professional development online (Whiteside, 2011a). This PLE, defined by Wild et al as a network of people, artefacts, and tools (consciously or unconsciously) involved in learning activities (2008:2) was constructed using Twitter, Blogger, the social-bookmarking tool Diigo, the Google Reader RSS feed and the news feed aggregator 'Summify'. I use this PLE to interact with other teachers online and to access information and links so I can learn about teaching and educational technology. I add new blogs I discover to Google Reader, and I bookmark web tools or interesting articles with Diigo. It was through engaging in this process that I began reflecting on what I was doing and wondering whether other teachers active online were doing similar or different things.

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I consider this online interaction to be a form of self-directed learning and partly because I have never set specific needs nor goals, I feel it relates to heutagogy, which suggests that: a person does not need to identify a learning need...but identifies the potential to learn...and recognises the opportunity to reflect on what has happened and see how it challenges, disconfirms or supports existing values and assumptions. (Hase & Kenyon, 2000:5). This online learning as a form of professional development has no teacher or supervisor. It is up to the individual to locate and pursue their learning interests. During my initial period of reflecting on my online activities, I began to wonder whether the fact that Twitter enabled me to engage in a community meant that it was perhaps the most important part of this PLE. As I have been participating in and observing a Twitter-based community as it has grown over the past couple of years, I have gradually become interested in researching the actions of some fellow participants at a deeper level. This study is my attempt to analyse three teachers working in ELT and explore in some depth their Twitter behaviour, interactions and motives for participation, in order to get an idea of how and why they use Twitter in their professional lives. By conducting this research I can help myself by getting some insight into what other people are doing and reflect on whether I can use this information to improve on the way I interact personally. Through sharing these insights I can inform a wider audience of my findings. In the interests of reflexivity, defined in this context as the influence of the researcher on the research (Edge, 2011:36). I am prepared to admit that I see potential for Twitter in supporting the learning and development of teachers, though there are challenges and issues. I myself feel I have benefited from this interaction and have become proficient in using the medium. I think, therefore, it is unavoidable that my research is coloured somehow by my previous interactions, existing opinions and my relationships (however minimal) with the participants.

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2.2

The target audience

I consider it important to identify the target audience for whom I consider this research relevant. As Williams and May assert, in terms of relevance, we must ask ourselves relevant to whom, for what reason and with what consequences? (1996:138). Furthermore, Yin warns that: the greatest error you can make is to compose a report from an egocentric perspective. This error will occur if you complete your report without identifying a specific audience . (2003:145) This research could be relevant to various different fields, from classroom teachers to social-media researchers. However, in terms of specific content, I am targeting an audience of those involved in the field of education, specifically ELT. For instance, I foresee readers interested in looking at ways to include online participation within courses for teacher development or initial teacher education. Alternatively, they themselves may be interested in using Twitter to engage in selfdirected personal and professional development.

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3 CHAPTER THREE 3.1 Introduction

METHODOLOGY

My intention for this chapter is to provide a narrative outlining the relevant details of how I proceeded with the study, what decisions I made and why. I will also relate this to literature informing or supporting my decisions. I follow Wolcott's advice to satisfy readers with sufficient detail about how you obtained the data you actually used (2009:86) in order to ensure trustworthiness and credibility. 3.1.1 Research beliefs

As mentioned previously, I intend for this research report to be reflexive, in that I wish to provide details which will allow the reader to gain insight into my chosen methods and thinking, as well as my potential influence upon the findings. Furthermore, as I have been and will be a participant in the community described, this new knowledge will no doubt change the way I think about using Twitter. In fact, I can guarantee that it already has, a demonstration of reflexivity as the influence of the research on the researcher (Edge, 2011:37). I argue that the research has validity in the pragmatic tradition of providing useful knowledge. I will explain my actions honestly and clearly in such a way as an attempt to achieve truthfulness. Truth, of course, is difficult to determine, but I refer to Lincoln & Guba, who suggest that truth can be claimed when the person who asserts it is acting in conformity with moral or professional standards (1985:14), basing their comment on the second of Ford's four types of truth 12. She asserts that a judgement may be described as true, whether or not it is contingent-uponsomething-or-other, if we consider it to have been uttered sincerely (1975:88). I consider it important and of use to the reader that I give an indication of the philosophy behind the methods I have employed, which supports the beliefs I hold about research. I am neither nave nor arrogant enough to believe my choice of research methods is based on a deep understanding of all the conflicting epistemological arguments; therefore, as a novice researcher, this is an idea of my current understanding.
12
Ford labels her truths in this manner: true , true etc.

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3.1.2

Background to research

I am aware that the qualitative research paradigm which has influenced me can be traced back to the schools of interactionism and pragmatism, which Corbin and Strauss refer to as a two-step evolution (2008:2). In my interaction with the research participants I acknowledge the fact I have not been a passive observer, I have interacted in the research. Therefore, as Blumer states, the response of my participants, like all humans, is not made directly to the actions of one another but instead is based on the meaning which they attach to such actions (1969:19, in Corbin and Strauss, 2008:2). Lincoln and Guba (1985) propose the use of qualitative methods, case study reporting and inductive data analysis, which I have used. My research ideology has also been influenced by both their axioms of the naturalistic paradigm (appendix 2) and their implications for the doing of research (1985:39), in particular their characteristic of 'emergent design'. This allows for the research design to emerge rather than be fixed prior to initiation. This idea influenced the alterations I made during the research process, which will be detailed later in this section. To support validity, I aim to provide a strong context, taking a lead from hermeneutic philosophy which has emphasized the fact that human life and understanding is contextual. (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009:54). I agree with Yin, who proposes that in case studies, context is highly pertinent to [the] phenomenon of study (2003:13). Throughout the research process I kept a journal, in an attempt to reflect, question my actions and record my actions. Ortlipp suggests that: Keeping and using reflective research journals can make the messiness of the research process visible to the researcher (2008:704).

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3.1.3

Case study research

Yin reports that the case study is used in many situations to contribute to our knowledge of individual, group, organizational, social, political, and related phenomena (2003:1). However, critics warn that many research investigators disdain the strategy and that critics and supporters have argued over the lack of rigor (Yin, 2003:10). Another criticism is a lack of objectivity, but Charmaz asserts that: We start with the experiencing person and try to share his or her subjective view. Our task is objective in the sense that we try to describe it with depth and detail. In doing so, we try to represent the person's view fairly and to portray it as consistent with his or her meanings. (Charmaz, 1995:54, in Miller and Glassner, 2004) I describe this project as a case study, yet there are ethnographic elements. My long-term participation in the Twitter community during and prior to research provided me with ethnographic knowledge which Harris (1968, in Creswell 1998) refers to as the description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system and the learned patterns of behaviour, customs, and ways of life. The community in which myself and the research participants interact is not a physical community as traditionally studied in ethnographic research. However, the idea of an online ethnography has been described as virtual ethnography by Hine, who believes this method transfers the ethnographic tradition of the researcher instrument to the social spaces of the internet (2008:257). Therefore, I suggest that this study is part virtual ethnography, part case study and the research both benefits and suffers from the conflict between the two.

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3.2

Design and procedures 3.2.1 The research questions

Main question: What role does Twitter play in teachers' professional lives? Subsidiary questions: a) How do the teachers use Twitter and has this changed over time? b) In what ways do the teachers believe Twitter contributes to their professional development? The main research question is broad, chosen for an exploratory study trying to avoid closing doors on areas of interest. I had some idea of potential themes, but was aiming to capture the participants' stories. I was not looking to challenge existing theories, but to explore the interaction and behaviour of others. The subsidiary questions are still broad but aspire to focus on relevant details. The first, to look at the development of the participants' interaction and behaviour because I am interested in the possibility of other teaching professionals joining in. The second is chosen to focus on the extent to which teachers are using Twitter to engage in professional development, which is potentially of interest to teacher educators. 3.2.2 The participants

The participants were not chosen to represent a wider community. I chose three different candidates, looking for maximum variant cases which are cases that are very different on one dimension (Flyvbjerg, 2006:230). In this case, my chosen dimension was teaching experience, although other significant differences presented themselves during the research. It could be argued there is an element of the extreme subjects described by Flyvbjerg as unusual cases (2006:230). However, it is not possible to determine this without greater knowledge of other participants in the community. As I have agreed to offer my participants a high degree of anonymity, I have used

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pseudonyms. However, it is my intention to reveal as much as I can about their employment situation and experience. To request volunteers, I posted a request on my blog13, which was advertised on Twitter and retweeted by others. I received around 25 responses, some from people I had come to know quite well and others from strangers. I dismissed some volunteers for not meeting my criteria14 whereas others did not reply or replied negatively to my initial contact. Of those remaining, I chose three who went on to complete the research. In compensation for their time, participants were offered Amazon gift vouchers worth 10. However, all the eventual participants insisted it was not the reason for their application. While advertising via my blog, I contacted Helen directly to ask if she would be interested. This was due to a feeling that there would not be any applicants matching her profile, that of a fairly long-term, yet low-level participant in the community. However, I was keen to have this variant represented. As it turned out, there were one or two other applicants with a similar profile, but there were other factors meaning I deemed them unsuitable. For instance, some volunteers were non-native speakers of English and I thought that was too significant a variant, as it would have brought linguistic and cultural issues into play, which I felt were beyond the scope of this study. After agreeing to participate, Helen went through the same introductory process as the other volunteers. Following their initial responses, I sent potential volunteers an email with further information about the project (appendix 3), informing them of the process and ethical issues, particularly regarding anonymity. Recognising the danger of Helen feeling coerced into participating, due to my direct request, I made sure I was especially clear about the process. She had various questions regarding anonymity, which I answered carefully, while reminding her that her participation could be withdrawn at any time without issue, during member checking she wrote:

13 http://helpingpeoplelearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/2011/06/can-you-help-me-with-my-dissertation.html 14 See the blogpost and appendix 3 for details.

