{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.019704433497536946, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0024630541871921183, 'mean_word_length': 5.4229249011857705, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Bimodal communication over webcasts: From CSCL to CALL

The empirical study reported in this article is based on a pilot experiment conducted in a foundation course in Computer Science at the University of Toronto (Canada) with a webcasting system called ePresence; a system that builds upon a webcasting infrastructure through the addition of interactive slides, application sharing, and communication tools in order to enhance students' engagement during on-line webcasts.  While watching on-line lectures, learners were given both an audio and a text channel to communicate within their study groups. The results of the pilot study indicated that students could engage in coherent threaded conversations using both modes simultaneously. While evaluating the impact of audio communication on student engagement during on-line lectures, we observed the phenomenon of bimodal conversations or medium switching. Mode selection and mode switching are seen to impact conversations at various levels, and yet students are able to intuitively negotiate both modes simultaneously during on-line conversations.  Based on these findings, we are now interested in integrating real-time technologies such as chat, audio conferencing systems using Voice over IP in language teaching environments. The goal of these future investigations is a) to monitor impact of the mode/medium switch on the academic progress of SLA and b) to determine if choice of medium/mode of communication represents linguistic choices: choices made because of the characteristics of the particular context in which the conversation takes place (Murray, 1988).