Exploring Motivational Design and Motivation Types Facilitated By an Online Support System for Learning Literature

This paper is a study designed to explore the influence of an Online Support System for learning Literature (LitOSS) on a group of twenty-five Form 4 Malaysian students who generally perceived English Literature as difficult and uninteresting. This asynchronous mode of learning was introduced with the intention of enhancing the students‟ motivation to learn English literature through a blended learning environment. LitOSS featured seven literature topics encompassing poems, short stories and novel, presented in the forms of online textbased materials, graphics and videos. This study was framed by the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) of language learning, Keller‟s (1987) Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) Model and the Social Cognitive Model of Motivation (SCMM). The motivational design of the system and the prevalent types of motivation facilitated by the system were measured using two sets of questionnaires (i.e. the adapted versions of WebMac Sr. 4.0 and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)) and a focus group interview. Findings from the study support the prediction that LitOSS would significantly enhance students‟ motivation to learn literature due to its highly motivating design. It was also discovered that not only did the system promote self-efficacy and a high control of learning, it also motivated the students extrinsically and intrinsically.


INTRODUCTION
In 1989, literature was introduced in the English Language syllabus under the Malaysian Integrated Curriculum for Schools (henceforth identified as KBSM, a Malay acronym for the secondary schools" curriculum) but evaluation of this subject was not made obligatory in public examinations.As a result, it did not receive sufficient attention compared to the four basic English Language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.In 1995, this subject, which featured poems, short stories, dramas and novels, became a required element of the English Language paper and was made compulsory for all students from Form one to Form five to learn and ultimately to be tested in a section in the 1119 English Language Paper in the public examination, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).Among the required literary texts at the upper secondary level included foreign masterpieces such as Shakespeare"s "Sonnet 18" (poem), Bessie Head"s "Looking for a rain God' (short story) and John Steinbeck"s "The Pearl" (novel).Subsequently, over a decade later, in 2010, new literary texts for poems, short stories and novels were introduced nationwide.These texts were Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 perceived as more appropriate for the students" levels of English Language proficiency regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds.In addition, it was felt that the central themes of the new literary texts which evolved around current social issues would be more appealing to the students.Since these developments, literature has been given greater emphasis in the school syllabus.This move is in line with the Ministry of Education"s aspiration as reflected in the objectives outlined in the KBSM syllabus.
Language for aesthetic purposes enables learners to enjoy literary texts at a level suited to their language proficiency and develops in them the ability to express themselves creatively.
(KBSM English language Curriculum Specifications, 2000, p. 3) Nevertheless, the main objective to teach literature for its aesthetic purpose was far from realised in reality due to various challenges related to the teaching and learning of this subject.Literature learning has always been perceived as tough and uninteresting by Malaysian students.A study on literature learning among secondary school students conducted by Gurnam (2003) revealed that students found the teachers dull and boring and the activities introduced unexciting.She also discovered that teachers tended to use only worksheets and workbooks in teaching literature.This finding was reinforced by Marzilah and Sharifah Nadia (2010) in their study on 60 secondary school students in Johor Bahru.They stated that generally the students only viewed studying literature as reading ordinary text and did not really discover the underlying principle of learning literature.They reiterated that the reasons for students" disinterest in learning literature stemmed from the teachers" uninteresting techniques of approaching the subject which focused primarily on the language part of literature such as grammar and vocabulary when teaching literature and failed to teach the subject for its aesthetic value.They further emphasized the fact that many Malaysian teachers taught literature for the sake of assisting their students to answer exam questions and pass examinations.This could be a result of the examination-oriented system of education in Malaysia that necessitates the teachers to teach all the essential themes and topics to prepare students for the final examination.
In essence, due to the overemphasis on teaching specific language skills tested in examination, meaningful teaching and learning of the English literature has been neglected and this has led to teachers resorting to the fastest way to cover all literature topics for the examination.Such a scenario is also evident in the fully-residential, high-performing secondary school where this research study was situated.In an effort to address this distressing trend and make the learning of literature more meaningful, the English Language Panel introduced a Literature online support System (LitOSS) operating on a platform, Moodle in 2010.LitOSS was implemented to teach the English Literature to complement the traditional classroom approach.It was specifically designed for Form 4 students who would sit for the SPM examination when they were in Form 5.In the first two years of LitOSS"s implementation, the feedback from teachers and students appeared to be positive.However, no empirical study has been undertaken to determine its effectiveness hence the relevance of this study.In addition, the dearth of research pertaining to literature learning and technology in the Malaysian secondary school context (Sivapalan & Wan Fatimah, 2010) makes this study crucial and timely.This study which attempts to explore the influence of LitOSS in promoting students" motivation in learning literatureis guided by thefollowing research questions.
a. How does the implementation of LitOSS affect students" motivation to learn English literature?Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 b.How do the students perceive the motivational design of the literature online support system? c.What types of motivation are evident in students" learning of literature using LitOSS?

THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual framework of the study is underpinned by Keller"s (1987) Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) Model for increasing motivation and the Social Cognitive Model of Motivation (SCMM).Both models are based on Bandura"s (1996) Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) which describes human functioning as a triadic, dynamic and reciprocal interaction of environmental factors, cognitions, and behaviour.This theory posited that the interaction between the person and behaviour includes the influences of a person"s thoughts and actions and the interaction between the person and the environment involves human beliefs and cognitive competencies which are modified by social influences within the environment.The third interaction is between the environment and behaviour where a person"s behaviour determines the aspects of their environment and in the end their behaviour is changed by the environment (Bandura, 1986).SCT, which has its root in the learning theory of cognitivism, is commonly used as the theoretical foundation for studies on students" behaviour and attitudes.Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework adopted in the study.Keller"s (1987) ARCS Model is expounded to examine the motivational design of LitOSS in this study.It will look into "the process of arranging resources and procedures to bring about changes in motivation" to learn (Keller, 1988, p. 406).Keller (1987) classifies the main concepts and theories of motivation into four aspects, gaining learner attention, establishing the relevance of the instruction to learner goals and learning styles, building learner confidence in determining the learning success and ensuring satisfaction in the instruction by managing learners' intrinsic and extrinsic outcomes.The acronym ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) is derived from this motivational process.
The SCMM model adopted in the study to explore the learners" motivation types categorised motivation into three general constructs; expectancy, value and affect (Pintrich, 1989).Value component (i.e.intrinsic and extrinsic goals) emphasizes reasons for a learner"s engagement in any academic task while expectancy (i.e.self-efficacy and goal of learning)

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)
Language learning theory of cognitivism Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 refers to a learner"s belief in accomplishing a task.The final construct, affect, looks at a learner"s anxiety at taking tests and examinations.However, in the case of this study, affect refers to the learners" anxiety while using the support system (i.e.LiTOSS).

