The Influence of the Function of Satisfying the Need for Relatedness in E-learning Vocabulary Course

抄録

New developments in information technology have engendered the addition of new features to e-learning courses that aim to satisfy the need for relatedness, one of the three innate psychological needs postulated in the self-determination theory proposed by Deci and Ryan. This study examined the effect of the need for relatedness in e-learning settings on learner's performance and affective attitudes toward vocabulary learning. A commercial e-learning course was adopted in which learners can pair up and earn "learning points" with their partner. A total of 97 Japanese first-year college students participated in this research, divided into two groups. One group was told to make a pair using the function offered in the online course. The other group was to study individually. At the end of the period, they were given a set of questions about their feeling toward e-learning. After the five-month experiment, the results indicated that satisfying the need for relatedness motivates learners, makes them work harder on the material, and increases their word retention rate in later testing. It was also found that working in pairs increases learners' preference for online vocabulary learning.