Establishing an online community of practice for undergraduate English language education student researchers

Conducting classroom-based research is a powerful route for student teachers' professional development and a requirement for many pre-service teachers in undergraduate language education programs. Research is also a new experience for undergraduate students, who grapple with challenges such as generating a researchable idea and managing the practical constraints of data collection. To facilitate the enhancement of research knowledge and skills, and to engender positive attitudes towards practitioner research, this article describes the implementation and evaluation of an online community of practice (OCoP) that included students and alumni of an English language teaching program. To initiate and sustain the OCoP, eight online modules were designed and included a shared repository of student-created materials and discussion forums. The modules were completed in parallel with a lecture-based course on research methods in second language classrooms. A questionnaire given to students taking the course revealed that participating in the OCoP engendered positive attitudes towards research to a significantly greater extent than participation in the lectures. Interviews also revealed that the OCoP heightened students' awareness of possible solutions to the challenges of research and provided them with emotional support from their peers, which led to enhanced self-efficacy towards pre-service teacher research.