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As for anonymity, I don't think you've included information that points to me specifically. Those views could be expressed by lots of people, I'm sure, and lots of teachers have a similar academic background to myself. 3.2.3 Acquiring the data

The data was generated from the interviews and a week long journal of Twitter interaction kept by each participant. There were also subsequent email conversations, during which I checked certain details and asked for clarification or further comment. I consider data generation and data collection different. The research methods were not designed for me to collect data as a passive participant; even the reflective journal musings were prompted by a list of questions I gave each participant. My involvement was to follow a postmodern approach to establish a production site of knowledge (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2008:53) and in this sense, the data was generated. In terms of data collection, i.e. the way it was 'captured', the interviews were audio recorded using both Garageband15 on my laptop and my smartphone's audio recording application. I created separate files for each recording in Garageband and used the software to listen back and label sections of the recording (appendix 4). The journals were written directly into a Google document16 shared privately between myself and each participant. As a result, I could view their entries as they completed it. 3.3 The interviews 3.3.1 Interview philosophy

Kvale and Brinkmann identify two metaphors describing the act of interviewing: that of a miner and a traveller. I positioned myself in this study in the role of a traveller who goes on a journey to a distant country that leads to a tale to be told upon returning home (2009:48). I think this relates to the ethnographic element of the research, in that I have, in a sense, explored the many domains of the
15 Garageband is an audio recording and editing programme for Apple computers: http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/ 16 Google docs is an online file storage facility for sharing and collaborating: http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

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country... roaming freely around the territory and have walked along with the local inhabitants (2009:48). This walking with the locals included prior knowledge of the participants in the study, which along with the experience of the environment itself, gave me some background information before the research began. The primary data generation method was a semi-structured interview. Barbour (2008:119) declares that: The semi-structured aspect is crucial as it refers to the capacity of the interviews to elicit data on perspectives of salience to respondents rather than the researcher dictating the direction of the encounter. In this way, both parties are active in the interviews. Holstein and Gubrium insist that interactional, interpretative activity is a hallmark of all interviews. All interviews are active interviews. (2004:140) Therefore the interview was a collaboration of the two participants, as Miller and Glassner state: The interview is obviously and exclusively an interaction between the interviewer and interview subject in which both participants create and construct narrative versions of the social world. (2004:125) I wanted depth to the data and a strong idea of each participant's individual context to produce an accurate description of each of them. I aimed to paint a clear picture of each volunteer, including their context, online behaviour and their opinions and experiences. My primary issue [was] to generate data which give an authentic insight into people's experiences (Silverman, 2001:87). As a way of preparing for the interview, I created a mind map that I used in order to go some way to ensuring I could cover all the areas I wanted to during the interview itself. I felt this would be more flexible and easier for me to follow during the conversation, rather than a list of questions in a linear format. Unfortunately, it is not possible to include a copy of this mind map with this paper due to the format the mind map is in17. I consider it useful to note that I have previously attempted to use Rogers' nondirective interview model (1945), an experience from which I appreciate the value of silence and patience even in an active interview.
17 Online copy available: http://www.scribd.com/doc/86183199/Dissertation-Interview-Mindmap

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3.3.2

Interview Practicalities

As my participants and I were based in different countries I resolved to use the internet tool Skype18, which is a medium for virtual communications and virtual 'face-to-face' interrelations (Bertrand and Bourdeau, 2010:71). Skype allows for video and audio calls to be made online, free of charge. They suggest that the conduct of the interview has to be specifically adapted, in this medium, because they found that on Skype the eyes look at the middle of the screen where it's possible to see interviewee's face (2010:76). This leads them to suggest that neither the interviewee nor the interviewer ever glances at each other (2010:77), potentially affecting the communication. I contend that as an experienced user of Skype, I was sensitive to the importance of paying obvious attention to what the interviewees were saying, and adapted my behaviour accordingly. I paid attention to this situation and looked at my webcam habitually in an attempt to mimic expected face-to-face communicative behaviour. My reasoning was the need to build trust and establish rapport with each of the participants19. During all the Skype interviews I activated my video camera, so the participants could see my face. However, the interviewees had some technical issues, meaning I could not always see them. The following table describes the situation in each of the interviews.

Interview 1 1 1 2 2

Participant Location Ruth Sarah Helen Ruth Sarah Home Home Internet Cafe Home School classroom

Video? Yes Yes, but failed after short time Yes, but very poor image Yes Yes

Researcher Researcher location video? Home Home Home Home Home Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Table 1 Details of Skype interviews

All the participants were already Skype account holders and users of the software, so no training or instructions were necessary. I arranged a time for the call to take place, allowing them to choose a time suiting their schedule. At the given time, we agreed to be online and do the interview.
18 www.skype.com 19 However, it depends on the cultural background of the participants as to whether this is a necessary behaviour to adopt.

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Helen's second interview actually took place face-to-face a short time after the reflective journal was completed, which was something we were both happy to do. This obviously raises questions regarding the data obtained during this meeting, so I would like to share details of this situation, though issues regarding anonymity limit what I can report. We agreed to meet at a time and in a place convenient to us both. I recorded the conversation on my smartphone, making it clear to Helen when it was being switched on and off. During the interview I did not make any notes and we spoke informally both before and after the actual interview. I don't believe that Helen reacted in a different way in this interview compared to the one conducted online. 3.4 The reflective journal

I asked the participants to keep a reflective journal for one week starting immediately after the first interview, for which I provided a list of prompts (appendix 5). This was partly to help motivate their reflection and writing, but also an attempt to ensure the journals contained details only relevant to the research. The journals were for the participants to reflect on their use of Twitter each day, as well as for me to consider how certain behaviour related to their interaction as a whole. I intended to use this journal to triangulate the data through the availability of multiple data sources, so I could better identify themes in the data. 3.5 Additional methods 3.5.1 Follow up emails

I agreed with the participants that I might follow up the initial research if I felt the need to request clarification or elaboration. This was a change to my original plan, but I felt it was necessary as I worried I may have further questions, if I had not sufficiently covered the ground during the interviews. In the end, I sent further emails (e.g. appendix 6) and received replies from all the participants.

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3.5.2

Member checking

The final stage of the process, as far as the participants were concerned, was member checking; another alteration to the initial research plan. I wanted to offer the participants an opportunity to query or contest the findings as a test of the credibility of the inquiry report (Lincoln and Guba, 1985:373). I sent an email (appendix 7) to each participant including a draft of the text, which I was intending to be the final version, but for their feedback. I received replies from all participants and they only suggested minor changes to certain details, mostly from their profile. 3.6 Data analysis

I found analysis of the data a significant challenge and must admit to much messiness in thought and a fair amount of trial and error in my actions. Essentially, my aim was to tell the story of each participant, so my emphasis was on a narrative to be told to an audience (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009:49). I analysed the data inductively, looking for themes to emerge in a manner influenced by Corbin & Strauss (2008). 3.6.1 Analysing the interviews

I began by listening back to each of the first interviews to familiarise myself with the dialogue. At this stage I made a few notes about the emerging themes and transcribed the data in preparation for the second interviews. My first transcriptions were not full transcriptions in that I was typing a summary of the discussion and only directly transcribing sections that I believed were useful. Later, as I re-visited these notes and recordings I added a lot more detail to the transcription for the interviews with Sarah and Helen (e.g. appendix 8), though not for Ruth (appendix 9). I transcribed virtually the entire conversation second time round, apart from digression, which happened occasionally, as is the nature of informal conversation. I followed three stages during the analysis: 1) writing comments and highlighting the transcription; 2) writing notes and codes onto the printed version of the text 24

from stage one; 3) creating mind-maps and trying to make sense of the codes with a view to organising them into themes for the writing stage. Silverman believes that in terms of analysis: methodologies cannot be true or false, only more or less useful (1993:2, cited in Tin, 1999:1). I had read some literature on analysis, but felt justified in using my intuition rather than following a particular framework. I was determined to fly my way through the data fog as best I can, trying my best to select the landing strip (Tin, 1999:14). In stage one, after I had transcribed the interviews into a text document, I proof read them and converted them into a PDF, so that I could read and annotate the text. At this stage I listened again to the recording while reading the transcripts, feeling that greater familiarity would help. I began adding comments to the text, musing over meaning and relevance. I did this for all the interviews and then printed the annotated documents. In stage two, I began to work with pen on paper, scribbling notes and adding codes to the text (appendix 10). I used these codes to help me establish a pivotal link between collecting data and developing an emergent theory to explain these data (Charmaz, 2006:46). Whilst I was coding the data, I kept in mind Corbin & Strauss's analytic tools, described as thinking techniques used by analysts to facilitate the coding process (2008:65). Finally, in stage three, I looked to establish relationships between the codes. I created mind-maps (appendix 11 & 12), trying to decide what was most important. Corbin & Strauss suggest that diagrams can move the analysis forward and...are just as important to the research process as data gathering itself (2008:118). 3.6.2 Analysing the text data

The journals and the email communications were analysed using the same methods, in that they were converted into PDFs, annotated and were subjected to coding. Then in stage three, this data was merged with the interview data where I

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brought themes together in order to prepare for writing. In an unplanned return to the data during the writing-up stage, I created a document using a spreadsheet and reorganised the data. This can be seen in appendix 13. While writing up the research, I became unhappy with how I had concluded my original analysis and felt I needed to reorganise the data to provide a better quality discussion. I returned to the written case studies, thinking carefully about my audience and recoded this written data as a means of better organising it. This led me to revisiting the original data and deciding to include some details I had previously dismissed. This process enabled me to give a better balance of relevant details across the three cases and also to bring it together and write a discussion targeted at my chosen audience.

