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Facebook or fail-book: Exploring “community” in a virtual community of practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2020

Ward Peeters Open the ORCID record for Ward Peeters [Opens in a new window]  and
Marilize Pretorius Open the ORCID record for Marilize Pretorius [Opens in a new window]
Ward Peeters
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Belgium (ward.peeters@uantwerpen.be) Kanda University of International Studies, Japan (peeters-w@kanda.kuis.ac.jp)
Marilize Pretorius
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Belgium (marilize.pretorius@uantwerpen.be) University of the Free State, South Africa (pretoriusm@ufs.ac.za)
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Abstract

Creating collaborative working and learning experiences has long been at the forefront of computer-assisted language learning research. It is in this context that, in recent years, the integration of social networking sites and Web 2.0 in learning settings has surged, generating new opportunities to establish and explore virtual communities of practice (VCoPs). However, despite the number of studies on the concept, research remains inconclusive on how learners develop a sense of community in a VCoP, and what effect this may have on interaction and learning. This research project proposes to use social network analysis, part of graph theory, to explore the configuration of a set of VCoPs, and presents an empirical approach to determine how interaction in such communities takes shape. The present paper studies the concept of “community” in two VCoPs on Facebook. Participants (Group 1: N = 123, Group 2: N = 34) in both VCoPs are enrolled in English as a foreign language courses at two Belgian institutions of higher education. Social network analysis is used to show how both learner groups establish and develop a network of peers, and how different participants in those groups adopt different roles. Participation matrices reveal that interaction mainly revolves around a number of active key figures and that certain factors such as the incorporation of online and offline assignments and the inclusion of a teacher online result in varying levels of success when establishing collaborative dialogue within the VCoPs. Recommendations are formulated to inform and improve future practice.

Keywords

virtual community of practicesocial network analysisFacebookEnglish as a foreign languagepeer interactioncommunity
Type
Regular papers
Information
ReCALL , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 291 - 306
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Copyright
© European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2020

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