International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies – ISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 12, no. 7, 2018 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i7.9636 Noor Asmina Binti Mohd Rashid(*), Shaharuddin Bin Md Salleh, Norah Binti Md Noor Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia noorasmina@gmail.com Abstract—The existence of a game-based mobile application in the field of education has largely helped students to be more interested and motivated to learn due to the presence of game elements in the apps which makes learning more interesting. The Jawi script is one of the subjects that is difficult to learn by younger generation since they do not apply the use of Jawi in their private lives. The inclusion of creative features such as game elements should attract students to explore the Jawi script. A pre- experimental one- group pre- test and post- test study was conducted in which a game-based mobile application for learning Jawi subject named G-Jawi was developed and tested among 20 primary school stu- dents in order to observe how the elements of the game in the mobile app im- pacted their Jawi spelling skills. The apps were also evaluated by 5 teachers and the findings shows that the game-based mobile application was able to improve the students’ performance. This finding was supported by positive results amongst the students which revealed a mean value for the post- test was higher than the pre- test of 89.00. In conclusion, the mobile games app has successfully enhanced student’s understanding of Jawi subjects compared to the traditional learning methods. Keywords—game-based mobile application, game elements, Jawi understand- ing, and students’ performance 1 Introduction The diversity of methodologies in teaching and learning process is very helpful in the education system throughout the world. One of it is the game based learning, as stated by [16], which has helped students to be more focused, enthusiastic and success- ful in learning because play activity is something natural that is inherent in every indi- vidual’s interest of doing things. Hence, the usage of mobile game application for teach- ing and learning has recently increased worldwide whether in schools, kindergartens, universities, and other educational institute. Generally, mobile game-based learning can be accepted by all students regardless of age since each application and its content is designed and developed according to the user's suitability [1]. The developers should examine the appropriateness of each game 20 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' element for each learning app and set a game concept that the users can use to achieve the goal of using educational games based apps. According to [13], not all elements of the game have to be included, but a great game is a game that adopts elements that are appropriate in accordance with the concept of the game developed. Although there are various downloadable games for education on Google Play Store and Apple Store, there is still one subject that is less attention by the application devel- oper, which is Jawi education. As mentioned by [10], the weaknesses in Jawi writing skills causes students to be less interested in studying Islamic Education subject because the subject uses the Jawi script as the main medium in delivering lessons. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a mobile game application that focuses on Jawi spell skills named G- Jawi by targeting primary school students in helping to foster their interest in writing the Jawi script. 1.1 Relevance of mobile game-based learning According to [7], the usage of game as a teaching tool can motivate students as well as help students in making effective decisions for themselves. Game-based learning method is able to encourage students to understand the lessons taught by teachers through entertaining play situations [15]. Students can interact with their friends while playing the app and leading to an exchange of opinions and ideas session where the students enhances their cognitive skills. This was supported by [18], which proved that mobile learning games can provide positive impact on students if students understand the facts presented in the application as well as understanding the facts present in the textbook. Learning through mobile devices is actually a self-directed learning process where learning can take place anywhere and is not limited to the classroom only [7]. Albeit with no guidance from the teachers, students can still use the mobile game learning app as it comes with instructions, guides, and rules that help students to use, play, and learn something from the game learning apps. In addition, the learning game app is also equipped with notes to ensure that students understand the learning outcomes from us- ing the games while encouraging them to engage in higher order thinking skills [16]. According to [14], traditional teaching methods which solely use textbooks are not able to attract students towards learning. However, learning through games can generate a deeper understanding of the subjects learned as they have the opportunity to explore, investigate, think, and solve problems while playing [20]. Generally, mobile game based learning is the ideal medium to use today in line with the development of modern technology and 21st-century class as well as to increase the student's interest to explore subjects through games and to further improved the student achievements at school. 