Development of an Augmented Reality Application to Support Early Childhood Learning of Consonants and Arabic Language Vocabulary

Abstract

This research aims to 1) develop an augmented reality application to support early childhood learning of Arabic consonants and vocabulary, 2) evaluate the suitability of the book to support learning of Arabic consonants and vocabulary for early childhood children, 3) evaluate the appropriateness of the developed application, and 4) evaluate satisfaction in using the application. In this article, the researchers present the findings of the first phase, which involves research and development of the learning application. The study involved three main expert groups: 1) experts in Arabic language, 2) experts in digital technology for education, and 3) experts in early childhood education.  Once the application has been examined and evaluated for suitability, the researcher then took this application to a target group of 40 early childhood children to try it out and evaluate their satisfaction. The results of the research found that 1) An augmented reality application to support the learning of Arabic consonants and vocabulary for early childhood children consists of 2 main components: (1) A book for learning Arabic consonants and vocabulary with AR markers; and (2) Android augmented reality applications for marker detection and display via smartphones/tablets. It is a 3D image with audio pronunciation of consonants and words by an Arabic language expert. 2) The assessment results of the suitability of the book for early childhood learning of consonants and Arabic language vocabulary reveal that it falls within the categories of good and very good for every item. (Mean = 4.53, S.D. = 0.50) 3) The evaluation of the suitability of the developed application also showed good or very good ratings for each item. (Mean = 4.59, S.D. = 0.48)  4) The satisfaction evaluation of the application by the sample group of young children revealed high satisfaction ratings for all items. (Mean = 2.82, S.D. = 0.29)  In conclusion, the developed application can be considered as an effective tool to support early childhood learning of Arabic consonants and vocabulary.