Malaysian English Language Teachers’ Engagement With Instrumental Support on Facebook

This study investigates how Malaysian English language teachers utilize networking sites for social support. It focuses on the social and discursive practices of Malaysian English language teachers as they co-construct social support on Facebook Timelines. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 Malaysian English language teachers to identify the value of social networking sites for teachers’ development. The findings revealed that the majority of the teachers interviewed had a positive view of the engagement with instrumental support on Timelines even though some teachers questioned the efficacy of Timelines as a platform for the co-construction of instrumental support. The teachers mainly engaged with informational support on Timelines as they perceived the usefulness of Facebook in facilitating the exchange of informational resources. The teachers associate obtaining informational support on Timelines with the ability to communicate important information, communicate immediately, and participate as a lurker, which is useful when teachers want to obtain informational resources without having to engage in conversation with others. This paper argues that teachers' postings on Facebook serve as tools to obtain desirable support, facilitating the improvement of their practices and helping them navigate daily challenges in the workplace.