ABSTRACT
Multimodality has no doubt been of particular interest to instructors seeking new ways to engage students within increasingly diverse classrooms and expand their learning experiences beyond formal instructional settings. Communication technologies mediate learner interactions and help educators to connect students from distant geographical locations and diverse cultural backgrounds for collaborative learning and intercultural exchanges. One concept that has been explored in relation to the quality of computer-mediated communication (CMC) experience and students' satisfaction with online learning is social presence. Via the medium of communication, participants of a community of inquiry may project themselves socially and emotionally and hence forge varying degrees of social presence perceived by participants of the community. In order for people to have effective online interaction, a good perceived degree of social presence among members of the community is a must. As researchers have enthusiastically searched for ways to use multimodal tools for effective communication and learning, the notion of 'social presence' has come into the picture.