STUDIES ON MOTIVATION TO LEARN IN AN ONLINE CONTEXT
In general, learners" motivation has always been related to successful learning.Motivation refers to "the reasons underlying behavior" (Guay et al., 2010, p. 712).A review of motivational literature in online contexts indicates the usefulness of the web-based systems in motivation enhancement.A study by Piteira and Costa (2006) on the usability of the LMS Moodle implemented in an online course in relation to motivation in a university in Portugal revealed that the online course using Moodle platform as well as Moodle-facilitated provided activities such as quizzes, lessons and chats were well accepted by students.This was due to the interesting features offered by the web tools in Moodle.Likewise, Chan Lin (2009), in her study of a12-week web-based course at Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan discovered that the design and implementation of web-based activities were useful in motivating students to learn online.This study which integrated Keller"s ARCS Model in its lesson"s design and implementation revealed that students were optimistic about the innovative learning approach.This finding proposed that good motivational design of an online course is crucial in enhancing learners" motivation.In examining motivation types, Radovan (2011) who conducted a study on a distance-learning programme at the University of Ljubljan, Slovenia had discovered the prominence of two motivation types among online learners, namely task value and self-efficacy (expectancy).Motivational factors such as intrinsic goal orientation, task value and self-efficacy in the context of a distance-learning course were also perceived as significant.
While there were studies on the benefits of online learning systems in motivating the students towards the learning of English in Malaysia (Pramela & Wong, 2009;Thang & Bidmeshki, 2010;Pramela, Supyan & Nackeeran, 2011;Thang et al. 2012), there is a general dearth of motivational studies pertaining to the use of such systems in learning literature internationally and locally.Only two such studies could be found in the Malaysian secondary school context.One study on Malay literature, was undertaken by Zamri and Nur Aisyah (2011) which investigated the perceptions of a group of Form 1 students towards the use of a multimedia application in the learning of a Malay novel called "Istana Menanti."Their findings revealed that the system was able to diversify the teachers" teaching methods and attract the students to learn Malay literature.The second study was on the learning of English literature by a group of Form 4 students using a web-based multimedia approach (Sivapalan & Wan Fatimah, 2010).Similarly, they discovered that technology use in literature learning was indeed a promising alternative in enhancing the students" interest to learn.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENTS OF LitOSS
LitOSS comprises seven literature topics following the Form 4 KBSM English Literature syllabus.All learning activities for each topic are either text-based materials or multimedia resources using graphics and videos.The materials uploaded onto LitOSS can be classified into three categories: (1) compulsory materials such as literature notes and exercises provided by the Curriculum Development Centre; (2) additional materials developed by teachers and (3) materials obtained from the World Wide Web used for enrichment purposes.The online materials provided to students comprised a good mix of poems, short stories and novels.All materials are either uploaded using MS Words, Power Point and PDF files or hyperlinked to other sites in the World Wide Web such as YouTube and the authors" own blogs.Learning Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 tools available on Moodle such as "assignment", "forum", "chat", "journal" and others, which allow the integration of a wide range of resources to create and upload materials, are also utilised to enhance literature learning.Figure 2 illustrates a screen shot of one of the topics (i.e.poem-He had such quiet eyes) in LitOSS.This case study adopted a mixed-methods approach.The sample population for the quantitative data elicitation was 25 Form 4 students from an elite secondary school and five from the same population were selected for a focus group interview.The school is classified as an elite school due to its high-performance and status as a showcase school in the country.The selection was based on homogeneous purposive sampling technique that aims to achieve a homogeneous sample which shares the same characteristics or traits.A homogeneous sample selects "individuals or sites based on membership in a subgroup that has defining characteristics" (Creswell, 2005, p. 206).
In this case, all students were 16 years old, academically excellent (i.e. they achieved distinctions in all the subjects assessed in the Malaysian Primary School Evaluation Test (UPSR)), female and of Malay origin.Although the sampling is homogeneous in the aforementioned aspects, the students were of mixed abilities as far as their English Language proficiency is concerned.As the school enrolment was drawn from various states of Malaysia, the sample population was demographically varied based on the students" parents" place of residence; 16 of these students came from suburban areas and nine from the urban regions of Malaysia.This factor had contributed to the students" varied proficiency levels.Generally Malaysian students residing in the urban areas tend to be much more proficient in English than those in suburban and rural areas.Hence, stratified purposive sampling based on the students" level of English language proficiency was adopted to ensure a good mix of students of different proficiency levels.The sample population was drawn from six existing classes which were classified according to an English diagnostic test prepared by the English Language Panel.Class A comprised students with the highest scores in the test, followed by Class B and so forth.14 students were selected from classes A, B and C and 11 students were chosen from classes D, E and F. All students taking part in the study were familiar with the Moodle-based online support system which has been in operation for two years.It is also vital to note that all students resided in the hostel since it is a fully-residential school; hence, Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 they have easy access to LitOSS as the school is equipped with 24 hours wireless Internet facility.

RESEARCH PROCEDURES
Two quantitative instruments were utilised in the study to elicit data on students" motivation.The first instrument, Small"s (1999) Website Motivational Analysis Checklist 4.0 Sr. (WebMac Sr. 4.0), was used to assess students" perception of the motivational design of LitOSS.It has four constructs (i.e."attention", "relevance", "confidence" and "satisfaction").The original version has 32 items whereas the modified version has 52 items, which means that 20 items were added.Some of the original items were also modified to suit the needs of this study.Using this questionnaire, LitOSS was evaluated according to the following scale: (1) highly motivating, (2) needs some improvement, (3) needs much improvement.
The second instrument used was the adapted version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) which sought for data on the types of motivation influencing students when using the system.It was classified according to three main motivational constructs (namely value, expectancy and affect).Each construct has five attributes: two attributes for value (ie.intrinsic and extrinsic), two for expectancy (i.e.control of learning beliefs and self-efficacy) and one for affect (i.e.anxiety).The original version has 31 items while the modified version has only 21 items.This was due to the elimination of the "task value" construct.The quantitative data were triangulated with the qualitative data derived from a focus group interview with five students from the same sample population.
In terms of implementation, LitOSS was accessed by students at the school computer labs according to their weekly academic time-table for English lessons.Each session was 80 minutes long and once a week.A total of 12 weeks was deemed necessary to cover all seven topics assigned.In a LitOSS classroom, students were left on their own to self-access the websites and explore the online notes and exercises whereas their teacher took on the role of a facilitator available when students needed clarifications concerning the literary component introduced.All communication pertaining to the lesson, whether student-student or studentteacher was conducted online via "chat" or "forum" which are some of the features of LitOSS.Besides formal lessons in labs, the students were also welcomed to access the system at any time convenient to them at the two "cyber kiosks" available within the school compound to complete the assignments given in class.
At the end of 12 weeks of LitOSS implementation, data were elicitated using the two formerly described quantitative instruments.Using SPSS v.19, descriptive statistics were employed for data analysis.Prior to analyzing the data, the internal consistency of the instruments was measured using Cronbach Alpha reliability tests.For the adapted WebMac Sr. 4.0, the value was found to be 0.82 and for the adapted MSLQ, the value was 0.89 (p> 0.70) which confirmed the reliability of both instruments.The analysis of the adapted WebMacSr 4.0 was conducted using boxplot analysis while a ranking of mean scores was used to explicate findings from the adapted MSLQ.As for the focus group interview, Atlas.ti7 was used to code the data and following that a thematic analysis was conducted.

