2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology（ICEMT 2010）

Using an Edutainment Approach of a Snake and Ladder game for teaching Jawi
Script

Hairul Aysa Abdul Halim Shitiq, Rohana Mahmud

Artificial Intelligence Department
Faculty Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
e-mail: {hairul_aysa, rmana}@um.edu.my

Abstract—Due to rapid socio-economic changes in Malaysia,

the traditional way of writing the Malay Language using
Arabic characters is fading. Studies have shown that this
representation, called Jawi is becoming extinct due to its
difficulty in learning and teaching to the younger students. The
paper proposed a multimedia edutainment game based on
traditional Snake and Ladder game to teach the Jawi scripts.
The aim is to provide an interactive and an engaging way to
teach Jawi, in a manner it can evoke interest to primary school
students. The game is tested with Year One students and their
Jawi language teachers in one of the Malaysian Primary school.
The result shows that student’s interest level in learning Jawi
has increased using the proposed edutainment approach.
Keywords— Edutainment; Jawi Script; Malay Language;
Multimedia; Snake and Ladder Game
I. INTRODUCTION
A game based learning by computer is becoming a
considerable learning tool in education. Many researchers
have shown interests toward this subject in recent years
which stems from real users’ high interest of using computer
games as learning and teaching tool [1]. Educational game is
one of the useful tools which can make students find a way
for motivating themselves while at the same time enjoying
the process. This educational game will supplement the
traditional way of teaching and learning process, which is
usually teacher-centered and provide uninteresting
environment for teaching and learning process [2].
The paper proposes a multimedia edutainment game
approach in automating a traditional game that is already
familiar with many children in Malaysia, namely the Snake
and Ladder game. This is a board game that is played by
multiple players. The player movements in the board are
decided by rolling a dice. The person first reaching the other
end of the board wins. The numbers traps and words on the
board are written in JawiThe paper is organized as follows:
Section I provides the background of the snake and ladder
game, edutainment games and Jawi script; Section II
provides the motivation for designing a Jawi-based
multimedia game. In Section III the state of Jawi and
edutainment tools in Malaysian schools are reviewed;
Section IV outlines system development of the game and
Section V explains the features and the activities used to
determine the effectiveness of the proposed tool. Finally in
Section VI students’ feedbacks before and after the tool
usage are examined.
II. MOTIVATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA GAME
A. Students are Not Interested to Learn Jawi
Students are uninterested to learn Jawi due to lack of
motivation and there are only a small numbers of teachers
who are proficient in the Jawi script. The current teaching
and learning process of Jawi is claimed to be monotonous,
not interesting and lacks effective teaching tools [1].
Students prefer interactive such as games to motivate and
aid them learning Jawi, rather than just using the traditional
flash card.
B. Lack of Computerized Educational Game Based on Jawi
Script
There are so many computerized educational games in
the market but not many are using Jawi script. Therefore,
teacher teaching Jawi needs to provide their own teaching
tools like letter blocks that require intensive manual effort.
III. THE METHOD OF JAWI SCRIPT AND
EDUTAINMENT
According to our initial analysis, the early learning
group aged 6 to 7 years old, are mostly prefer edutainment
elements in learning the Jawi script. Learning Jawi demands
students to understand and recognize each of the Jawi
characters before they can proceed further with the scripts
learning. We carry out an interview with Primary One
students and their teachers at one of Malaysian Primary
School to investigate their interest and expectations in
learning Jawi. The results show that majority of the students
feel that the Jawi script is complicated compared to the
Romanized characters. Hence, they become uninterested and
quickly become bored in the traditional classroom
environment.
A. Jawi Script and Its Current Usage
Jawi script is a style of writing that has been around for
centuries in the Malay Archipelago [3]. The Jawi alphabet
primarily consists of Arabic characters and is adapted to the
Malay language [4]. The adaptation is based on the Arabic
script with six extra characters to accommodate Malay vocal
sounds as presented in Figure 1. The use of this script is fast
dwindling and the Malaysian governments as well as
interested parties have attempted to promote the use of the
script through digitization projects. Nowadays, Jawi
becomes more confined only to Islamic matters and is

