Teachers’ Online Professional Development Through Dialogic Interaction: A Study of Novice and Experienced EFL Teachers

The current study investigated the effect of EFL teachers’ dialogic interactions on their online professional development (OPD). For this purpose, a group of 3 experienced and 5 novice teachers participated in the study. After the analysis of the teachers’ written reflective narratives and interviews, the most significant themes of the teachers’ OPD were found and categorized. Results showed that dialogic interaction navigated the teachers’ OPD, but in different directions. Whereas the novice teachers exhibited a tendency toward more behaviorally oriented trajectories of development, the experienced teachers were more attitudinally and cognitively invested in the OPD process. This study invites teacher education programs and teacher educators to capitalize on dialogic interaction as a resource to promote teachers’ OPD and to support the personalized and professional needs of teachers at different developmental stages.