This study focuses on the social presence framework (Rourke et al., 2001), in order to examine the ways that university-level international students develop social interaction and support in a virtual asynchronous learning community in an online class during the COVID-19 pandemic. English language learners (ELLs) participated in weekly online…

Although there are many studies on distance students' language learning strategies (LLS) use, very little is known about what distinguishes LLS use between synchronous and asynchronous environments. This preliminary mixed-methods research helps to fill this gap by investigating distance students' LLS use in these two environments. The picture of…

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected K-12 education worldwide, Peru has faced particularly unique challenges. A combination of quarantine requirements and unequal access to remote learning technology led to the creation of a series of multimodal programs by Peru's Ministry of Education under the umbrella title Aprendo en Casa [I…

Online tools, such as forums, wikis, and blogs lend themselves to learners negotiating meaning and co-constructing knowledge through interaction. However, not enough is known about how tasks need to be designed to make best use of the possibilities of complex virtual learning environments (VLEs) to motivate and support learners, foster…

With the increase of online language teaching the training needs of teachers have long been established and researched. However, the training needs of students have not yet been fully acknowledged. This paper focuses on learner training as preparation for language classes where online synchronous conferencing is used. It presents an action…

This paper shares some of the experiences in online coordination and teacher development which have emerged in the English Language Department at the "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya". The advantages and disadvantages of coordination in an asynchronous computer-mediated environment form the backdrop to those issues which we consider to…

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) forms an integral part of the first-year Spanish course, "Spanish Without Walls" (SWW), designed for distance education. The CMC component of SWW supports bimodal (i.e., oral and written) interactions among students and the instructor and provides the same kinds of benefits as those in face-to-face…

This article presents research findings investigating the fundamental characteristics in online Spanish instruction (at the university level in the United States) designed to maximize learning outcomes. The researcher collected data to develop a rubric of the fundamental characteristic in online Spanish instruction and then to determine whether…

Distance education has evolved through many delivery formats, conforming in varying degrees to an Information Age definition of "distance education" that emphasizes two-way electronic communication. The technological characteristics and limitations of each format have implications for pedagogical choices in designing distance education courses for…

This article provides a report on NetMeeting as an appropriate fourth-generation tool for interactive language learning in distance mode. It follows on earlier research by Wang and Sun (2000, 2001) on the most urgent problem facing distance language education--lack of provision of oral-visual interaction and the emergence of a fourth-generation…

This paper integrates the theory and practice of computer pedagogies in a variety of language courses, all stemming from participation in a graduate level course on computers in language teaching. First, the graduate level preservice CALL course is described, focusing on how connections between theory and practice were developed. Descriptions of…