Text chat facilitates L2 use by providing learners with extended time to plan, monitor, and process production during interactional tasks. However, learners may not naturally take advantage of these affordances, especially for providing peer feedback. This study used video-enhanced chat scripts to examine the behavior of beginner L2 Spanish…

This study explored the role of live transcripts in online synchronous academic English classrooms by focusing on how automatically generated live transcripts influence the learning outcomes of lower-proficiency and higher-proficiency learners and on their perceptions towards live transcripts. The study adopted a 2 × 2 factorial design, with the…

This mixed-methods study investigates the use of synchronous video computer-mediated communication (SVCMC) in a U.S. university's Spanish-as-a-foreign-language curriculum. Using the SVCMC platform "TalkAbroad," the university's Spanish program required second-year students to participate in five, 30-minute, SVCMC conversations with…

Scholars have applied automatic content analysis to study computer-mediated communication in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Since CSCL also takes place in face-to-face interactions, we studied the automatic coding accuracy of manually transcribed face-to-face communication. We conducted our study in an authentic higher-education…

Despite suggestions being a common speech act used by writing center tutors, very limited research is available on the use of suggestions in online writing center practice. Drawing upon multiple sources of data including the chat transcript, screen recording of the session, and final revised version of the writer's text, this case study explores…

In the five years following implementation of a chat reference service at James Madison University (JMU), the service proved very popular but was not closely assessed for quality of service. Using grounded theory and qualitative data analysis techniques, a comprehensive assessment effort was begun in earnest and is in progress. Preliminary results…

Prior research has shown that intermediate-level adult learners of Russian who worked interactively with partners using text chat improved their vocabulary and oral production skills more than students who worked independently (Tare et al., 2014). Drawing on the dataset from Tare et al. (2014), the current study follows up to explore the nature of…

This study investigates how reference staff at two libraries balance teaching with resource delivery in live chat reference. Analysis of 410 transcripts from one week shows that one library tends to deliver more resources from a wider range of database suggestions, to take more time in chat interactions, and to incorporate more teaching behavior…

This article introduces a new method of multimodal discourse analysis to study synchronous online learning through using screen-captured digital video as the data source. This new methodology is applicable to researchers and educators interested in using video files as a foundation to map out the interactions of the multiple semiotic modes used in…

This article presents exploratory research into an education-based virtual mentoring provision, the Virtual Professional Learning and Development (VPLD) program, and uses the Elements of Value Pyramid to help frame findings in a way that highlights the participants' (mentors' and mentees') perceived value of working together. Participants were…

Although the second language literature on Dynamic Assessment (DA)--the unity of assessment and instruction into a singular activity to promote cognitive development--shows promising results, very little has been written about how to educate teachers to use it. This two-cycle, exploratory action research study aimed to understand and address the…

New tools for teaching with distance education afford students with a variety of modes of communication. This study examined students' interactions during an online science education course. All interactions that took place with Elluminate Chat, Elluminate Voice, and Moodle learning platforms were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Interactions…

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…