INSTRUCTORS' BELIEFS ABOUT THE INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN STARTALK TEACHER PROGRAMS: A COLLECTIVE CASE STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore four instructors' beliefs and actual teaching practice of social media in their STARTALK teacher programs. Based on individual case and cross-case analysis, overall, all participants identified many affordances and challenges regarding the integration of social media and foreign language teacher education. Moreover, a majority of participants' beliefs aligned well with their practices about integrating social media and foreign language teacher education while one participant's beliefs conflicted with her teaching practices. The mixed findings regarding the beliefs and practices of using social media in STARTALK teacher programs suggest that teacher beliefs needs further exploration as a construct. Future research is needed in identifying best practices of various social media in foreign language teacher education and explaining complicated teacher beliefs about the effectiveness of social media in foreign language teaching and teacher education. Regarding implications for practice, foreign language teacher educators may consider more explicit approach and step-by-step guidance when introducing and integrating social media in preparing foreign language teachers. This study is significant for not only filling in the gap in the literature by connecting teacher beliefs, social media, and foreign language teacher education, but also show-casing a great deal of ways for foreign language teacher educators to incorporate social media in their training programs.