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4 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION

In this chapter, I intend to present the participants' descriptions of their behaviour and beliefs regarding their use of the Twitter platform. Each participant has a particular viewpoint, reasons for using the platform, and methods of interacting. I believe that outlining the Twitter 'stories' of the participants a useful way of sharing the data. I will present the three cases one after the other, starting with a profile and detailing their original reasons for getting involved. Following that, I use the main themes which I identified in the research in order to organise the presentation of the research findings. These are presented in the form of three metaphors which provide a framework for the research participants' use of Twitter. Twitter as a Community Twitter as an Information and Learning Resource Twitter as a Career Development Opportunity

I have used bold text to highlight the main themes I identified in the data. 4.1 Case Study A: Ruth 4.1.1 Profile

Ruth is an experienced freelance teacher with nine years English teaching experience. She is a US national and previously taught in the US (not ELT) but is now based in western Europe. Her ELT education began when she took a semester of TEFL at university. After a few years teaching, she continued by taking an MA in teaching second and foreign languages. She currently teaches adults in universities and businesses which means travelling throughout her city. She manages her own business, and arranges her own workload and contracts. Due to a flexible timetable, she can spend time at conferences, where she presents regularly. She also organises events for a national ELT organisation. She uses Twitter to network with other conference 27

goers and uses a separate Twitter account to promote her organisation. I have decided to only include detail of relevance to her personal Twitter activity in this paper. Ruth often works long hours and spends free-time on Twitter interacting with people in her network. She describes herself as a socialite by nature, saying I need my friends. She only uses Twitter to interact with a teaching community; she does not interact with friends or family. In terms of computer literacy, she describes herself as not a native20and mostly self-taught, but has significant knowledge of software relevant to a teacher. Online, she has accounts with Facebook, Linked-In, Blogger, Delicious and Gmail. She blogs infrequently and prefers not to use Facebook for professional purposes. As of late August 2011, she follows 1094 users, has 1328 followers and has sent a total of nearly 5900 tweets. 4.1.2 Accessing Twitter

She uses an iPhone Twitter app, as well as the Twitter website on her laptop. She tried Tweetdeck because everyone raves about it, but never felt comfortable using it. She often tweets from her iPhone as she travels between teaching assignments. However, she states that she is not permanently connected. She also spends time on Twitter at home in the evening. She admits that because most of her PLN are online, a lot of her interaction: takes place between 10.00pm and 11.30pm because I'm in bed and I do tend to tweet before going to sleep. 4.1.3 Getting Involved

Ruth first started using Twitter after seeing a presentation at a conference, during which she discovered she already knew a number of people using it. She thought this would be a great way of staying in touch with people she had met at conferences. She believes Twitter:

20 Referring to Prensky (2001): 'Digital natives', describing those born in the digital age who have grown up using digital technology.

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attracts people who are naturally associated to the social element of conferences, but they just want to keep it going. Over time, through building up a network of followers, her use of Twitter has blossomed into this wonderful conversation...with my PLN. However, initially she felt that Twitter was a little bit silly...it felt like I was having a conversation with myself, describing her newbie Twitter-self, as someone who thought that no one's going to respond. 4.1.4 Twitter as a Community

Ruth acknowledges the existence of an ELT community and believes Twitter has become an important space for interaction. She thinks it is now THE21 centre community for ELT and suggests the congregation of teachers using #ELTChat has helped this. She suggests more teachers are being attracted to this and that the community is growing, suggesting Twitter: ...is the place where current teachers are going to be with each other. It has become the virtual staffroom and it is growing. Working freelance without a staffroom community means Twitter provides what she calls a virtual staffroom, which is not just for professional interaction, but also for socialising. She said: I have no staffroom. I use [Twitter] as a staffroom to hang out with my peers and indicated there was plenty of time for socialising. She stated that I primarily use Twitter to socialise and get to know what's going on in ELT world with my colleagues, noting that you can jump into any conversation and you can jump out just as quickly as you jumped in. In the data she frequently referred to this desire to engage with others. She wishes to: be part of a community of people who are always striving to be better, who are sharing the same goal. Through the creation and maintenance of a network, which she refers to as a PLN, Ruth can use Twitter effectively. Her network is focused mainly on, but is not exclusive to, English language professionals. She uses the term PLN often and has a firm idea of what it means to her, which seems to be a network of likeminded individuals interested in interacting online. She recommended joining
21 My capitalisation to reflect her spoken emphasis.

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Twitter if you're looking for ways to discuss and compare issues with like minded individuals. She also declared that being part of the Twitter community: feeds the internal desire to be a part of a community of people who are always striving to be better, who are sharing the same goal. That's very strong, very profound.

Ruth acknowledges collegiality in the community, in the form of help and support. She believes that what's great about our community is that we are teachers, we naturally share it's our job. She described one example of tweeting for help with a lesson plan and receiving brainstorm-type tweets from three contacts who offered about 20 different ideas. She was helped with that class and given a number of ideas for future lessons, which she believes is unheard of outside PLN world. Commenting on this collegiality in her journal she wrote: In a physical staffroom, you might happen upon other teachers who are busy planning lessons, or photocopying, or eating...or reading the paper, or checking their email. In this staffroom [on Twitter] colleagues choose to help you. Interestingly, one of the participants was a well known writer with expertise in the area under discussion. She said: I think it's great that experts, such as experienced speakers and writers, are accessible on Twitter, suggesting it has changed the make up of the big names in the industry. She is also willing to share her expertise, as one journal entry states: I helped teach a friend the definition of the word hashtag. Unlike a traditional staffroom, the availability of this help and support is potentially timeless. Ruth pointed out she had contacts in many different time-zones and asked Where else can you get free professional development? At any time of the day! In contrast, she acknowledged that it was not all about interacting, recognising that by lurking sometimes you can eavesdrop, you can observe other peoples' conversations.

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She has developed behaviours which have developed over time, demonstrating community spirit. She helps new followers and mentioned following somebody because she's in ELT and doesn't have a lot of followers. When asked if this was because she felt a responsibility to help others join in, she replied extremely positively: Yes, I really, really do, further stating that I want people to know what it feels like the buzz of Twitter. She also thanks people for #FF mentions and has recently started to send her own, as well as regularly retweeting the work of others. She reveals feeling a rush when one of her messages gets retweeted as she feels like I am part of the community when I get that response. She also describes playing a role in community events. It is common for ELT community members' birthdays to be acknowledged with a space on Wallwisher22 or Linoit23 for writing messages. She considers taking part in this the right Twitter thing to do. 4.1.5 Twitter as Information and Learning Resource

She uses Twitter as a news feed, as links to pages of interest external to Twitter are recommended by her network. Part of the benefit of Twitter, for her, is that she can use Twitter to keep in touch with blogs written by other teachers and she refers to posts she has read in her journal. This information feed allows her to keep up with industry news. She believes Twitter helps her stay in touch with cutting edge information, as there are several people [who] are aware of those things and they will tweet about it. She said I use Twitter as the feed of what's going on. Ruth is keen to be exposed to opportunities for professional development and argues that she is exposed to Knowledge, information, ideas and believes that There is no shortage of ideas for the classroom on Twitter. She also refers to taking part in the #ELTChat discussion forum in order to engage in professional development. Speaking hypothetically about offering advice for new users she suggested that:
22 www.wallwisher.com 23 www.linoit.com

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you should most definitely join ELT Chat if you were to join Twitter. What I would say is a great way to...an initiation into Twitter. Don't even join Twitter, just follow the tweets of ELT Chat first. 4.1.6 Twitter as a Career Advancement Opportunity

Ruth noted that Underneath it all, Twitter is a really good way to promote oneself and revealed how this self-promotion meant she had been asked to do quite a few different things thanks to Twitter. She has actually been recruiting people via Twitter for a project she is leading and described how she had headhunted by checking profiles first and tweets second. She also explained how teachers could help themselves by joining Twitter if they are concerned about which direction to take as a teacher professionally. 4.1.7 Doubts and Personal Issues

It was clear from the data that Ruth has some time-management issues in relation to her Twitter use. She asked herself in her journal whether she had wasted time on Twitter, writing: No. Thank goodness. This is rare, and For once!!! I didn't let Twitter distract me. Over time, it appears she has developed strategies to cope: I disconnected [from Twitter] during the day in order to get work done. On the other hand, she sometimes feels that when she is disconnected, she is missing out, as described in this quote: I don't think I've spent enough time on Twitter today I mean professionally, not socially. I fear I may have missed an interesting blog or tweet. At one point, Ruth had a doubt about the usefulness of Twitter for genuine learning, questioning whether the information she was exposed to represented real learning. While reflecting, she noted that on occasions she had spent long periods of time using Twitter and reading information she was presented with, yet later she remembered nothing. She quoted Garrison Keiller: Our young are growing up in a hyper information age in which we know everything, and remember nothing (Schmemman, 2011) which she equated to Twitter interaction.

