Title :
Mobile language translation game
Author :
Ahmad, Wan Fatimah Wan ; Shaarani, Ainol Rahmah Shazi ; Afrizal, S.
Author_Institution :
Comput. & Inf. Sci. Dept., Univ. Teknol. PETRONAS, Tronoh, Malaysia
Abstract :
English has always been the International language both in reality and cyber world. It is one of the compulsory subjects in the Malaysian education syllabus. Many Malaysian children face difficulties in learning English. In addition, current methods of teaching English are not engaging enough especially for primary school children. Thus, the use of a bilingual game in teaching English can help make the learning process for these children more exciting and effective. To design and develop a suitable mobile-based bilingual educational game for preschool and primary school, studies on learning theories and suitable learning theories that can support these children´s learning process had been carried out. This study undertakes the study and development of a mobile language translation game developed for five to seven year old children. It was developed to run on the Android platform. A total of 40 respondents were involved in the usability testing. This study shows that mobile applications could engage children at a longer period of time in learning environment. Besides the attractiveness of using current technology, the impacts also seen through the improvement of marks obtained from the game. The findings show that most of the teachers and parents believe that the usage of the Bilingual Mobile Game is attractive and helpful in teaching English. Most of the respondents also agree to the implementation of SPELL IT! game as a learning tool to complement existing learning methods for the intended audience.
Keywords :
computer aided instruction; computer games; language translation; mobile computing; natural language processing; operating systems (computers); teaching; Android platform; English learning; English teaching; Malaysian education syllabus; SPELL IT game; international language; learning theories; mobile language translation game; mobile-based bilingual educational game; preschool school; primary school children; usability testing; Dictionaries; Educational institutions; Games; Instruments; Multimedia communication; Planning; Usability; Android; Bilingual; English; Mobile Game;
Conference_Titel :
Computer & Information Science (ICCIS), 2012 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Kuala Lumpeu
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1937-9
DOI :
10.1109/ICCISci.2012.6297190