diff --git a/Lib/test/libregrtest/runtest.py b/Lib/test/libregrtest/runtest.py
index e9bb72a7d77ee1..e245276c237020 100644
--- a/Lib/test/libregrtest/runtest.py
+++ b/Lib/test/libregrtest/runtest.py
@@ -143,6 +143,14 @@ def __str__(self) -> str:
 # set of tests that we don't want to be executed when using regrtest
 NOTTESTS = set()
 
+# If these test directories are encountered recurse into them and treat each
+# test_ .py or dir as a separate test module. This can increase parallelism.
+# Beware this can't generally be done for any directory with sub-tests as the
+# __init__.py may do things which alter what tests are to be run.
+SPLITTESTDIRS = {
+    "test_asyncio",
+    "test_multiprocessing",
+}
 
 # Storage of uncollectable objects
 FOUND_GARBAGE = []
@@ -158,7 +166,8 @@ def findtestdir(path=None):
     return path or os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)) or os.curdir
 
 
-def findtests(testdir=None, stdtests=STDTESTS, nottests=NOTTESTS):
+
+def findtests(testdir=None, stdtests=STDTESTS, nottests=NOTTESTS, splittestdirs=SPLITTESTDIRS, base_mod=""):
     """Return a list of all applicable test modules."""
     testdir = findtestdir(testdir)
     names = os.listdir(testdir)
@@ -166,11 +175,18 @@ def findtests(testdir=None, stdtests=STDTESTS, nottests=NOTTESTS):
     others = set(stdtests) | nottests
     for name in names:
         mod, ext = os.path.splitext(name)
-        if mod[:5] == "test_" and ext in (".py", "") and mod not in others:
-            tests.append(mod)
+        if mod[:5] == "test_" and mod not in others:
+            if mod in splittestdirs:
+                subdir = os.path.join(testdir, mod)
+                if len(base_mod):
+                    mod = f"{base_mod}.{mod}"
+                else:
+                    mod = f"test.{mod}"
+                tests.extend(findtests(subdir, [], nottests, splittestdirs, mod))
+            elif ext in (".py", ""):
+                tests.append(f"{base_mod}.{mod}" if len(base_mod) else mod)
     return stdtests + sorted(tests)
 
-
 def get_abs_module(ns: Namespace, test_name: str) -> str:
     if test_name.startswith('test.') or ns.testdir:
         return test_name