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4.2

Case Study B: Sarah 4.2.1 Profile

Sarah teaches English, mainly to adults, in a private language school in eastern Europe which employs around 30 teachers, both native and non-native speakers. She teaches a range of levels and class-types. She is in her third and final year at the school and moves to the UK after finishing. In between contracts she has taught every year at a summer school in the UK, teaching younger learners. Before starting her current job, she obtained a CELTA certificate, but already had a year of experience, so she has now taught for four years. She began as an English language teacher straight after university, where she studied foreign languages. Sarah describes her technological competence as pretty high generally. She passed IT courses at GCSE and A-Level. Online she uses Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Diigo and blogs using Wordpress. She also enjoys using new web-tools she finds through Twitter. During our interviews Sarah was friendly and talked openly about Twitter. She described herself as a sharer and explained how she was always willing to help others in her staffroom. She believes sharing teaching ideas and materials is just an extension of teaching, teaching is sharing stuff. Sarah admitted to being ambitious and is extremely interested in professional development. She revealed that I love teaching and I want to be a better teacher. As a result, she has taken advantage of many opportunities at her school, including seminars and workshops, local conferences and two part-time courses, the CAM24 and IHCYL25; she has also led training sessions herself. She has a very focused idea of what she wants from her career in the future. She wishes to attend and present at conferences, gain further experience in good schools, build up a network of contacts and create something of a name for herself
24 Certificate in Advanced Methodology A course offered by International House - www.ihonlinetraining.net/ihcam.html 25 IH Certificate in the Teaching of Young Learners

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in the industry. She also wishes to own and manage her own school in the future. As of late August, 2011, she has over 800 followers and follows nearly 300 people on Twitter. She has sent a total of nearly 6400 tweets. 4.2.2 Accessing Twitter

Sarah only accesses Twitter via her laptop or computers at her school and uses Tweetdeck to do so. She admitted to often spending a significant amount of time online, for example: I literally spend about 11 or 12 hours a day on my computer, which she also revealed, is partly Twitter's fault. When asked why, she joked that it was because I've got nothing better to do with my life! before admitting this was partly true, particularly in the cold winter months. She is able to spend time online, because she doesn't have any other calls on her time outside work. To access Twitter she uses Tweetdeck and over time has developed certain behaviours and habits when using it. She has a number of columns following different hashtags that are of interest. She has a column on Tweetdeck specifically for #ELTChat, which is central to her network and plays an important role. She also uses Google Reader, which she found out about on Twitter, to help organise her online participation. 4.2.3 Getting Involved

Sarah opened a Twitter account in 2010 due to an active interest in social-media. At that stage she was completely unaware of any ELT community existing on the platform. She explains that: I joined, but didn't really know what to do with it. I never looked at it. I didn't know about this whole ELT community on it. When a visiting teacher trainer introduced her the ELT community she began to investigate. She started to notice people doing things, such as the ELT chat discussion forum. However, until the Christmas holiday in 2010, she had not had the opportunity to engage in this due to work commitments. She remembers that:

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I thought, 'I'm off on an ELT Chat day! So I can actually take part!' and that was what made me actually start joining in. 4.2.4 Twitter as a Community

Sarah recognises the importance of the ELT Community to her, suggesting that it was why I keep coming back and that she knows there's a thriving community on there. However, her motivation for being part of the community was revealed when she stated that building up the community is the most useful thing, it's who you know not what you know. She is aware of the idea of a PLN and uses the term to describe all those people that I talk to on Twitter. She has learned from these people, saying that interacting with them has broadened my view of what teaching is, in that: My PLN has taught me that there is so much going on in the world of ELT that I had no idea about. The types of teacher attracted to this community are very important. She believes she is talking to a lot of very, very like-minded people who are trying to better themselves and who are trying to get technology into their classroom, which is what I want to do. It's important for her that sharing is reciprocal and explained that like her: the people on Twitter who are using it regularly fall much more into the 'sharing all the time' category. Sarah acknowledges the collegiality of the network, meaning she can instantly access help and support from her network. She offers help and shares when she can, but also benefits from sharing by others. In her journal she remarks that: Twitter is a large part of my attempt to build a network of people to bounce ideas off and get/give mutual assistance. As she has access to this community, she has done some crowd-sourcing, which she has used to get lesson ideas. She was excited by posting a survey which had teachers from all over the world fill [it] in. Also, she has used the brainstorming tool 'Linoit' to generate ideas for lesson material. I had noticed this in her tweet

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stream and when I asked her she confirmed it was the basis for my lesson yesterday and the students really enjoyed it. She referred to well known experts in the community and revealed feeling excited that she had had the opportunity to interact with one of them in particular, who replied to a question she had posted about a book of his. She has also connected with other more experienced and knowledgeable professionals, who she feels she can learn from saying: I'm following lots of DoSes on Twitter. It is significant to Sarah that the Twitter community is available at any time. In her journal she wrote that: Now I have PD all day, every day at my fingertips. Whenever I have a question, I can throw it out on Twitter, and I always get a response. Everybody is so helpful and supportive. She is enthusiastic that this community will last, regardless of where she is working, because of spatial freedom offered by the internet. She mentioned that: Once you've built up the social relationships you want to keep them. As Sarah is leaving her current school and expects to move again she likes the fact that these relationships will remain constant...it doesn't matter where I am in the world. Despite her high level of interaction, She does spend some time lurking, mentioning once that she followed a couple of conversations but didn't join in as they were just chatting and I didn't have anything to add. Sarah has only recently started socialising with Twitter contacts. She explained that originally: it was purely link sharing and sharing my blog...but now it's become more of a social thing. She described how she crossed the line with one person but found it difficult at first. She revealed that she found this type of interaction scary as she sought acceptance. This was partly the result of a lack of confidence, because she thought I can't join in with that conversation and revealed how The first couple of times I joined in...I felt like an intruder. Sarah displayed behaviours suggesting a knowledge of the need for community spirit. She helps with a website that is made available via Twitter and has

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previously written summaries for ELT chat. Also, she is keen to help others get involved, noting that: one of my colleagues has just started tweeting/blogging so I'm trying to support her by retweeting her posts and offering suggestions to improve them. In her description of her daily habits, she is clearly keen to engage by responding to others. When she logs in, she reads: all of the tweets which have appeared since the last time I looked. First I respond to personal mentions, thanking people for RTs [re-tweets] and replying to any questions...as well as looking at any blogpost which catches my eye, responding to any survey/ quick questions that are in my timeline. She strongly believes that participation is essential and that those who may be taking and not giving do not gain fully from the affordances of Twitter: if they don't want to participate, then that's them that's missing out. Information shared on Twitter has introduced her to conferences streamed for an online audience or taking place online. In her journal she refers to a recent experience: I watched my first live-streamed conference talk including joining in with the chat (with many of the people I know from ELT Chat). She also reveals a desire to become more involved in conferences in the future, as mentioned in her profile. 4.2.5 Twitter as an Information and Learning Resource

Twitter is a central platform which Sarah uses to interact with people, but it also allows her to discover other areas of the internet, such as blogs, Facebook groups, or websites. Once she has found something new, she uses Diigo, the socialbookmarking tool, to save it: I use Diigo...I think I've got about a thousand bookmarks on there...most of those are sites or blog posts that I found through Twitter. Sarah began using Twitter because she knew it's a really, really good professional development opportunity, and feels that she has gained a lot from the knowledge 37

she has been exposed to. She believes she has found out about hundreds of things from Twitter, suggesting that: I learn more in a week on Twitter than I have on the X26 certificate all year. Exposure to information has also meant she understands more about the ELT industry, as she mentioned in her journal: Now I see it as something that can be taught anywhere at any time by (almost) anyone - 1-2-1, online, synchronous, asynchronous, face-to-face, in language institutes in Eng-speaking and non-Eng-speaking countries, in FE colleges... and that people can (and do) move between these areas fairly easily. Twitter acts as a news feed. She said that I found a lot of blogs through Twitter and explained that: I have an ELT Chat column, so generally if something pops up in that column a lot of times then I'll read it. She also explained how she uses Twitter to promote my own two blogs and realised while writing her journal how interconnected Twitter and blogs are. She started blogging at the same time as using Twitter and believes they benefit each other. She says I couldn't see myself dropping off Twitter and continuing blogging, or vice versa and explained how Twitter gives me the way into things that I then pursue in blogs. Taking part in ELT Chat is hugely important to Sarah. She describes it as addictive, saying that it always puts me on a high and explained that: You get so many ideas during a one hour discussion that there is no way you can ever use them all. However, something always sticks and I always want to be there to get those ideas. 4.2.6 Twitter as a Career Advancement Opportunity

At the time she began using Twitter, Sarah was looking to find a new direction in terms of personal and professional development, having had over two years at the same school. She states that: I'm incredibly ambitious and none of them [the teachers at her school] are anywhere near as ambitious as I am.
26 Sarah requested I didn't reveal the title of this certificate in this quote.

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She was quick to grasp the possibilities of networking and revealed that I've always seen how networking can help and I've always kind of been a networker. She notes that once you've built up these relationships you want to keep them, because you never know when you might need them. She feels that self-promotion is useful and has a real objective beyond joining a community of teachers. She stated that: I think of it as kind of an investment for the future and so if I build up a presence now, then hopefully in the future people will think: 'Oh, I want a presentation on X, hey I can ask Sarah...so kind of making a name for myself now. In fact, Sarah revealed she had actually been offered a job at a summer school thanks to her presence on Twitter. 4.2.7 Doubts and Personal Issues

Sarah acknowledges that using Twitter has caused her occasional problems with time-management. It can be a distraction and causes her to procrastinate when she should be planning and not on Twitter. As a result, she has had to develop techniques to deal with this and she says she doesn't click on as many links as I used to, which she says is partly due to getting: used to who tweets good links...and how to recognise what's a video, what's a picture, what's a web page, just by looking at it. As I've learned it, I've become more efficient. 4.3 Case Study C: Helen 4.3.1 Profile

Helen is British and in her mid-20s. She is an English language teacher, based in western Europe, where she teaches adults and young learners at a small private language school, working in the evenings from Monday to Friday. She completed the CELTA course after finishing University where she did a degree in languages. Her career so far consists of a few months part-time teaching in the UK and a full year contract abroad. She is interested in professional development because, she 39

said: When I did the CELTA course I loved it and I really wanted to carry on learning. Unfortunately, despite being assured there would be training at her school, she has found there's been very little in the way of observations or training sessions. She also complained that her colleagues do not go searching to improve their knowledge, and partly because of this situation, she found herself using Twitter. Helen's technological competence is of a good standard. She has a ECDL27 and knows how to use it [a computer] for administrative purposes. However, in terms of smartphones, new apps or the latest web-tools for the classroom, she revealed that at this stage I'm just not interested. As well as Twitter she has a blog, on which she only posts occasionally, and a Facebook account which she only uses non-professionally, for friends and family members. Helen expressed feelings of demotivation after a difficult first year and was looking forward to a summer break. She felt frustrated at a perceived lack of progress in her development and explained that on Twitter she had been exposed to people who...seem to have learnt so much from the first year. As a result she felt like I must have failed or something. In the research interviews she was talkative and reflective, considering whether what she was doing was a good idea. She revealed a lack of confidence, both in classroom teaching and her Twitter interaction, but did not appear shy in our conversations. As of August 2011, Helen is following 103 other users, has 129 followers and has sent a total of 1069 tweets. 4.3.2 Accessing Twitter