RESULTS
The analysis of data in the study is classified into two parts namely the motivational design of LitOSS and the types of motivation influencing students when using the system.Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021

THE MOTIVATIONAL DESIGN OF LitOSS
Findings from WebMacSr.4.0 yielded positive feedback for all four constructs of Keller"s (1987) ARCS Model (i.e.: attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) as illustrated in Figure 3.The responses from all 25 respondents fell in the category of "highly motivating" with a mean score of 3.30 and above for each motivational construct.This indicated that the students are of the opinion that LitOSS was highly motivating in its design.Features in the system"s design include the content, layout and hyperlinks.It was also uncovered that confidence and satisfaction emerged as the most favored constructs in the design of LitOSS.The focus group interview data were able to shed more light as to why the students found the system design highly motivating.With regard to confidence, the respondents stated four features in the system which boosted their confidence in the system namely self-paced learning, proper content arrangement, self-access learning and user-friendliness.Self-paced learning was described as one of the best features of the system.A respondent (R3) stated that, "I think that LitOSS has helped me get more interested in literature because of … self-paced learning".
Another respondent (R5) justified her preference for LitOSS as "…what I particularly like about the system is that we can go on at our own pace…we don't have to wait for other people to understand the literature component before we can move on…" As for satisfaction, most students cited good content as contributing to their greatest satisfaction.When asked to give their views on each type of materials (i.e.novel, poems and short stories) introduced, a respondent (R5) expressed her satisfaction towards all the literary materials when she said that "…all the content in LitOSS is …already good enough for you... for you know…to understand yourself..."Other satisfying features include functioning hyperlinks, clear graphics and the perception that LitOSS is a one-stop literature learning centre (i.e.all information related to the literary topics introduced is accessible via LitOSS).
As far as the category of attracting attention is concerned, most students perceived the attractive design of LitOSS and the interesting assignments/exercises as most motivating.Majority of the students described the system"s design (i.e.layout, colour, background Volume 14(2), June 2014 (http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014GEMA- -1402-08) -08) ISSN: 1675-8021 design) as interesting and appealing while the assignments/exercises were described as fun.A respondent (R2) said: "…then, the assignments…its fun, it's interesting to do…I would do it myself even without the teacher telling me to do".

Another respondent, R5 added
"In the exercises itself there are many other different activities that you can do, like bingo, and there's idioms…activities like that can really catch other people's attention… " Finally, with regard to relevance, a few students said that they found relevance between the materials in LitOSS to the KBSM literature syllabus and the applicability of knowledge and values gained to real life.As described by a respondent (R3) who usually used Youtube for entertainment purposes: "… you don't just watch music videos and stuff...you actually watch something that has something to do with the syllabus imposed by the government…" Another respondent (R1) claimed that she could relate the moral values learned in the literary texts to real life situations.

THE TYPES OF MOTIVATION FACILITATED BY LitOSS
The mean score analysis based on the three constructs of motivation from the adapted MSLQ also revealed very positive feedback from the students.Since this instrument adopted the 7points of the Likert"s scale from 1not at all true of me to 7-very true of me, the following categories were adopted to describe the level of motivation based on the mean scores.1.00 -3.00 as low level of motivation 3.01 -5.00 as medium level of motivation 5.01 -7.00 as high level of motivation

TYPES OF MOTIVATION BASED ON MOTIVATIONAL CONSTRUCTS
Table 1 indicated that students exhibited high level of motivation for all three motivational constructs.Expectancy was the most preferred motivation type followed by affect and value.This finding indicated that students were most motivated when they were self-efficacious and had high control of their own learning.In addition, they also possessed high intrinsic and extrinsic drive to learn literature via LitOSS.It was also significant to note that the finding on affect indicated that students did not have much anxiety when using LitOSS.The negative statements in the questionnaire on affect yielded high mean scores, which indicated low anxiety.

