SOAS Research Online

Abstract

It has been widely recognized that professional learning communities (PLC) are the key to effective language teacher education and training. Recently, the research on the emergence of an informal PLC network outside organized institutions has garnered attention (Evert & Stein 2020; Lieberman 2000; Lieberman & McLaughlin 1992; Lieberman & Grolnick 1996). The research suggests that factors such as common themes and collaborative relationships are essential for creating and sustaining a PLC. To advance the research, it would be beneficial to understand how collaborative relationships can be built from the ground up. This presentation examines the way one such community started, using the framework of “ba” (originally a Japanese term meaning “place,” and adopted in business management research) defined as “a shared space that serves as a foundation for knowledge creation” (Nonaka & Konno 1998, p.40). The community in the review was formed by a group of Japanese language teachers in Europe, including the presenter, who are interested in the sociocultural theory (SCT) approach, especially the drama-based approach. Due to the scarcity of opportunities for teacher education promoting this approach, the like-minded teachers formed a group to get to know each other and share, exchange, and discuss experiences and practice. So, how did it develop into a PLC? In the presentation, the concept of ba is adopted to explain what is involved in the making of the PLC for a drama-based approach, as ba represents either a physical or virtual place where people work collaboratively and create both “explicit and tacit knowledge” collectively (Nonaka & Konno 1998, p. 42). The metaphor of a ground (place) is suitable for describing the process of creating the PLC as cultivation. Through collaborative work, an organizational structure was created and the content and method of teacher training was developed. The dialogical analysis (Tannen 2007) of the dialogues among the online written conversation participants is employed. The online interactions demonstrate the connectedness of participants. The dialogues grew from the seeds of keywords, enriching the interpretation and understanding of SCT and drama-based approach practice. It can be said that ba emerged, populated with dialogical reflections, organically forming a group membership. Through the microanalysis of the emergence of PLC, the presentation also sheds light on the autonomy in teacher learning and on lesser-applied SCT approaches such as the drama-based approach.