Helen uses both the Twitter website and the Tweetdeck application to access Twitter. She logs on at home and only occasionally at work. She does not use
27 European Computer Driving Licence

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any mobile devices to access the internet. Despite often using Tweetdeck, she describes it as less easy than the Twitter page and states that I don't really like it. She has the notifications28 switched on but had not thought to alter the settings, as a result, she gets annoyed by their appearance stating that most of the tweets aren't relevant to me, so it distracts [my] attention. She checks Twitter only on a daily basis on work days, rather than being connected for long periods, using it as an asynchronous medium. However sometimes she may use it for longer periods: I'm on it a lot at weekends. Sometimes she is prompted to check if I get an email to say that I've had a message or something. On other occasions she opens Tweetdeck without reason I logged on briefly today. I can't remember why, or merely out of boredom: I checked out Twitter in the evening. I think I was just bored. When she accesses Twitter, she tends to scan her news feed to see the latest news and if there are any interesting conversations. 4.3.3 Getting Involved

Helen revealed that she had a Twitter account a long time ago and I never even knew what Twitter was really for. She explained how her parents had it before I did and this influenced her to join. She set Twitter up to connect to Facebook as she wanted to update friends and family on her current status via both platforms, so some messages posted on Twitter automatically show as status updates on Facebook. This situation has not changed, despite there now being a conflict between her use of the two sites, which will be discussed later. In terms of using Twitter in her professional life, she described how: I first got actively involved in the ELT scene when it was in October. Phil29 came to do a talk about using Twitter as your virtual staffroom. She had not even been particularly interested and attended the talk more or less by accident, but was intrigued as he made some good points. It also resulted in me kind of restarting my blog as well.

28 A pop-up window which appears on screen to show new tweets. The settings can be altered in order to limit the number of notifications or to switch it off completely should the user wish. 29 Not his real name. It was a locally based teacher who is active on Twitter.

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4.3.4

Twitter as a Community

Helen does not interact to a large extent, but recognises that an ELT community exists. When I asked her about it, she said: I think there is [a community], everybody seems to be on everyday unlike any other profession. However, she is not entirely comfortable as a member, admitting that I don't really feel like I'm part of a little group, but from time to time I get into little chats. She believes that: like with any community there are little friendship groups. I see myself on the periphery of that. However, she does not believe there is any exclusivity, saying that I don't see any nastiness there, but recognises that some people get into conversations more frequently than others, but I wouldn't say I'm excluded. She referred to having a virtual staffroom which to her is not exclusively about ELT, but then again neither is any staffroom. She also described building a network of contacts: Little by little you add more people and people add you, and although it was a bit boring at first, she explained that it's been getting bigger and bigger. She talked of having her own small network which forms her PLN, and said I'd say I've got quite a good network. She is not interested in having a larger network at present: I don't see the point of getting too big 'cause how are you supposed to know the people?. She thinks using Twitter presents an opportunity to build this network, pointing out that you can get into a conversation on Twitter and that: Trying to get a PLN by reading blog lists on other blogs or searching via Google would take forever. She feels the community attracts like minds, in that they are people who want to reflect on teaching and are different to the people in her real staffroom who don't want to bother. Helen has met some people with whom she had struck up a relationship on Twitter at a conference, which was the first time she had attended one. It was the fact she knew these people that she had had the motivation to go in the first place: Had I not known there were people going from Twitter, I may not have forced myself to go: something which I'm glad I did do. 42

However, despite this meeting and others with people living close to her, she does not see Twitter as a means of developing friendships. As she explains, it is very much a networking tool rather than a friendship tool. Helen has some issues with acceptance in the community, stating that you want to feel accepted. She believes she has a feeling of needing to be part of something and just because it's Twitter doesn't take away from a basic human need to make friends. She described experiencing negative feelings of rejection when somebody had not replied and she wondered why. For example: It just seems a bit rude sometimes when you direct something at somebody or ask them a question, as lame as the question might be, it does feel a bit like 'Ok, am I not good enough for you?'. Despite these feelings,she has occasionally got involved in some socialising. She revealed sending a few social tweets, feeling that banter is an important tool in networking and she considers this a way of establishing a presence. However, she acknowledges her minimal participation might be hindering her interaction. She suggested that if she were more active, she would become a bigger part of the community. However, this is something she is reticent to do and explained that she is happy to just come and go. There is a tension between desiring the benefits of interaction on Twitter whilst not wanting to get more deeply involved, as spending too much free-time on Twitter was causing conflict with my boyfriend. Regardless of her negative feelings, she has managed to access some help and support from her network, a result of collegiality. This has resulted in her receiving affirmation that she was not unusual in finding her first year of teaching difficult, some advice on how to deal with particular situations and ideas for the classroom. For example, she explained in her journal that she had posted a help tweet to which I received some useful replies and that subsequently this had influenced one of my classes today, as I used a variation on an activity suggested.

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Helen noted that though the community includes some high-profile experts, big fish as she referred to them. However, she revealed feeling that I shouldn't really chat with them because they're a bit too big. Helen admits to spending a significant amount of time lurking, describing herself as a lurker rather than a giver because I don't always have anything to say. She has a little look down the news feed to see who's been on and if there's any interesting posts and spends time checking for interesting links. Also, she appears to monitor other peoples' conversations just to see what they're up to, but without having to actively engage with them. Helen recognises the importance of community spirit in describing one active member of her network as a democratic PLNer as he seeks to include everyone. She had really appreciated the fact that he even tweeted links to my blog on occasion. I asked her if she had been welcomed or had help to join in and she revealed that I don't think there's been a huge amount of help, it's just been by accident really. However, she noticed that getting involved in ELT Chat seemed to coincide with a few more followers. She notes the use of the #FF hashtag to recommend teachers who are worth following, but admits to an inferiority complex because everybody is lauding everybody else. She has received two #FF messages and remembers thinking that's really nice, it's really sweet that they've thought of me. Helen revealed that retweeting is not something she does often. She said that in order for her to retweet something it has to be relevant to me and worth telling everyone else. She reflected on the fact it was an important part of interacting and stated that I'm not very good at retweeting, maybe I should more often. 4.3.5 Twitter as an Information and Learning Resource

In terms of accessing information she says Twitter is the central platform in her online environment. She said it is: crucial as a backbone for your other things, it 44

connects you to all the blogs. She affirms that it's thanks to Twitter I've got to see a lot more things. Helen learns a lot from reading blogs and it seems this is central to her professional development activity online. Whilst recognising that if it wasn't for Twitter, I wouldn't know about many blogs, she stated that blogs are better...they are more insightful and more interesting. In conjunction with her use of Twitter, she uses Google Reader as a feed, but tends to find new blogs through Twitter as it is more efficient; she described searching blogs on Google...it's a jungle!. It is not only blogs she is exposed to on Twitter, as it acts as a news feed for resources and information elsewhere on the internet. She described being introduced to good links tweeted by other people providing ideas for class activities such as one which took me to the British Council Facebook page. She appears organised in saving these links, as she noted in her journal how she had bookmarked a page as she thought it might be useful for a class discussion at some time in the future. Through reading discussions on Twitter and following links to blogs, Helen revealed she had increased her knowledge of teaching ideas and approaches which she feels she would never have come across otherwise. For instance, she used the example of 'dogme30' and suggested that if she were to ask them, her colleagues would be ignorant about it. She imagined that: they'd be like, 'what?' and claimed I doubt if they've heard of it, whereas she has, via Twitter. In general, Helen has found using Twitter an easy way to learn and find out what is going on: I don't want to sit around reading journals or books all the time...so in a really time-saving way I'm keeping myself in touch. Helen mentioned ELT Chat as a part of her learning experience, but noted that unfortunately she cannot participate because of my working hours and can only sometimes come in at the tail end of it. However, she occasionally reads a summary if it's a topic that's interesting to me.
30 'Dogme': the term proposed originally by Scott Thornbury in the article A dogma for ELT

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4.3.6

Doubts and Personal Issues

Helen wishes to maintain a healthy work-life balance, but she sometimes faces a battle with time management. Despite not actually being particularly participative on Twitter, she revealed sometimes feeling glued to my computer and admitted wondering whether using Twitter stops me living my other life a bit. She explained how sometimes Twitter feels like a big waste of time despite the fact that overall it has been positive. She described it as scarily addictive, suggesting that this was related to needing to feel part of something and having sent a message she would eagerly await a reply. This desire to keep up has made her resent the drain on my time. Another area of tension is that she admits feeling guilty about taking but not giving to her network. She described this as reaping the rewards of a PLN without making an effort to become part of my own. This is a result of the fact she is shy of my ability to teach so she does not feel I've got much to offer at all. However, she did describe one occasion where she helped a Twitter contact by helping them correct an language error on their blog. Another hindrance is Helen's issue with her online identity. She connects Facebook and Twitter but is wary about these two identities, because what she tweets can appear on her Facebook page and she explained she has basically got two audiences. The tension exists because she prefers not to have people on Facebook clicking on my blog, as it is related to teaching. She would like to keep things separate, which means that she will not advertise her blog on Twitter, unlike many other bloggers.

