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This study compared the effects of extracurricular synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ASCMC) between students and teachers on students' digital reading performance at different frequencies. 392,269 samples from 53 countries/regions that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 were collected. Multilevel regression analysis showed that SCMC negatively influenced digital reading performance across countries/regions. As the frequency decreased, the negative effect of SCMC diminished. In contrast, ASCMC at a moderately low frequency could facilitate digital reading performance in some countries/regions; however, as frequency increased, the positive effect became negative. These results showed that synchronicity played a role in predicting students' digital reading performance. This study also explored the mediating effect of metacognition with Nelson and Naren's metacognitive control-monitoring model. A multilevel mediation analysis proved that the effects of SCMC and ASCMC on digital reading performance were mediated by students' metacognition of assessing credibility. Practical implications and suggestions for students' self-paced learning were discussed with the purpose of promoting the effective use of extracurricular CMC between students and teachers and improving students' digital reading achievement in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

In the digital era, traditional communication has undergone a drastic transformation into computer-mediated communication (CMC), which can be classified into synchronous CMC (SCMC) and asynchronous CMC (ASCMC). This study compared the effects of extracurricular CMC among students about schoolwork on students' digital reading achievement between SCMC and ASCMC, with the categorization of students into three levels, i.e., top, medium, and low achievers. Data from 6,109 samples representing 183 schools in Japan were retrieved from the dataset of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. Due to the hierarchical nature of the data, multilevel regression analysis was adopted to identify the variance of studentand school-level. The results revealed a significant positive effect of SCMC on the digital reading performance of students, while ASCMC had a negative impact. Furthermore, among the three categories of achievers, medium achievers were the group most sensitive to both SCMC and ASCMC at any frequency, while top achievers were not significantly influenced by SCMC and ASCMC at any frequency, and low achievers were influenced by SCMC and ASCMC only at several frequencies. These findings indicate that it is more advisable for students to use SCMC, and treatment should be customized to students of different levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]