Having got somewhat lost with regard to research topics and methods, I return to my original idea of investigating Japanese learners, their culture and the use of an online role-play course.

I feel strongly that, for me, having a definite dissertation in mind brings a specific focus to the RM course, though it is wise to be schooled in all of the methods.

What lends the project more interest for me now is the idea of designing an in-depth role-play based course that takes place in various online formats, a blend of wikis (collaborative, but in this case I aim to develop a [possibly new] combative wiki activity), blogs (private reflection, a more honest account - in role, though), and synchronous role-play (SL for example?).

Then we will evaluate the premise that Japanese learners benefit from such in-role activity - which is aided by the (relative?) anonymity of the online environment. The hope is that, should this hypothesis be confirmed, such online role-play will be validated for all learning ...but with particular merit for leaners who might express some inhibition in participating face-to-face.