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4.4

DISCUSSION - Answering the research questions

In this discussion I will use the questions I posed at the initiation of the research as a framework through which to summarise the case studies. I will relate the data themes to relevant literature and situate this data within some existing research. Again I use bold formatting to highlight the main themes in the text. 4.4.1 Main question: What role does Twitter play in teachers'

professional lives? As I analysed the data and identified the themes, it seemed that the information was pointing to the fact that the participants' Twitter use was playing a few different roles. These emerged as the metaphors I used in the previous section: Twitter as a Community Twitter as an Information and Learning Resource Twitter as a Career Development Opportunity

Twitter fulfils these roles in different ways for each participant and for Helen, the third does not appear to have any relevance, possibly as she is still at a very early stage in her career. It would seem that overall, the most important role Twitter plays for these teachers is that it provides a permanently connected global network with and from whom they can learn and develop their teaching and industry knowledge. All the participants described Twitter as a virtual staffroom, which rather than relating to the tool itself, refers to this network of teachers to which it gives them access. So what is this virtual staffroom? It could be seen as representing a Community of Practice (Wenger, 1998), but may also be described as an Electronic Network of Practice, as defined by Wasko et al (2004:499). They identify differences such as access being open and unlimited, participation being individually determined and all the interaction taking place online. I prefer to look at the Twitter-based ELT community as a Distributed Community of Practice, which has been described as:

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a group of geographically distributed individuals who are informally bound together by shared expertise and shared interests of work (Learnovation, 2008:4). When discussing their Personal Learning Network, on all but a couple of occasions, which can be regarded as slips, each participant referred to it as my PLN, as opposed to using an article. This would suggest to me the belief that these networks are entities they themselves create, or allow to emerge, rather than join. It is personal to them and not a construct of any other person or circumstance. Traditionally, a PLN or community of practice, in teaching, would exist in the form of a network of colleagues in a local environment. These teachers have used Twitter to overcome a difficulty with their local situation. For Ruth, a staffroom environment is not available, so she substitutes it with her virtual staffroom. Helen looked for the support and knowledge online that she could not find in her school and Sarah identified the online network as a place to augment the professional development she received at a local level. Rajagopal et al (2010:573), who investigated PLNs of social work professionals, speak of dialogue partners who need a basic level of trust to openly share their experiences and knowledge and to enable knowledge creation. The affordances of Twitter seem very much to support the creation of friendly relationships in which trust evolves through interaction. The problem their paper addresses is the need to investigate network behaviour in order to design technology to support networking. Ruth, Sarah and Helen all demonstrate how they use Twitter to fulfil this role. There is also a role for this network in providing for a desire for interpersonal attachments which is a fundamental human motivation (Baumeister and Leary, 1995:520), in this case within a sociable, professional environment. Each of the participants refers to the community being a meeting place for like minds and belonging to this community seems of great importance. Helen is not surrounded by these types of teacher in her local environment and Sarah spoke of spending time on Twitter with people who did not think her desire to watch conferences online was strange. The network on Twitter appears to provide these teachers with connections to the type of teacher they would like to be and would like to be 48

associated with. Sarah noted how belonging to the community made her feel more like she was in a profession. Functionally, Twitter also appears to provide a central platform for online interaction. For instance, Helen described it as being a backbone which enables her to access other areas of interest on the internet and the others made similar comments. In all the cases they described the need to be exposed to blogs, which are regarded as a means of engaging with learning of greater depth. Community members share teaching ideas and experience via their blogs where greater detail can be included, compared to Twitter. It is interesting how Sarah seems to have gone some way to using Twitter as part of a PLE. She is well organised and connects an RSS feed, a social-bookmarking tool and her blogs while using Twitter for networking. So for Sarah, Twitter plays a role as part of a network of artefacts, but the others do not appear to have taken this step. 4.4.2 How do the teachers use Twitter and has this changed

over time? To answer this question, I want to look not only at how they interact, but why they interact in the way they do. I consider there to be different possible answers to the 'how' question. On the one hand, it is related to practicalities, regarding access. On the other, it relates to action: interacting and lurking. The participants access Twitter mostly using their computers, utilizing Tweetdeck and the Twitter website. Ruth is the only one of them who accesses Twitter from a mobile device, so she has even greater connectivity and flexibility. She considers it her virtual staffroom and because of this mobile connection, she can carry her staffroom around in her pocket. The focus of this paper, however, is not on these practicalities, despite the mobility aspect being interesting. In terms of action, lurking is often considered to be inaction rather than action, yet there is more to lurking than passivity. Ruth and Sarah seem to interact more, whereas Helen is more of a lurker. Despite appearances and some definitions,

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lurking is indeed acting. Takahashi et al (2003) identify different lurker roles, particularly active lurkers, who read actively and reflect on the information to which they are exposed. They also suggest that this type of lurker takes information and uses it, thereby learning from the knowledge or experience to which they have been exposed. In these cases the lurking they describe seems to be aligned with active lurking, as it appears to have a purpose. As for their reasons for doing this, they described the need to stay informed, to see what was going on and the possibility of learning from observing discussion between other community members. As useful as active lurking is, it is interaction with a network which appears to be of greater importance. It certainly has more impact on the community as a whole as well as washback on their individual participation. Helen refers to the guilt she feels for not interacting, as she feels she is not serving the community. Sarah now feels more involved because she has begun socialising more, while Ruth has gradually been acting more and more with community spirit in mind, believing that it is the right thing to do. Part of this community spirit comes in the form of sharing and this is acknowledged by the participants as something teachers are supposed to do. Why people share is not simply altruism, however. Wasko and Faraj (2005:53) suggest sharing is motivated by a desire to enhance their professional reputations and to some extent because it is enjoyable to help others. This finding would appear to support how Sarah is using Twitter, in that she can improve her status to put herself in the position where she might receive offers of employment, for example. All the participants talked about using Twitter for socialising, which Ruth and Sarah at least appear to have got involved with more and more over time. Through having an existing community of conference-goers to join in twitter, Ruth already had a social-network with whom to interact. Sarah described how she gradually increased this level of social interaction. Helen describes some occasions of banter but also refers to occasions when she has tried to interact but felt she had been rejected.

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This socialising is regarded as important by all three of them. It was noted that normal staffroom dialogue is not all about work and that the light-hearted chat acts as a means of strengthening ties with other community members; Helen actually used the term community building. The humour involved in this chat is important in forming cohesive groups and is used for the reinforcement and maintenance of friendly collegial relations, although it is possible that it can also maintain or reinforce existing power relations (Holmes and Marra, 2002:70). This is wonderful when one is involved, but could be the source of the fear of interaction that both Sarah and Helen talked of feeling; unsure as to whether or not they were entitled to participate. Relating this virtual staffroom to a traditional face-to-face environment, Richards (1996) reveals that I have never entered a strange staffroom without feeling like an intruder, which very much supports comments in the cases which refer to feeling unwelcome. Nardi et al (2002) describe three activities involved in networking for the purpose of professional learning: building a network, maintaining a network and activating network connections when help is needed. These case studies suggest that Twitter is being used by these teaching professionals to support networking tasks. Helen noted how it would be impossible to network merely through blogs, whilst Ruth and Sarah in particular appeared very aware of the need to provide help and support, not just receive it. In the early stages of building a network, all three of them described difficulties or fears of rejection and Helen in particular still has issues this feeling. This situation reflects the peripherality described by Wenger, who suggested that over time movement on an inbound trajectory represented advancement towards the centre of the community (1998:100). Sarah and Ruth seem to be involved in activity which demonstrates community spirit, which is perhaps both a cause and an effect of their inward movement. They support other users and welcome them, by retweeting their messages or giving them advice. Helen is perhaps in need of support, but has not received enough to make her feel fully accepted. She did, however, acknowledge the importance of this type of action when describing a contact as a democratic PLNer. How they use Twitter is closely related to what they wish to achieve by using it.

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Sarah desires status and so is motivated to make progress within the community and it is clear she has gradually become more active. She described how initially she only interacted professionally and did not engage in socialising, but this has changed. She describes recently becoming more social, having crossed a line she had previously felt unable to cross. Helen, however, is reticent as she has issues regarding whether she really wants to become any more involved; in some ways she is comfortable on the periphery. 4.4.3 In what ways do the teachers believe Twitter contributes to their professional development? It is clear the participants have concluded that through engaging in an online network they have access to knowledge and experience they are unable to access at a local level. This relates to their need to substitute or augment their existing staffroom community. They refer enthusiastically to occasions where they have received direct help and support, and note that this level of collegiality is greatly motivating. It seems to be recognised that the network succeeds due to learning being a mutual endeavour. Sarah gives a lot to the community, as does Ruth when she is less busy, whilst Helen feels guilty that she cannot offer more, thus acknowledging that giving is perhaps required for participation. Sarah described how for her blogging is closely related to the use of Twitter and the others seem to concur. A blog can act as a reflective tool for the teacher learners, on which they can share their thoughts, experience and learning. If the blog is open for comments, then feedback can be received and support or challenge can be offered in response to the ideas posted. This relates to the idea of learning by writing as teacher learners and making practice public, such as on the courses discussed by Lieberman and Mace (2010). The purpose of Twitter in this is that it provides access to blog posts, which are promoted and retweeted and thus recommended by one's network. The existence of ELT chat is clearly of importance to these teachers. They have all taken part and acknowledge the benefit of being involved, speaking of the learning and inspiration they take from being involved. It not only provides knowledge and acts as a spark for ideas, but also acts as some sort of Twitterbased introductions agency as participation seems to result in new personal 52

connections. It has clearly been important for Sarah in the construction of her network and Ruth has suggested it as a great place for ELT practitioners to start their interaction on Twitter. Sarah was open about using her online interaction to seek career development opportunities and being part of this network, is fulfilling her need for greater status. In her school, she is employed in a hierarchical system as a teacher, rather than in a role with greater responsibility. Clearly, her ambition is to take steps in this direction. Wasko et al (2004:504) note that: Network members who are supportive of network goals and engage in positive interactions gain reputation and status in the network. By doing this, she is using Twitter to making herself and her actions as visible as possible, so that any would-be employer or event organiser may notice her and provide her with an opportunity.

