Possibilities and missed opportunities for generative dialogue: professional networking, online platforms and the English classroom.

Purpose: Social media is increasingly vital for educators to extend their professional networks and engage in meaningful conversations. This study aims to explore how Reddit facilitates these interactions as a platform for generative dialogical exchange. For English educators, generative dialogue is paramount for professional development and classroom practice. Design/methodology/approach: To better understand this dynamic, we outline Hermans and Hermans-Konopka's (2010) framework of generative dialogical exchange, review relevant literature related to the implications of social media use by educators and argue for the importance of Reddit as a site of exploration into dialogical exchange. After describing our artifact selection, we offer relevant data and conclude with understanding and implications. Findings: We argue that although online educator communities, particularly those on Reddit, offer opportunities for broad dialogical exchange for English educators, these can be marked by a push and pull between the expansion of the dialogical space and a tendency to rein it back in through reinforcing traditional power dynamics. Originality/value: Reddit is an understudied site for extending professional networks and fostering conversations among educators, providing a novel approach to understanding these dynamics through dialogical theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]