Computer-Mediated Asynchronous Discussions on the International Virtual Exchange

In Spring 2020, several Rikkyo University discussion lecturers incorporated computer-mediated asynchronous tasks into their courses.The purpose of incorporating these tasks was to help students achieve the goals of the class: (a) increase their spoken fluency, (b) practice using formulaic discussion and communication phrases, and (c) generate content or ideas related to the topic of discussion.In the future, Rikkyo lecturers might wish to incorporate selfstudy discussion tasks in the International Virtual Exchange (IVE) Project.The exchange allows Japanese students to discuss topics with university students from other countries.The forums are free, sponsored by a Japanese government kaken grant, and monitored by lecturers whose classes are involved in IVE Project (Hagley & Cotter, 2020).Previous students of the discussion class at Rikkyo University reported having difficulty fully formulating their ideas in English in the classroom, but they wished to engage with the international community.Incorporating such tasks for out-of-class assignments might help students (a) achieve the course goals to a greater extent, (b) assist in helping students more fully express their ideas in the face-to-face discussion class, and (c) attain some of their instrumental motivations for studying English.These reasons are explored in more detail and avenues for potential research are discussed.