diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/load.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/load.js
index 9661bc716bfa76..13b286dc925772 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/load.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/load.js
@@ -29,13 +29,12 @@ const {
  * @param {ESModuleContext} context used to decorate error messages
  * @returns {Promise<{ responseURL: string, source: string | BufferView }>}
  */
-async function getSource(url, context) {
+function getSource(url, context) {
   const { protocol, href } = url;
   const responseURL = href;
   let source;
   if (protocol === 'file:') {
-    const { readFile: readFileAsync } = require('internal/fs/promises').exports;
-    source = await readFileAsync(url);
+    source = readFileSync(url);
   } else if (protocol === 'data:') {
     const result = dataURLProcessor(url);
     if (result === 'failure') {
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ function getSourceSync(url, context) {
  * @param {LoadContext} context
  * @returns {LoadReturn}
  */
-async function defaultLoad(url, context = kEmptyObject) {
+function defaultLoad(url, context = kEmptyObject) {
   let responseURL = url;
   let {
     importAttributes,
@@ -110,13 +109,13 @@ async function defaultLoad(url, context = kEmptyObject) {
     source = null;
   } else if (format !== 'commonjs') {
     if (source == null) {
-      ({ responseURL, source } = await getSource(urlInstance, context));
+      ({ responseURL, source } = getSource(urlInstance, context));
       context = { __proto__: context, source };
     }
 
     if (format == null) {
       // Now that we have the source for the module, run `defaultGetFormat` to detect its format.
-      format = await defaultGetFormat(urlInstance, context);
+      format = defaultGetFormat(urlInstance, context);
 
       if (format === 'commonjs') {
         // For backward compatibility reasons, we need to discard the source in
diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
index 493e9881a466c3..1f6b47857d0d93 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/loader.js
@@ -804,9 +804,9 @@ class ModuleLoader {
    * if any.
    * @param {string} url The URL of the module to be loaded.
    * @param {object} context Metadata about the module
-   * @returns {Promise<{ format: ModuleFormat, source: ModuleSource }>}
+   * @returns {Promise<{ format: ModuleFormat, source: ModuleSource }> | { format: ModuleFormat, source: ModuleSource }}
    */
-  async load(url, context) {
+  load(url, context) {
     if (loadHooks.length) {
       // Has module.registerHooks() hooks, use the synchronous variant that can handle both hooks.
       return this.#loadSync(url, context);