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5 CHAPTER FIVE 5.1 Conclusion

CONCLUSIONS

Rajagopal et al (2010:573) note that: there is very little literature available on how professionals go about creating and using their personal professional networks for learning purposes. This research has explored the role that Twitter plays in the lives of three English language teachers and has discovered them to be involved in such networking. They speak enthusiastically about how Twitter acts as a virtual staffroom, providing access to a network of like-minded teachers and up to date information. However, there do appear be issues to address before freely recommending involvement in such a community as a developmental necessity. Participation would appear to take considerable time and effort, leading to potential issues with a reasonable work-life balance. I will leave it up to the reader to decide whether the positives outweigh the negatives. 5.2 Limitations

A limitation exists in that the data is based on what these particular participants have to say, therefore it is espoused and so not necessarily the whole story. As I advertised for participants via a blogpost advertised on Twitter itself, it was perhaps more likely that active participants would volunteer. These participants were potentially those most positive about the medium, although I had picked Helen as a potential contrast. As a result of my engagement with the participants prior to research, the data could be corrupted by my presence in the community, their perceptions of my behaviour and my intentions with regard to the study. However, there are both positive and negative aspects of this situation. Rapport in the interviews came easily, which was perhaps partly due to being known. Although had I been an

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outsider, the participants may have gone into greater detail due to lower mutual understanding of Twitter concepts. Finally, timing the research in the final week of June meant it was the final week of the year for all the teachers', which was unfortunate, but I had to fit it into my schedule at that particular time. The data therefore failed to represent typical termtime interaction, which may have revealed other details. 5.3 Critical self-analysis

In the spirit of reflexivity, I wish to mention that I am not entirely comfortable with my analysis and given time, would have preferred to make another attempt. However, perhaps it is the nature of research that the conscientious researcher always questions the quality of their analysis. Overall, I found this research an extremely challenging experience and at times it threatened to overwhelm me. I was frequently drawn towards analysing the community rather than the individuals, as the connection between what they do and the relationship with their network or the community is strong. I hope I have discussed the data in a way that makes reference to both with the right balance. All in all, I have learned a lot about both qualitative research and the actions of teacher-tweeters. I will be more equipped to tackle research in the future and will take a great deal of useful knowledge with me when I return to Twitter interaction. I would like to conclude this section by quoting Aeginitou, who neatly summarises my feelings about this research project: I was aware of the difficulties I would encounter but nothing had prepared me for the actual process of doing research, which revealed that, in real life contexts, theory gives way to reality and practice, and problems range from time constraints to ethical issues...Problems can also arise from the researcher's lack of experience. (1993:42).

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5.4

Future research

In terms of future research, to be conducted by myself or any other interested party, I can imagine a project looking at interaction within the community surrounding the use of the hashtag #ELTchat could be enlightening. All three of the participants mention it regularly and it is not only of importance on a Wednesday during the two organised discussion forums, but is also used as a tag permanently by many teachers wishing to bring links or information to the attention of the wider ELT community. Secondly, some further research into the negative feelings most clearly noted by Helen could offer an insight into the difficulties of getting involved. Also, as all three of the participants mentioned time-wasting, I wonder to what extent this is common amongst the wider community; research into this could be of benefit also. Looking at online interaction from the perspective of the ELT community, there is the possibility of investigating this Twitter-based participation of what my research volunteers refer to as 'like-minded individuals', in terms of being a global network of professionals sharing their practice across time zones, geographical space, local and national cultures. Furthermore, this network consists of teachers whose first language is often not English, though they are teachers of the language. Also, many of the native speaking English teachers code-switch, using other languages they use to varying degrees of proficiency. There could be interesting linguistic studies done using tweets within this community as a corpus. In general, there are a number of areas in which further research could go, whether the focus is on professional development, a professional community or perhaps on a linguistic dimension of the interaction. I hope to have the opportunity to take up the challenge of further research myself, but equally I look forward to anybody's future research of the online ELT community. I hope I have done enough with this research project to begin to fill a gap and to have provided some useful knowledge for interested readers and researchers.

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APPENDICES List of Appendices 1. Screenshot of Tweetdeck 2. Lincoln & Guba Axioms of Naturalistic Inquiry 3. Participant information document 4. Garageband Screenshot 5. Journal prompts 6. Follow up email example 7. Example of member check email 8. Example of detailed transcription 9. Example of less detailed transcription 10. Example of Data with Annotation and Coding 11. Helen - Mind-map of Analysis Codes 12. Sarah Mind-map of Analysis Codes 13. Organisation of data and themes for writing

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Appendix One Screenshot of Tweetdeck

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Appendix Two Lincoln & Guba Axioms of Naturalistic Inquiry

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Appendix Three Participant Information Research title: Teacher Tweeting: Investigating the role of Twitter in teachers' professional lives.
Dear _______________, This document contains all the information you need to know before deciding to accept the invitation to volunteer to take part in this research. Criteria You must be a practising English language teacher, in any context. You must currently use Twitter to interact with people or obtain information in a way which you consider to be part of your professional life. You must be able to engage in the project described below which will take one week. Overview of research I'm going to conduct three case studies of English language teachers using Twitter as part of their professional activities. I would like to find out what your reasons are for using Twitter, how you use Twitter and also gain some understanding of your experiences of using Twitter. I would like to discover what role Twitter plays in your professional life. What's in it for you? To compensate and thank you for your time and effort, I offer you a 10 Amazon gift certificate on completion of the research process. However, I firmly believe in the benefits of reflection and I think that apart from the financial compensation you may find the process insightful, enjoyable and informative. Perhaps it will help you gain awareness of how Twitter affects your practice and development as an ELT professional. Also, you are entitled to an e-copy of my final research report, once it has been completed, marked and graded. Your role as a participant The period of research will be one week, starting and finishing on any day you feel is best for you. I will conduct two interviews with you, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end, both of which will be recorded. I would like you to keep a journal during this period, recording your personal reflections on your use of Twitter each day. I will be provide you with some questions in order to stimulate reflection. This does not have to be wordy or extensive and can be in note form if you wish. I would like the journal to be written in a Google document that is visible to me during the week of research, but will be a private document shared between you and me only. I will also compile a record of your public Twitter messages during the week. During the first interview I will ask you about your professional situation and background, your Twitter use currently and historically, and ask for some opinions and experiences in relation to Twitter. In the second interview I will share the compilation of your tweets with you in order to stimulate reflections on your interaction and Twitter behaviour. We wil also discuss some reflections from your journal and talk about your feelings towards being part of the project.

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Your rights as a participant You can ask any questions about the project at any time and I will answer them openly. You are completely free to withdraw from the project at any time without necessarily giving a reason. If necessary, agreed times and dates for interview can be altered. I can be flexible and I intend to arrange interview sessions at times which are best for you. What happens next? I would like to have a pre-research Skype conversation with you to discuss the process before you finally consent to participate. In this conversation you can ask any questions, as it is important that you feel comfortable with all aspects of the research process. I would like to complete the week of research before Saturday 25th June 2011. However, if necessary, I may be able to make other arrangements, so please don't let this suggested deadline stop you getting in touch if you are interested in participating. If you wish to volunteer for this project, please contact me on the email address above and we can arrange a time for a chat on Skype in order to clear up any questions you may have and make further arrangements for commencing the research process. I need to make it clear that if I receive more than my required number of volunteers I will have to choose three, so it may be the case that having discussed the process your participation will not be required. Kind regards

Richard Whiteside

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Appendix Four Garageband Screenshot

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Appendix Five - Reflective Journal Prompts

In order to stimulate reflection, I'm providing you with some prompts and questions. You do not have to respond to all the prompts, just use them as a guide, I don't mean for you to answer them all. However, reading the list of questions will give you an idea of what I am looking for. As you know, the bigger picture is that I am investigating what part Twitter plays in your professional life, however, other areas are potentially informative and everything is connected. In general Briefly describe your use of Twitter today, use the following prompts to guide your thinking. To what extent was this a typical day in terms of using Twitter? Why/ why not? Interaction How much did you interact with other people? Did you join in any conversations? If so, why? Did you try to initiate any conversations? Did you succeed? To what extent did you converse publicly or privately? Did you follow any conversations without interacting? Why didn't you join in? Did you reply to all tweets that mentioned you or did you ignore some? Why? To what extent was your interaction professional as opposed to social? Did anybody follow you today? Did you follow them back? Why/ why not? Did you follow up any links shared by others? Were they useful? Did you bookmark or RT anything? Did anything you read via Twitter today cause you to reflect on your teaching practice? Did you advertise a piece of your work, such as a blog post, for example? What was the reaction? Routine Did you avoid/ ignore something else today in favour of accessing Twitter? Did you leave an app like Tweetdeck running in the background while you were online? Why, why not? Did you switch off/ disconnect from Twitter to deliberately avoid it? Why? What factors affected your use of Twitter today? Would you have spent more time using it if you could have? Why/ why not? Do you think you spent too much time on Twitter today? Why/ why not? Reflection What motivated you to access Twitter today? Did anything out of the ordinary or different happen to you today, in terms of your Twitter use? Did anything make you feel uncomfortable? Or did anything affect you positively? Did you feel like you were wasting your time at any point? Would anything you did on Twitter today have seemed impossible back when you were new to the environment? Did you really benefit from using Twitter today? In what ways? Personally or professionally?

