The Role of Game Elements in Improving Jawi Skills through a Mobile Game 'G-Jawi'

— 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 students in order to observe how the elements of the game in the mobile app impacted 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.


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 successful in learning because play activity is something natural that is inherent in every individual's interest of doing things. Hence, the usage of mobile game application for teaching 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 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 developer, 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.

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 using 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 21 st -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.

Characteristic of game elements
According to [13], there are twelve elements which make the games become engaging 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 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 elements 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 players learn something from the game. Besides that, the challenge elements are components 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 imagine 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 players uses their cognitive skills when solving a game challenge and improved their creativity and high order thinking skills [12].

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 marginalization 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 teaching and learning processes between teachers and students. Additionally, the use of mobile 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 expressed 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.

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 selecting 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 teachers that are teaching Islamic Education at the school. Two set of questionnaires comparing both pre-test and post-test were distributed to the respondents in order to evaluate 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 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 respondents. 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 available on the G-Jawi mobile app. Table 2. Use of game elements in G-Jawi

Fun
Jawi videos sing along to help the players in improving their cognitive skills in memorizing the Jawi letters.

Play
There are three types of games available in the G-Jawi app: 1. Spelling 2. Reading 3. Guessing

Rules
The G-Jawi App provides the rules towards the players.

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.

Outcomes and Feedback
Each game comes with a description of the playing outcomes.

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.

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]

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 application with the mean value of post-test (89.00) which is higher than the pre-test mean value (72.25).  In order to strengthened the results of the study, students were also required to answer 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. 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 enjoyment 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 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

Discussions and Conclusion
Positive reactions from students and teachers through the evaluative instruments used has provide information that the game elements implemented into learning applications 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 characters 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 players unable to play their role in the G-Jawi app.
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 development 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 improve Jawi writing in Malaysia.

Limitation and Future Studies
The G-Jawi game application development does not use two game elements proposed by [13], interaction and story line. Thus, the effectiveness of the interaction element 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.