The participation of primary education teachers in the virtual learning community English teachers exchange network (ETEN)

Abstract

Teachers participating in virtual learning communities access and share information for their didactic use, so we ask ourselves how and why do our teachers participate in these communities and what is their real use? The objective has been to inquire about the participation of Primary Education teachers in the virtual community English Teachers Exchange Network (ETEN) to learn about the resources they use in their teaching activity. In the development of this qualitative research, we counted on the assessment of the Foreign Language teachers (English) belonging to the aforementioned community who provided us, by conducting the semi-structured interview to understand and interpret their reality, from their self-perceptions and opinions. The results indicate that this virtual community has a considerable social impact because it connects with people with whom they identify, offer and receive proposals, give feedback and can learn from each other; which enriches, reactivates and makes them perceive the motivating, useful and productive educational practice for the teacher, which means that this collaborative space offers more available resources. Participation in this virtual learning environment affects the professional and personal development of teachers, favoring new learning and dynamics in the classroom that are motivating, meaningful and contextualized to the student's learning.