1.2 Characteristic of game elements According to [13], there are twelve elements which make the games become engag- ing and each element has its own purpose. The characteristic of each element is shown in Table 1 but the developer of G- Jawi mobile app has chosen ten out of twelve game iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 7, 2018 21 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' elements which are namely: fun, play, rules, goals, interactive, adaptive, outcomes and feedback, win states, challenge, and problem solving. Table 1. Characteristic of game elements [13] Game Element Purpose Fun Make players feel entertained and amused. Play Help players engage with passion. Rules Provides instructions to players. Goals Encourage and motivate players. Interactive Simplify the games. Adaptive Ensure that the games suitable to the players. Outcomes and Feedback Ensure the players learn and gain knowledge from the games. Win States Make the players proud. Challenge Give players spirit and adrenaline. Problem Solving Encourage players’ creativity. Interaction Help players becoming socialize. Story Line Make the game alive and give emotion to players. With reference to Table 1, mobile learning app developers can implement the ele- ments of the game by assisting them in the development of mobile learning app that meets the needs of their intended users. All elements of the game need to be adjusted according to the player's target age, game concept, learning content and local culture. Sensitivity should be taken into care of and the elements of violence in the game should be avoided in the game to ensure that players did not act aggressively when playing the game [13]. There are six key elements in the game which are: rules, goals, results and feedback, challenges, interactions, and storylines that differentiate mobile games or video games with other types of games [13]. The rules and goals element suggests that a good and purposeful game should have instructions and guideline to help players play properly and structured to achieve their objective at the end of the game [3]. In addition, the outcome and feedback element are to measure the player progress while ensuring play- ers learn something from the game. Besides that, the challenge elements are compo- nents that the players need to solve in order to continue the game. This element has its own distinctive stages from the easiest to the hardest. The next element is the interaction that fosters the spirit of socialism during the game in which the players can play and solve challenges together. The last element is the storyline that brings meaning to the game where the players can understand the requirements as well as making them imag- ine and fantasize while playing. As mentioned by [8], a good educational game need to have a balance in terms of playing satisfaction and enhancing knowledge in which play- ers uses their cognitive skills when solving a game challenge and improved their crea- tivity and high order thinking skills [12]. 22 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' 1.3 Significance of Jawi in Mobile Game App The Jawi script has been the official script for people in Malaya and is being used in various affairs such as in administrative, diplomatic relations, trade, Malay affairs, and education system [4]. However, due to the emergence and adoption of Roman script in Malaya after the formation of Malaysia, the Jawi script were less used causing the mar- ginalization of the Jawi script by the current generation [19]. As a result, the level of writing skills and spelling in Jawi amongst students is at a poor level where 65.4% of primary school students were not able to write Jawi [5]. Based on that result, this proves that all parties need to take actions to uplift the Jawi script for the younger generation. Hence, the appropriate approach to enhance the interest of the younger generation towards Jawi writing is to get adapted to modern technology and absorb the teaching and learning process [11] since the present generation who grew up in the digital world are familiar using modern technology [2]. Amongst today's trending technologies are mobile game apps which help students to improve their knowledge and skills in virtual environments [18] which can also be combined with Jawi education because it is one of the educations that require thinking skills and writing skills with the advantage of increasing the interest of students with attractive video game elements [2]. According to [17], students are more likely to learn Jawi writing through the use of game applications than using only books and pens as multimedia elements such as graphics, animation, and video which are helpful in giving understanding and mastery of writing, reading, and spelling Jawi among students as well as promoting active teach- ing and learning processes between teachers and students. Additionally, the use of mo- bile game learning applications offers self-directed learning which allows students to easily learn Jawi and carry out various activities such as training learning Jawi as ex- pressed by [9], the use of mobile applications in language learning helps in enhancing motivation and autonomy among students because it is easy and fast accessible to learn the language anytime and anywhere. 2 Methodology The effectiveness of the developed G-Jawi application was tested using quantitative research designs and pre- experimental one group pre- test and post- test methods upon the respondents. The purposive sampling method has been used in the process of se- lecting the samples. A total of twenty students from Year Two and Five teachers from one of the primary schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia were chosen as the respondents for the study. The students who were selected as the respondents comprised of students who have obtain the Grade A in the Islamic Education subject during their final exam for the year 2016. This selection is to ensure that all respondents were able to answer the questions presented in the app. Meanwhile, the five respondents selected are teach- ers that are teaching Islamic Education at the school. Two set of questionnaires com- paring both pre- test and post- test were distributed to the respondents in order to eval- uate the developed app. The development of G-Jawi game application is based on several elements of the game as suggested by [13] so as to ensure that G-Jawi achieved its’ objectives. Ten out iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 7, 2018 23 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' of the twelve proposed game elements have been implemented into the G-Jawi app which are fun, play, rules, goals, interactive, adaptive, outcomes and feedback, win states, challenge, and problem solving. All the elements of the game included in G- Jawi app were adjusted according to age, level of learning, and the ability of the re- spondents. The selection of colours, icons, graphics, video, visuals, and button design emphasizes interactive and adaptive elements where it facilitates players and attract players’ attention to keep playing without being bored [13]. Table 2 explains the usage of the game elements in G- Jawi app while Figure 1 shows some of the interfaces avail- able on the G-Jawi mobile app. Table 2. Use of game elements in G- Jawi No. Game Element Description 1 Fun Jawi videos sing along to help the players in improving their cognitive skills in memorizing the Jawi letters. 