TYPES OF MOTIVATION BASED ON ATTRIBUTES
After looking at the most prevalent motivational construct, an examination of the attributes of each construct was conducted to discover which attributes had motivated the students the most.Data generated based on the mean scores revealed some significant findings.indicated a high level of motivation for all five attributes of the three constructs.This finding suggests that students were most motivated when LitOSS enabled them to be more selfefficacious.It was also evident that students did not face much anxiety when using the system and that they were both extrinsically and intrinsically driven to learn literature via LitOSS.
The system also enabled them to have control over their own learning.

TYPES OF MOTIVATION BASED ON ITEM RANKS
An analysis of item mean scores was conducted to find out the types of motivation and items that had motivated the students the most when learning literature via LitOSS.Findings revealed that a staggering 19 (90.5%) out of 21 items had mean scores of above 5.01 which was indicative of a high level of motivation and 2(9.5%) items had mean scores between 3.01 and 5.00 indicating a medium level of motivation.No item scored lower than 3.0.The 12 items that students obtained the highest scores (m > 5.50) for and perceived as most motivating are listed in Table 3.An examination of the top 12 items revealed that students were most self-efficacious when learning via LitOSS.This motivation type which belonged to the expectancy construct suggested that students were more capable to learn literature content and basic concepts through the support system.They felt that they could even understand the most difficult materials in LitOSS.Moreover, the students also believed that they would do well in literature after using the system.Besides self-efficacy, the students also possessed high control of learning.It appeared that students were motivated to use LitOSS because it allowed them to use other materials from the Internet to increase their understanding of literature as the system provided different ways for them to learn the subject.This could be attributed to the hyperlinks to writers" blogs, YouTube videos and other World Wide Web sites offered by LitOSS.This finding suggested that the freedom to access materials from the Internet, which allowed the students to have control over their learning, motivated them highly to learn literature via LitOSS.
Other than possessing high self-efficacy and high control of learning, students were also intrinsically and extrinsically (i.e.value construct) motivated to learn via LitOSS.In fact, they were more extrinsically driven due to the prospect of getting a good job as they believed that the system was capable of improving their command of the English Language.Securing good grades and doing better than their counterparts in literature were other reasons that elevated their motivation to use the system.The students seemed to be intrinsically motivated too when they perceived that materials in LitOSS enabled them to learn new things.LitOSS also gave them the satisfaction when they could thoroughly understand the course content via this mode of learning.It is also evident that the students experienced low anxiety level when learning literature via LitOSS.
Despite having high extrinsic motivation pertaining to having a good command of English and obtaining good grades, the students were only moderately motivated by their friends and school policy.Table 4 illustrated the only items that students found to be moderately motivating and they were from the extrinsic category of the value construct.The findings revealed that students were only moderately influenced by their friends in the choice to use LitOSS.More importantly students did not feel that the pressure put on them to use LitOSS was an extrinsically motivating factor which is encouraging as it suggests that the school policy on imposing the use of online learning was not perceived negatively.

