An Educational Arabic Sign Language Mobile Application for Children with Hearing Impairment

Heba Mohammad; Hatem  Tamimi; Fadi Abu-Amara

doi:10.3991/ijim.v16i20.32427

Authors

Heba Mohammad Higher College of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7394-6978
Hatem Tamimi Higher College of Technology, Dubai, UAE https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2415-9484
Fadi Abu-Amara Higher College of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1652-5990

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v16i20.32427

Keywords:

Educational tool, deaf, Arabic sign language, hearing impairment, mobile application

Abstract

This research addresses the need for a mobile application to teach Arabic sign language to deaf children in the Arab world. Therefore, the team develops an educational android application to teach deaf children the Arabic sign language using gamification. Also, the research aims to investigate the impact of using a mobile application for Arabic sign language on children’s learning performance. To achieve its goals, the research entails two main stages. The first stage focuses on building the mobile application based on the literature review and searching the Google and Apple stores for similar applications. In the second stage, an experiment is conducted on 10 deaf children—the experimental group adopted the mobile application for the learning process, whereas the control group followed the traditional learning approach. A pre-test and post-test were conducted, and the results show that children who used the game-based mobile application performed better in their quiz.

Author Biographies

Heba Mohammad, Higher College of Technology

Heba Mohammad is an Assistant Professor at the Computer and Information Sciences Division of the Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Heba worked as an Assistant Professor in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. In addition, she worked as a researcher in Italy. Heba received her Ph.D. in e-business from University of Salento, Italy. Her research focuses on knowledge Discovery and its applications, Knowledge Management, e-Business & e-learning and Emerging Technologies. Email: hmohammad@hct.ac.ae

Hatem Tamimi, Higher College of Technology, Dubai, UAE

Hatem Tamimi is the Associate Executive Dean- of Computer Information Science at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). He was born in Kuwait and received his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from Anglia Ruskin University. Dr. Tamimi’s experience spans the corporate and academic worlds as he holds 17 years of teaching and research experience in the area of Management Information Systems in different countries, in addition to 8 years of experience serving as a System Analyst in the private sector. His long academic career has been enriched further with active involvement in academic development activities through working in the curriculum and course development committees, on top of being active in research. Dr. Tamimi joined HCT in 2012.

Fadi Abu-Amara, Higher College of Technology

Fadi Abu-Amara is an Assistant Professor at the Computer and Information Sciences. Division of the Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He served as a program chair for five years. He has an active academic carrier with more than fourteen years of teaching and research activities in various reputed institutes and universities. Fadi received his PhD in Computer Engineering from Western Michigan University (USA) in 2010. His fields of interests include cryptography, cybersecurity, biomedical engineering, feature extraction, socially assistive robotics, and concrete bridge defect detection. He is also actively involved in promoting virtual and augmented reality to undergraduate students. Email: fabuamara@hct.ac.ae