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 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology（ICEMT 2010）
Figure1.The example of the Jawi Script
used in the Islamic courts, mosques, religion offices and
religious schools. There is a danger of the script becoming
extinct among younger learners [5]
B. The Snakes and Ladders Game
The Snake and Ladder game is believed to have
originated in 2nd century India. The game was developed by
teachers and marketed as a children’s game [6]. Snake and
ladder is a board game and classic game. Its main attraction
is some parts of the board are represented by ladders and
snakes. It needs a dice in order to play the game and take
turns and the board is numbered from 1 to 100 according to
the total cells in the board. When the dice results in a
position with a snake, the user is ”pulled down” and reaches
the other end of the snake—thus slowing down the progress
to traverse the entire board. The ladder, on the other hand
promotes the user to a higher position. This basic game has
been improved to be an educational game by answering
some questions while playing. This form of interactive
learning using computational tools is known as edutainment
[7].
C. Educational Game
A game as an educational tool can be a good idea, as
with any kind of learning the most important challenge is to
spur interest in learners. It ensures that the end result is
enjoyable and fun rather than just reading a textbook [8]. An
educational game is a game designed to teach people,
typically children, about a certain subject or to help them
learn a skill as they played the game. Some people call these
types of games edutainment because they combine
education and entertainment [9]. Educational games will
train the child's ability to solve problems and think logically.
IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SNAKE AND LADDERS JAWI
GAME
A. The Significance of Educational Game for Learning
Jawi
The proposed system is developed as an educational
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game based on Jawi script and known as the ‘Jawi Snakes
and Ladders game’ (JSLg). The basic features of the game is
similar with the traditional Snake and ladder game except
using Jawi script and has extra exercises. This system can be
used as an independent teaching tool, where students can
play and learn at their own time. Each student can also play
the game at own home on his/her computer. The system will
evaluate student responses and provides the correct answer
when necessary. The teaching and learning process that
totally depends only on teachers is eliminated. It encourages
individual learning and student can monitor his/her own
learning time.
B. To Attract Students to Learn Jawi through Games
Representing Jawi in variety of ways encourages them
to play the game repeatedly. This can make students more
familiar with Jawi alphabet. The instructions, number, text
and sound are the multimedia elements of learning besides
the formative questions that are provided for assessment
purposes. A lively and interactive game increases the
curiosity of the students and will encourage them to learn
Jawi further. A reward system is used to encourage and
access student and is aimed at students to use the tool
repeatedly.
c. The framework of the Jawi Snakes and Ladders Game
The following flow chart on the left hand side of
Figure 2 demonstrates the data flow of the manual board
game played traditionally using board and dice. Based on
this model, the proposed JSLg modeled, which use
multimedia elements and Jawi script are presented at the
right hand side of the figure. An extra feature of the
proposed system is in each of the cell, the token can get
stuck (which can be on the snake, ladder or bush), the
student will be given a set of activities that need to be solved
before he/she can proceed with the game. If the student is
unable to answer the question, he/she needs to wait for
another turn.
Figure 2. The data flow model of the Snake and ladder’s game, the
traditional and the proposed Jawi Snake and Ladder game
 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology（ICEMT 2010）

V. THE FEATURES OF THE JAWI SNAKE AND Game Layout TYPE OF

LADDERS GAME
A. The Stages of the Game
There are five main stages in the game and each stage
has its own explanation facility status. These five main
stages cover from the beginning of the game until the player
become winner. At each stage, the process and the sections
of the game is explained and the entire game layout is
written in the Jawi script. For this reason, it is prerequisite
for the student to at least recognize the Jawi characters
before able to play the game (refer to the following Table 2).
TABLE 2: THE STAGES OF THE JAWI SNAKE AND LADDER GAME
Game Layout TYPE OF
STAGES
Explanation
This stage explains the rules
of game. The number of
players is shown on the right-
side of the board. Student can
Main Interface
choose how many players
they want and maximum
number of the players is 3
students.
This stage allows students to
pick animal characters that
Select Player they prefer. The characters
represented are rabbit, frog,
bird, chicken and rat.
Explanation
STAGES
allowed to move up to
ladder’s top if wrongly
answered the question.
The player becomes the first
winner when reach the
Winner number 100 in the board and
next players reach it, are
become the next winner.
B. The Type of Questios in the Jawi Snake and Ladders
Jawi game
There are four types of activities involving the Jawi
scripts in this game, which required to be solved if the
player reaches at one of the trap, namely, the snake, the
ladder or the bush. The activities are mix and match,
character recognition of one character, character recognition
of two characters and identifying numbers. Once the player
lands in one of the traps, one of the four types of the
activities is flashed and the player is required to answer the
given questions correctly before he/she can proceed to the
next stage. The difficulty level of the questions is adapted to
user responses. The probability of the game is if the player
can answer each of the question, the player can continue the
game otherwise the player will miss the turn and have to
wait until the next turn comes. The questions for the
activities are taken from the Year One syllabus of the Jawi
Scripts. These activities and the example questions are
demonstrated in the following Table 3.