DISCUSSION
In essence, data from the two adapted quantitative instruments and the focus group interview had uncovered some interesting patterns.First, this study had illuminated the efficacy of LitOSS in literature learning by engendering a positive influence on learner motivation, hence addressing the research question on how the implementation of LitOSS affects students" motivation to learn English literature.It was evident that students were highly motivated to learn literature through this mode of learning.This finding is supported by findings in two other local studies on the expediency of online or multimedia applications in literature learning (Sivapalan & Wan Fatimah, 2010;Zamri Mahamod & Nur Aisyah, 2011).Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 Second, on the question of how the learners perceive the motivational design of the literature online support system, findings revealed that LitOSS was perceived as "highly motivating" in its design.Students unanimously concurred that the design of LitOSS was highly motivating in all four constructs based on Keller"s (1987) ARCS Model namely "attention", "relevance", "confidence" and "satisfaction"."Confidence" and "satisfaction" emerged as the most preferred criteria in assessing the motivational design of LitOSS compared with "attention" and "relevance".Four features in LitOSS identified as contributing to the students" confidence include self-paced learning, proper content arrangement, selfaccess learning and user-friendliness.Additionally, the students were most satisfied with the content provided besides other satisfying features such as functioning hyperlinks, clear graphics and LitOSS as a one-stop literature learning centre.The system was also perceived as appealing as it attracted them to learn online and furnished them with relevant materials to expedite their literature learning.Other than that, the attractive design and interesting assignments/exercises were also perceived as motivating.This discovery reinforced findings on the significance of incorporating motivation into the instructional design as proposed by Keller"s ARCS Model (Akdemir & Colakoglu, 2008).It is also consistent with that of Chan Lin"s (2009) study that was also underpinned by Keller"s ARCS Motivational Model.
Third, the study had furnished insights into the types of motivation evident in students" learning of literature using LitOSS.The prevalence influence of all three motivation types (i.e.value, expectancy and affect) was traced in their learning process.The expectancy construct is the most prominent motivation type discovered and this finding supports Radovan"s (2011) prominent types of motivation in online context.To be more specific, selfefficacy, an attribute of expectancy, appeared as the most predominant motivation type.The findings suggested that the students perceived LitOSS as contributing to their being selfefficacious which resulted in them being more capable to learn literature content and basic concepts as well as understand the more difficult materials.They also believed that they would improve tremendously after using the system.This is very encouraging as "learners who are learning and can feel an actual sense of progress and real accomplishment usually persist longer in learning activities" (Radovan, 2010, p. 8).Besides the prevalence of selfefficacy, it was also evident that students believed that LitOSS helped them gained high control of their own learning and extrinsically and intrinsically motivated tem to learn literature.This finding is also consistent with that of Radovan"s (2011).Additionally, the beliefs that LitOSS enhances their command of the English Language and empowers them to acquire good grades were factors that extrinsically inspired the students to learn via this mode of learning.A very important finding is the discovery of the co-existence of intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation among these learners.This is indeed promising as generally Malaysian learners tend to be extrinsically motivated due to the examination-oriented system of education in Malaysia.However, it is vital to note that findings in the study are valid in the context of this particular elite residential school or that of similar populations only.

CONCLUSION
This study had added to the existing literature on online literature learning in a secondary school setting, particularly in the Malaysian context.It has demonstrated the effectiveness of a support system in enhancing motivation to learn literature.The findings supported Bandura"s (1996) Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) which proposed that the learning environment (i.e. the online learning environment in this case) is an influencing factor in learning, besides the individual learners" behaviours.Nonetheless, the likelihood of errors resulting from students" inconsistent self-perceptions or failure to understand items of the questionnaire administered cannot be ignored.Hence there is the necessity to undertake the Volume 14(2), June 2014(http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/GEMA-2014-1402-08)ISSN: 1675-8021 study on a large sample population and to use inferential statistics to reduce such errors.Despite the positive findings obtained, it is also vital to consider the possibility that outcomes in the study are to an extent due to the novelty effect that might have transpired as a result of the students" exposure to web-based learning.While many studies revealed the high value of online learning (MacFarland, 1999;Schoech & Helton, 2002), Wright et al. (2000) attributed the success of this mode of learning to a new or different way of learning, as its "novelty" creates a perception of an increased value.However, in the context of the students in this study, they had been exposed to this mode of learning (i.e.online learning using Moodle platform) for a full year before LitOSS was introduced to them and as such, the system is not completely new to them.Hence, the effect of novelty should be less prominent in this context though it should not be entirely dismissed.
Despite these limitations, the implications of the study to this field are significant.LitOSS offers an alternative approach to address the difficulties faced by teachers in teaching literature in Malaysian secondary schools as highlighted by Gurnam (2003), Marzilah and Sharifah Nadia (2010).This approach reduces students" dependency on teachers as students would be able to explore the literary texts independently and diversify their learning approaches.The online collaborative learning environment has also shown to reduce students" anxiety, hence increasing their confidence to learn literature despite previous difficulties arising from the complexity of the literary discourse.Students are also free to focus on areas that they feel they need more enrichment and practice in.These advantages together with the other motivating features of LitOSS highlighted in the study are evidence to support the viability of implementing a literature online support system to diversify the teaching and learning of literature to Malaysian secondary school students.

FIGURE 2 .
FIGURE 2. Screen shot of a sample lesson in LitOSS

FIGURE 3 .
FIGURE 3. A boxplot on students" perception of the motivational design of LitOSS (N=25)

TABLE 1 .
Mean scores of the three constructs of motivation

TABLE 2 .
Mean scores of the attributes of motivation (N=25)

TABLE 4 .
Mean scores of the least preferred items of motivation (N=25)