2 Play There are three types of games available in the G-Jawi app: 1. Spelling 2. Reading 3. Guessing 3 Rules The G-Jawi App provides the rules towards the players. 4 Goals The players must complete each level of the game in the G-Jawi App. 5 Interactive G-Jawi App was created with Interactive and friendly user buttons and links. 6 Adaptive Design, colour, animation, audio, and graphics used in the G-Jawi App are also in line with the level education of the players. 7 Outcomes and Feedback Each game comes with a description of the playing outcomes. 8 Win States The player will be informing whether they are winning or losing the game. 9 Challenge G-Jawi App has 4 levels. Higher level can only be unlocked if the player win the lower level. 10 Problem Solving The game is a problem-solving game where players need to complete each task by thinking and using their creativity. Fig. 1. Screens of the G-Jawi app with some game element based on [13] 24 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' 3 Findings A total of 20 students were selected to undergo the pre- experimental process to test the effectiveness of the game elements on G-Jawi game applications. The effectiveness of the app was evaluated using the pre-test and post-test questionnaires. Table 3 and 4 shows the differences and the increment in post-test scores obtained after using the G- Jawi game app. Overall, the post-test scores increased after using the G-Jawi applica- tion with the mean value of post-test (89.00) which is higher than the pre- test mean value (72.25). Table 3. Differences Pre- Test and Test- Post Score Student Pre-Test (%) Post-Test (%) Differences (Post-Test) – (Pre-Test) (%) 1 80 100 20 2 95 100 5 3 80 90 10 4 80 95 15 5 75 100 25 6 60 90 30 7 75 80 5 8 55 75 20 9 50 90 40 10 95 100 5 11 65 75 10 12 75 90 15 13 75 95 10 14 75 90 5 15 50 55 5 16 75 85 10 17 70 95 25 18 75 80 5 19 70 95 25 20 70 100 30 Table 4. Increased scores by number of students Score Increase (%) Number of Students 5 6 10 4 15 2 20 2 25 3 30 2 40 1 iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 7, 2018 25 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' In order to strengthened the results of the study, students were also required to an- swer a set of questionnaires so as to ascertain the views of students on the content of the G-Jawi app. Based on Table 5, the percentage of students who answered 'Yes' is higher than 'No' for all of the questions where they have agreed that elements of the game used in the applications is effective in attracting their attention. Table 5. Student's view on G-Jawi game application content No. Item Yes (%) No (%) 1 This game application caught my attention. 95.00 5.00 2 The game instructions are easy to understand. 90.00 10.00 3 Graphics or images used are appropriate, clear, and interesting. 95.00 5.00 4 The questions given are easy to understand. 80.00 20.00 5 This game application is easy to use. 85.00 15.00 6 Text or writing is easy to read. 95.00 5.00 7 The sounds present in the game are clearly heard. 85.00 15.00 8 The activity in this game is challenging my mind 70.00 30.00 9 The video can be watched perfectly. 85.00 15.00 10 The game is very fun. 100.00 0.00 Besides the students, teachers were also required to answer a set of questionnaires so as to obtain their views on the content of G-Jawi game applications. Based on Table 6, the highest mean value is 4.80 which is related to the clear audio- based questions in the app and followed by questions related to graphic elements, suitability of questions, and videos which help students memorize Jawi letters obtain the same mean value of 4.60. On average, the mean value is 4.28 indicating that teachers are satisfied with the content of the G-Jawi application where the mean value exceeding 3.68 indicated that the scores given by the respondents are high. These findings show that the elements of the game proposed by [13] was helped in the development of mobile game applications especially in the G-Jawi app. Students agreed that the G-Jawi app is able to attract their attention as a fun additional learning tool. Additionally, they can also easily understand the game instructions and rules as well as easy-to-understand questions besides students and teachers also feel that the G- Jawi app is interactive and adaptive to them as well as the game challenged the minds of the students. Furthermore, the videos included in the app enhance the student's en- joyment while using the app. To conclude, all of the elements of the game as mentioned in Table 2 have resulted in a game-based Jawi learning application that encourages students to learn Jawi in a fun and enjoyable atmosphere whilst encouraging them in recognizing Jawi letters, memorizing Jawi letters, and spelling Jawi. The results of both pre-test and post-test proved that learning by using mobile game apps more helped students to improve reading, spelling, and studying Jawi writing skills than traditional learning methods. This suggests that the use of game elements available on G-Jawi mobile game applications can make Jawi writing lessons more 26 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' interesting as well as motivating students to continue studying Jawi script from time to time. Table 6. Teacher's view on G-Jawi game application content No. Item 1 (%) 2 (%) 3 (%) 4 (%) 5 (%) Mean SD 1 The design of the app is interesting. 0 0 1 3 1 4.00 0.707 2 The instructions are easily understood by students. 