Are Traditional Motivation Theories Used in Face-to-Face Classes Valid in an E-learning Environment?: Focusing on the Self-Determination Theory

This research aims to develop an elementary school English e-learning system based on the 'Self-determination theory (SDT)', which is widely applied to traditional face-to-face foreign language classes. The study also attempts to verify whether SDT-a traditional motivational theory that has been applied to face-to-face classes- is effective in an e-Learning environment with students who use this newly developed system. For the purposes of this project, the following three actions were carried out. First, a motivational strategy based on SDT was deduced. In SDT, the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness were introduced as basic psychological needs, and assumed that these three needs provided the natural motivation for learning, growth, and development. Second, an e-Learning system was created based on the deduced motivational strategy. Third, the system was implemented in 115 private tuition academies, and education was provided to 1,400 users for one year across the country. Afterwards, by surveying users, correlation between the role of the three psychological needs in learning English, and also the correlation between each need and motivation were investigated. Research results showed that traditional motivational theories used in face-to-face classes so far were effective in an e-Learning environment.