Socio-emotional aspects articulated with content in an online teachers’ community of practice: ‘agreeable dialogue zones’

Abstract

Many studies highlight the importance of socio-emotional aspects in professional communities of practice (CoP). This study aims to understand how these aspects are articulated with the professional content. An online professional CoP has been subjected to analysis by following a sequential exploratory mixed-methods inductive model combining the analysis of forum contents and in-depth interviews. The results define the concept of ‘agreeable dialogue zones’ as a strip of conversation in which the search for a friendly and safe environment; professional self-demand; comfort; personal thematic preferences; and the demands of each topic in a written environment are balanced.