0 0 1 3 1 4.00 0.707 3 Graphical and animation elements were used to attract students. 0 0 0 2 3 4.60 0.548 4 The questions used were in accord-ance with Year Two student levels. 0 0 0 2 3 4.60 0.548 5 All elements (buttons, icons, and links) in the app work properly. 0 0 0 5 0 4.00 0.00 6 Text or writing can be read clearly. 0 0 0 5 0 4.00 0.00 7 The audio used is heard clearly. 0 0 0 1 4 4.80 0.447 8 The interactivity of this app is in line with the student's level. 0 0 0 3 2 4.40 0.548 9 The video helps the students in memo- rizing Jawi letters. 0 0 0 2 3 4.60 0.548 10 The game is fun and challenges the students. 0 0 2 2 1 3.80 0.837 Average 4.28 0.489 4 Discussions and Conclusion Positive reactions from students and teachers through the evaluative instruments used has provide information that the game elements implemented into learning appli- cations can make the learning process more effective as it is able to attract students' attention in particular to use the app as an additional tool in learning Jawi. The findings of this study have supported the study by [20] that learning through playing enhances the students' understanding of learning and enhances the development of the student’s cognitive processes. However, the G-Jawi game app does not implement the fantasy element because according to [6], a good educational game app should highlight fantasy and game elements more than the content of learning where the students acquires knowledge and skills indirectly when playing the app. Even so, the development of the G-Jawi app has improved the understanding of students towards Jawi Education. This is supported by [3] that the characteristics of a game for Jawi spelling learning are goals, rules, challenges, and interactivity in which the developer also implements those char- acters in the G-Jawi app. Based on the elements of the game recommended by [13], there are twelve elements of the game that should be used to produce a good learning game. However, the developer uses only ten of the game elements and does not use interaction and story line elements in the development of G-Jawi which makes the play- ers unable to play their role in the G-Jawi app. iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 7, 2018 27 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' Using a game-based learning approach, the G-Jawi's application’s development has improved the students' understanding of Jawi education especially in the process of recognizing Jawi letters, memorizing Jawi letters, reading Jawi, and spelling Jawi. In addition, the use of game elements should be studied before implementing the devel- opment of applications to suit the learning objectives of each student. In addition, the development of the application should look at factors such as gender, skills, culture, and relationships with mentors to ensure that the applications is used as an additional learning tool during the teaching and learning process either at school or at home by the students and teachers. In conclusion, it is hoped that the G-Jawi game application will further enhance the students' understanding of Jawi education and indirectly im- prove Jawi writing in Malaysia. 5 Limitation and Future Studies The G-Jawi game application development does not use two game elements pro- posed by [13], interaction and story line. Thus, the effectiveness of the interaction ele- ment and the story line element cannot be seen in the G-Jawi app. For future research and development, the developers will use twelve game elements simultaneously which could be customized according to the chosen target user. In addition, future research will concentrate on how developers can develop game applications for Jawi learning for children as early as kindergarten so as to foster and introduce Jawi script before they enter school. Thus, these children can recognize and mastered the Jawi education as early as from five years old. 6 Acknowledgement The authors are deeply indebted and would like to express our gratitude to the Uni- versiti Teknologi Malaysia for supporting this study under the Research University Vote R.J130000.7716.4J242 7 References [1] Anderson, P., & Blackwood, A. (2004). Mobile and PDA technologies and their future use in education. JISC Technology and Standards Watch, 4(3), 3–33. Retrieved from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/acf11b0.pdf [2] Diah, N. M., Azan, N., & Zin, M. (2017). Development of a Digital Game for Learning to Write Jawi Characters in Mobile Environment, 10(29), 397–404. [3] Diah, N. M., Ismail, M., Ahmad, S., Anwar, S., & Syed, S. (2010). 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Mobile Learning Game Effectiveness in Cognitive Learning by Adults : A Comparative Study. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878117704350 [19] Yusoff, M. A. (2005). Perkembangan tulisan jawi dan aplikasinya dalam masyarakat islam di malaysia. Jurnal Usuluddin, Bil. 21, 23–38. [20] Zakiah, Azlina, & Yeo Kee Jiar. (2013). Keberkesanan Modul Belajar Melalui Bermain Ter- hadap Kefahaman Pengalaman Pranombor Kanak-kanak Prasekolah. 2nd International Sem- inar on Quality and Affordable Education (ISQAE 2013), (Isqae), 305–312. 8 Authors Noor Asmina Binti Mohd Rashid is a PhD student in Educational Technology Pro- gram from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 7, 2018 29 Paper—The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi' Dr. Shaharuddin Bin Md Salleh is a senior lecturer in School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. He is an active instructor and researcher in the field of social network- ing and animation for education. For more details, please visit: https://educ.utm.my/ shah/ Dr. Norah Binti Md Noor is a senior lecturer in School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. She is the former IT Manager in UTM Academic Leadership Center (UTMLead) and, an active instructor in the field of e-learning and latest technology- enabled learning strategy. For more details, please visit: https://educ.utm.my/norah/ Article submitted 04 October 2081. Resubmitted 23 October 2018. Fina acceptance 05 November 2018. Final version published as submitted by the authors. 30 http://www.i-jim.org