This paper examines and reports on ways of promoting teaching presence in foreign language online learning environments in Finland and Spain. ‘Teaching presence’ refers to all the tools and resources teachers use during online courses to deliver teaching, guidance and feedback, or situations in which they are present for their students. A qualitative approach was adopted, and data were collated from questionnaires completed by 34 teachers and 16 students involved in different online language courses at different educational levels. The aim was to examine (1) the extent to which students’ views on feedback and teaching presence in online courses differ from those of teachers, and (2) the impact teaching presence has on student engagement and behaviour in online courses. Based on the polling data, both teachers and students find student engagement to be significant in fostering learning in an online environment. Students tend to be generally satisfied with teacher feedback.