Our study focuses on the effects of forum and chat tools on vocabulary learning in French as a foreign language and on tutors’ help. Qualitative data were collected from chat sessions and messages on the forum as well as a questionnaire, in a learning environment with 21 French tutors providing support from a distance to 13 learners in their written macro-task. The results show that most frequent problems concerned written form and the use of English, and that tutors rarely reacted to them. When they did, they provided varied support that has resolved some difficulties.