Scholars and educators have described participation in target language (TL) communities as one of the primary aims of language learning, holding a fundamental position in ACTFL's (2011) "Standards." Limited work has been conducted to describe how students participate in and gain access to these TL communities through various forms of technology. This dissertation presents a study of Garrison and Vaughn's (2001) "social presence" within a telecollaboration between U.S. and German students enrolled in institutes of higher education. Data was obtained from a nine-month online exchange, using the platforms of Facebook, Google Docs and Google Forms. Action research (Riel, 2010), grounded in the theoretical framework of the Community of Inquiry (CoI), framed the ways in which I examined the contribution of the participants, what motivated them to interact with others, and how instructional activities and the technological platforms helped to build a community. The analysis made visible that discourse facilitation, video chat, and an interactive platform for computer mediated communication (CMC), contributed to the participants' motivation and dedication to the online community. In particular the social cues and fillers (laughing, smiling and nodding) supported by the video chat, enhanced "social presence" and effective communicative language learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]