Much research has examined how different patterns of social interaction shape language learners' interactional roles (e.g., collaborative, dominant, passive) in peer-to-peer conversations. However, little or no research has investigated the co-construction of such roles in multiparty, online task-based dialogues within the framework of discursive…

Geographically dispersed teams rely on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to communicate and collaborate. Three ICTs that have received attention are audio conferencing (AC), video conferencing (VC), and, recently, 3D virtual environments (3D VEs). These ICTs offer modes of communication that differ primarily in the number and type…

Using software and a coding system developed by the author, the text of all spoken and written discourse was analyzed from four face-to-face (FTF) courses and two courses taught via computer-mediated communication (CMC). Results indicated that interaction patterns in the CMC courses resembled discussion, whereas patterns in the FTF courses…