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Appendix Six Example of follow-up email Hi ____, Sorry to bother you again, but I have a few more questions that I would really like you to answer. I hope you don't mind. A couple of these are just for basic information, so that I can get things right in your profile, however, some of the others are more provocative! I thought that you could reply by email, but if you want to Skype to get a point across better, that's ok with me, just DM me. Here are the questions: 1. When did you start using Twitter (year)? 2. Why do you 'use' (maintain a profile on) LinkedIn? 3. You suggested that people can get work by looking good on Twitter. Do you think that's really true? Or is it just that through being networked on Twitter, more people are aware of who they are and what they have done elsewhere? 4. Why is it so important to be recognised - #FF or RTs or whatever? You said that you get a 'little rush'? Why? What does that mean? 5. Would you say that your main purpose for using Twitter (as an individual) is out of a need to belong to a community of teachers? 6. I looked back through your tweets from July (a bit sneaky, but they are public ; ) !) and I didn't actually see much evidence of PD going on. Would you agree? Is this a good example of a normal month? I'm busy analysing your interview data and beginning to write up your section now, so if you could get back to me as soon as you can I'd really appreciate it. Many thanks and I hope the summer work is going well. Richard

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Appendix Seven Member check email example Hi, Me again. I've finished a first draft of your case study, in it you are called 'Ruth', for the purposes of anonymity. It still needs re-organising as I'm not happy with it at the moment, but the information is all there, I won't be sneaking anything else in, or if something significant changes, I'll let you know (this process reinforces the 'truth' of my data and is also an ethical check). So, essentially I'd appreciate it if you to read it and answer two questions: 1) Do you feel that this is an accurate, or near accurate representation of you as a Twitter user? 2) Are you happy with the level of personal detail it includes that could enable people to guess at who the mysterious 'Ruth' is? Please let me know what you think and any comments or suggestions about specific parts are welcomed. Thanks! Richard

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Appendix Eight Helen - Transcribed Interview Data detailed.

Time

Summary CELTA plus 14 months teaching experience (5 months only 90 mins per day) 25 years old Languages at Uni French and Spanish C1/C2 plus Portuguese B1/B2

2.11 2.35

CELTA straight after Uni. Part-time job after Uni. More or less immediately into teaching after Uni no previous career Why is professional development important? When I did the CELTA course I loved it and I really wanted to carry on learning. It was just like I'd got bitten by some kind of a bug Now further down the line I feel distinctly less motivated, a long more tired of the whole thing. So now I think just to kind of keep me going, it would be beneficial, if it existed, to keep me on the right track 'cause I think there must a few little hills on the road, so... You need a pat on the back to keep you going, don't you? A little bit. And goals. I used to want to be the best teacher I could be and now I've kind of lowered that expectation down to good enough. Good enough to not get sacked. Me: The end of the year is not always the best time for looking at things positively

4.06

How would you describe your technological competence? I'm very shy of it. I've got an 'ECGL', so I've got a certificate in IT and I know how to use it for administrative purposes and stuff, but I am very shy of it. I wouldn't know how to use certain apps, I don't have a smartphone or anything like that. I've got an Ipod nano, I live a kind of basic lifestyle, technologically. I've got my netbook and I've got email and all those sorts of things, but if you said to me...if someone puts on twitter, here's an app for making fantastic films in class I'm like, 'no'. At this stage I'm just not interested, I just want to learn how to teach, I don't want any of these add ons just yet. Me: you can get inundated with stuff, I suppose.

5.26

How do you actually access Twitter? Just the main Twitter page really. I downloaded Tweetdeck and I don't really like it I must admit I find it less easy, and especially when you want to mention somebody it just seems a bit harder than it would be on the normal thing and I know people love Tweetdeck cos you've got everything displayed but I just find that really busy and horrible, so I'd rather just go into the main page and click the bit I want... Boyfriend complains about 'submarine' noise of the

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notifications. Most of the tweets aren't relevant to me so it distracts your attention when it's not even something that's relevant to you. You can change the settings, of course. Oh, right ok, maybe I'll have to try and figure that out then. I explain what can be done. It's like half and half. I've not given up on the Tweetdeck, but sometimes I just get a bit fed up and think it's not processing or receiving messages quick enough talks of delay between Twitter and Tweetdeck :I don't have the patience so I just go straight to Twitter.com to see if anyone's messaged me or anything, not that anyone ever does except for yourself, Rich, ha ha! So you don't access Twitter via a mobile device or anything? God no. I'm staying away from mobile internet as long as I can I'm afraid. Do you only access at home or ever at work? Occasionally at work, but mostly at home. To what extent is using Twitter a daily habit, would you say? I probably check it on a daily or two daily basis, it's not something...I'm on it a lot at the weekends. But when I'm at work on a daily basis I'm just kind of like busy or tired, or something. So I may not check it everyday, every other day maybe.And obviously if I get an email to say that I've had a message or something I'll go in and check it. So your interaction is more to log in and have a look, rather than leaving it on in the background all the time? Yeah, yeah. If I leave it on in the background it's too distracting... 9.31 How would you describe your use of twitter? Mainly I probably lurk, because I don't always have anything to say. So I just sort of have a little look down the news feed to see who's been on and if there's any interesting posts that they put on, you know. Cos I've got a Google Reader as well and that kind of logs all my favourite blogs but sometimes they get a bit boring so I think 'I feel like something new, let's have a look at Twitter. Sometimes she will reply to tweets, not always about teaching JR banter, for instance. It's more community building I suppose than always necessarily about teaching. If it's always about teaching it can get too intense and boring for me, so... 11.07 How much do you feel that there is an ELT community? I think there is quite a lot everybody seems to be on everyday unlike any other profession. I doubt you get accountants putting up accounting links on a Sunday or a Saturday night, or something. Sometimes people are quite 'present', you know. An if there's any absence they're quite apologetic for the absence, like 'sorry I've been on holiday'. Obviously like with any community there are little friendship groups. I see myself on the periphery of that. Some people have quite a friendship going and that's quite observable. So

11.47

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you get little chats going on and that's obviously between them and then sometimes I don't really feel like I'm part of a little group, but from time to time I get into little chats. So yeah I do think there is a community. And obviously some really important people in the community as well, like alpha ELT people. 13.15 Do you see any exclusivity? I don't know it depends how you'd interpret it as exclusivity. I don't see any nastiness there. Sometimes some people get into conversations more frequently than others, but I wouldn't say I'm excluded cos I'd say you get back what you give to it.... If I was always on Twitter and I was always tweeting other people all the time, I'd become a bigger part of the community, but that's not what I want. I'm happy to just want to come and go. I don't want to feel like I have to apologise to anyone for not being there, I want to come and go. Sometimes I feel like a chat and sometimes I don't feel like a chat and I don't want any pressure to get involved. I get out of it what I put in. And I don't like it when I start tweeting lots of people and then I feel glued to my computer for the rest of the weekend. It's obviously not a very good quality of life. Do you think it's addictive? Oh definitely. Scarily so. What do you think leads to that sort of feeling? When you write a letter to somebody, well, in the old days when you did, you eagerly await the reply. I think it's the same but in a shorter time frame. I must admit, when I tweet people I am checking to see if they've replied, just a normal relationship thing, really, you want to feel accepted. What you've put out there has been accepted, somebody wants to reply to you. I'd say, it's almost an ancient feeling of needing to be part of something or needing to be accepted. Just because it's twitter it doesn't take away from those basic human need to make friends. So you'd say the community aspect is quite important? Yeah, I think so. I never go on any forums or anything like that, you know, that would take too long and nobody might ever reply.

14.28

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Appendix Nine Ruth: Transcribed Interview Data - Less detailed.

Time 6.01 6.21 7.05

Notes Teaching in xxxxxxxx since 2002 mostly adults, academic, business xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Semester of TEFL at university. Taught for 2 or 3 years, then did an MA semi-distance. MA mix of theory and practice. Did write research focused papers on the MA plus also materials design and evaluations. Current situation. Freelance, working for company, various universities and a language school, own company. Views on PD, recurring message that we're never perfect at what we do, we are all striving to become better at what we do. This job is different everyday and I love it it's thanks to my students. Absolutely important believes that the students can tell if you are a teachers who strives to be better at what you do. Conferences. I'm a conference junkie! Conferences as an investment in continuing education. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Presenting at ELT conferences since 2006 (training as public speaker since 16, loves public speaking, seems to have had experience prior to career in ELT). Presented at xxxxxxxx presented a paper from her MA. I don't see a difference between a class and speaking at a conference. Not a technophobe. Not a 'native', self-taught, but has received training, giving her the ability to develop autonomously. Currently learning to use Adobe Connect, knows what she's doing with most edtech stuff. Iphone and netbook. Twitter app, has tried Tweetdeck and another app (E...) but didn't get to grips with either. Wishes to try Tweetdeck again (on mac) because of how everyone 'raves' about it a summer project. Uses twitter website on laptop and app on iphone happy with that at the moment but wants to use Tweetdeck due to having seen it work really well for other people. Twitter with students in language learning. No. Only with future teachers in training environment. They are learning to speak English as well multi-national class. Encourages students to follow her on Twitter, but they generally don't use it and don't follow her. I primarily use Twitter to socialise and get to know what's going on in ELT world with my colleagues To what extent are you permanently connected. I'm not as permanently connected as ST! I don't think she sleeps. Not permanently connected. Connected when commuting internet is availble on public transport in ____. I have no staffroom, I love hanging out with my colleagues on twitter I use it as a staffroom to hang out with my peers, Ask Qs, find out what's going on, ask Qs, read blogs.

9.14 10.01

11.41

13.08

15.47

17.11

19.25

20.39

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Appendix Ten Example of Data with Annotation and Coding

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Appendix Eleven Helen - Mind-map of Analysis Codes

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Appendix Twelve Sarah - Example of Mind-map during analysis

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Appendix Thirteen Organisation of data and themes for writing

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