Messaging platforms are applications, generally mediated by an app, desktop program or the web, mainly used for synchronous communication among users. As such, they have been widely adopted officially by higher education establishments, after little or no study of their impact and perception by the teachers. We think that the introduction of these…

In the context of Virtual Exchange (VE) it is often assumed that participants will be naturally prepared to interact online successfully with their international partners. However, there is ample evidence in the literature to suggest that VE participants are usually unaware of effective communicative strategies in synchronous and asynchronous…

In 2020, Germany and Spain experienced lockdowns of their school systems. This resulted in a new challenge for learners and teachers: lessons moved from the classroom to the children's homes. Therefore, teachers had to set rules, implement procedures and make didactical-methodical decisions regarding how to handle this new situation. In this…

Purpose: With the growth of digital education, students increasingly interact in a variety of ways. The potential effects of these interactions on their learning process are not fully understood and the outcomes may depend on the tool used. This study explores the communication patterns and learning effectiveness developed by students using two…

Virtual exchanges (VEs) based on synchronous video communication allow learners to benefit from online intercultural experiences with a high degree of interactivity (Wang, 2004). Video conferencing tools allow synchronous audio-visual and non-verbal communication as in Face-To-Face (FTF) situations (Kock, 2005), although synchronous video…

Contribution: A demonstration of a move from face-to-face to blended learning in an engineering Master's program by adding a parallel online group, which showed the synergy between blended and online approaches in terms of level of interaction, enrollment, student satisfaction, dropout rate, and final grades. Background: Education's transition…

The present study examines the role that multimodality and translanguaging play in scaffolding oral interactions during language-related episodes (LREs) involving meaning negotiation. The oral tasks carried out using synchronous video-based computer-mediated communication were part of a tandem virtual exchange (Spain, Canada). The participants, 18…

This paper presents a six-week telecollaborative project carried out between B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for languages -- CEFR) level learners of English from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain, and B1 (CEFR) level students of Spanish as a foreign language from the University of Bath (UK). The aim of the project…

The study analyzes the type and quantity of co-occurrence of social, cognitive, and teaching presence in a Community of Inquiry (CoI). Content analysis of the virtual educational communication shows units of analysis that must be assigned to more than one category. By crossing the categories of the CoI model, we observe that Social Presence is…

The present study aims to assess the benefits of participating in a virtual language exchange (VE) for practicing oral skills with native speakers by measuring learners' motivation to learn the language, communicate, and collaborate. The oral language development of advanced learners of English at a Spanish university was compared with a control…

This paper reports on how the FutureLearn Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Becoming a Better Teacher" was blended into English Language Teaching (ELT) university programmes in conjunction with telecollaboration. It discusses how the addition of a MOOC blend can enhance a telecollaborative exchange by adding to it increased…

The number of publications on live online teaching and distance learning has significantly increased over the past two years since the outbreak and worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more research is needed on effective methodologies and their impact on the learning process. This research aimed to analyze student interaction and…

The current study explores utilizing the ACTFL cultural framework to structure synchronous video-based speaking activities and subsequent class discussions. The study includes 39 students in two sections of an intermediate-level college Spanish course who engaged in five 30-minute conversations with native speakers of Spanish via Talk Abroad…

This study focuses on computer mediated communication (CMC) in instant messaging using the Basque language in a context where exposure to English is very limited outside the classroom. This context provides an opportunity to analyze the universality of linguistic features identified in CMC in English. The corpus consists of 54 naturalistic dyadic…

This is an empirical study in which we explore child foreign language learners' interactional strategy use, uptake, and lexical acquisition in synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC). The study was carried out with 16 10-year-old Spanish English as a foreign language learners paired with age- and proficiency-matched English native…