The Effect of Online Participation in Collaborative, Professional and Critical Discussion Circles on Self-efficacy Component of Language Teachers’ Professional Development

Following postmethod pedagogy, the spotlight has turned on language teachers. This means that their beliefs, experiences, and knowledge have been valued because it is the language teacher who knows both her learners and her classroom contexts best and can also fulfill postmethod promises. However, how can the field of language teaching come up with much-needed professional development, self-efficacious teachers who can have their own contextualized praxis? As such, and as a possible contribution to the field of TESOL, the purpose of the present study is to provide insights into the promotion of professional development for teachers. Online social networks provide new opportunities for language teachers' life-long development through participation in collaborative, professional and critical discussions. The purpose of the study was to see whether participation in collaborative, professional and critical discussion circles enhance self-efficacy component of language teachers’ professional development, and whether language teachers’ experience as a teacher and employment status affect this development. A professional development questionnaire was devised quantitatively and qualitatively through the delineation of the essential components of teachers’ self-efficacy. Then, language teachers underwent a quasi-experimental design consisting of three phases of a pretest, an educational treatment phase, and a posttest. The findings showed significant changes in the self-efficacy component of professional development.