Motivation has been identified as a main factor influencing engagement and achievement of learners in online learning. Studying the motivations of language learners is crucial to address the challenges of online learning. This quantitative study is done to explore learners’ online motivation (Fowler, 2018) from the point of view of McClelland’s (1965) theory. McClelland’s theory suggested three basic needs that people derive from their life experiences: Need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation and Need for Power. This study used a 5-point Likert Scale instrument consisting of 4 sections. Section A has 3 items on demographic profile. Section B has 12 items on Power, section C has 14 items on Achievements and section D has 12 items on Affiliation. A purposive sample of 156 participants from a public university in Malaysia responded to the survey. The major findings reveal the positive impact of McClelland’s Needs Theory on online language learning. Most students believed in their online learning abilities in terms of self-efficacy and desired motivation, control belief factors also led them to achieve desired outcomes. Students were also influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to perform better in online language learning. Students felt engaged and can interact freely in the language classroom. A strong positive correlation was found between all the variables to motivate online language learning. It is recommended that the motivation to learn languages online be further explored from a variety of perspectives and theories. Future research could also examine the comparison of motivation theories on online learning.
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