PowerPoint slides from my presentation at the EuroCALL conference, Padova, September 2015.

1. Language teachers on Twitter:
the #mfltwitterati community of
practice
EuroCALL Conference
August 2015
Fernando Rosell-Aguilar
@FRosellAguilar
Lecturer in Spanish / Open Media Fellow
Department of Languages, The Open University

2. Overview
• Twitter as CPD and PLN.
• The #mfltwitterati
• Research questions
• Results
• Conclusion

3. Twitter for educators
• Benefits:
• Developing community and Personal Learning Network
(Grosseck & Holotescu 2008)
• Support for informal learning and connection with
professional Community of Practice (Dunlap & Lowenthal
2009)
• Drawbacks:
• Distracting, time-consuming, addictive + Issues around
privacy (Grosseck & Holotescu 2008, Craig 2012, Dhir,
Buragga & Boreqqah 2013).

4. PLN:
• "A community of
individuals around the
world who are learning
together" (Ferguson,
2010, p. 13).
• Formed by following
inspirational teachers,
engaging with their
tweets.
• Twitter timeline fills with
tweets from people with
similar interests who
share ideas and
resources.
Weisberger & Butler (2011)

5. PLNs and CPD
• Training funding cuts
• Teachers use Twitter to share ideas and resources,
engage in conversations, develop PLN.
• A global staff room.
• Teachers appreciate lack of cost, flexibility, accessibility,
and relevance of using Twitter for CPD.
• "Effective tool for professional development" (Weisberger
& Butler 2011, Lomicka & Lord 2012, Visser, Evering &
Barrett, 2014)
• Connecting NQTs with experienced ones (Wright 2010,
Greene 2012, Lord & Lomicka 2012...)

6. Community of Practice
• "Groups of people who share a concern, a set of
problems or a passion about a topic, and who deepen
their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting
on an ongoing basis" (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder,
2002, p. 4).
• Twitter can help create "a community built on
communication and collaboration dedicated to making
learning and education the best they can be" (Ferguson,
2010, p. 10).

7. Useful hastags for MFL
teachers on Twitter
• #edchat
• #ukedchat
• #languagelearning
• #langchat
• #mfltwitterati

8. The #mfltwitterati hashtag
• Created by Joe Dale @joedale
• First used 2008
• Share developments, ideas, resources, joys and
frustrations
• List with over 2000 members
• Used by many more
• Dropboxes: 13,000 items (2109 generic dropbox +
3,886 Spanish, 6,196 French and 1,299 German)

9. Research questions
• Who are the #mfltwitterati?
• Can Twitter engagement contribute to CPD?
• Are the #MFLTwitterati a community of practice?
• Evidence: mutual engagement with members, joint
enterprise (sharing goals), and shared repertoire
(resources) (McLeay, 2008).

10. Methods
• 22 questions: multiple choice and open-ended
• Delivered on Twitter.
• November – December 2014
• 120 responses (-4) n=116
• + DM interviews with 12 regular users of the hashtag
following principles of epistolary interviews online
(Debenham, 2007).

11. Who are the #mfltwitterati?

12. Who uses the hashtag?

13. Who uses the hashtag?

14. How do people use the #?

15. How do people use the #?

16. How do people use the #?

17. How do people use the #?

18. Impact on practice:

19. Impact on practice:

20. Impact on practice:

21. Why do people use the #?

22. Use of dropboxes
• 66.4% aware of dropboxes
• 35% use them
• 25.4% add resources
• But many resources shared through links as well.

23. Impact on practice:

24. How has your
teaching improved?
• "I get lots of teaching ideas and resources"
• "Inspires me to try new things"
• "Given me confidence to use my own resources
more and to believe in myself"
• "It has allowed me to be more creative and take
risks"
• "Feeling more supported and valued"
• "My lessons are planned with a wider variety of
activities and the activities are less repetitive"
• "Has made me think outside the box and try new
things using resources ideas and tools I have
learnt about via #mfltwitterati"

25. Conclusion
• Profile
• How the hashtag is used
• Very positive opinions
• Impact on practice
• Evidence of community of practice (mutual engagement,
joint enterprise and shared repertoire).
• True PLN that can provide CPD for (language) teachers
• A real global staff room
• Who are the #mfltwitterati?
• Can Twitter engagement contribute to CPD?
• Are the #MFLTwitterati a community of practice?

26. Questions?

27. @FRosellAguilar
fernando.Rosell-Aguilar@open.ac.uk
Thank you!
¡Gracias!