First rolling is to decide turn TABLE 3: AN EXAMPLE OF ACTIVITIES AND QUESTIONS OF THE JSLG
and pointer will point to
current player and next
Question Layout TYPE OF
rolling is to move. First Explanation
movement will be counted QUESTION

and need to start at square Given six boxes.

one. If the player gets number Student has to
one, the player will be landed choose and pair the
on square one. Games did not Mix and Match item with the correct
Roll Dice allow two players share the answer, which is
same square. Current player match the word with
will displace the previous the correct picture
player to square one if
current player landed on
square that belongs to another Given one word,
player. The movement Recognize one student has to
direction is regarding to the character’s word choose the right
number that stitched on answer of the word.
square.
If the player lands on trap
square, question will prompt
and player need to answer the Given two words
question before being Recognize two and student has to
allowed to continue to the character’s word choose the right
next stage. The penalty of word.
Penalty wrong answer is missing one
Question turn. Player that landed on
snake question also needs to
answer a question. As a
penalty for wrong answer is
move down to snake’s tail
For player that landed on
ladder square, players are not

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 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology（ICEMT 2010）

Question Layout TYPE OF

Explanation
QUESTION

Given the number

Recognize and student has to
number select the right word
of the number.

V. THE RESULT OF THE JAWI SNAKE AND

LADDERS GAMES

A. The Sample of End User Testing For Questions

Figure 3.The example of questions and answers
Once a player land his/her token in the snake, the ladder or
the bush, the game pops up a question and the student has to
answer the question. The following table3 shows the result
of one game played by two players for five times. At each of
the game, the number of questions popped up for each of the
three occasions is given. This provides a fair amount of
questions to practice the Jawi scripts by one player.
Figure 4. The scoring results of a player from Round 1 until Round 5
TABLE 3. RESULTS OF THE NUMBER OF JAWI SCRIPTS QUESTIONS NEED TO
BE PERFORMED BY THE STUDENT IN 5 ROUNDS
the responses, it demonstrates that the tool fulfills its
objectives in teaching Jawi to the primary school students.
Number of questions
13
VI. USER EXPERIENCE
14
12 From the observation, most of the students are curious
10 8
and excited to play the game and enjoyed the game. It is
8 6 observed that students clap their hands when they
5
6 4 4 4 successfully get a correct answer. They are also very happy
4 3 3 3 3 3
1
2
1
when they won the game. Most of the students are able to
2
read Jawi and recognize the Jawi scripts better after the
0
1 2 3 4 5
game. From the testing results, it is also found that the game
runs accurately. The results of the testing proved that the
Game Round
game can be used as an educational game for Jawi learning
Ladder Snake Trap and the design of the prototype encourages children’s
interest to learn Jawi better than the traditional method.
B. Question Testing
This manner of learning is considered to be more
The aim of question testing is to ensure all the questions
effective as it incorporates certain adaptiveness in student
are accurate and unambiguous with only one correct answer
responses, representation Jawi in a game-style and the
for each question. The following figure 3 shows the number
multimedia capabilities to keep the learner engaged in the
of questions from the Snake, the Ladders and the bush. The
learning process. These methods and the best practices are
checked symbol () represents the correct answer for the
necessary to better cater to the needs of young learners [10].
question while the symbol of cross (X) represents incorrect
This should encompass interactive elements, effective layout
answer. The spelling and the layout are also checked during
with audio-visual capabilities which in turn can contribute
the testing.
toward a better instructional and system design to keep the
The following Fig. 4 shows one the score results based
learner motivated [8].
on student responses to the questions asked during the game
over five rounds, It is observed that the number of incorrect VII. CONCLUSION
responses decrease significantly as the number of rounds
increase. This is because as the game and the number of In this paper, we proposed a “Jawi Snakes and Ladders
rounds proceed, it is likely that the student ability to game” as an educational Jawi game developed specially for
familiarize with the game and interface increases. Crucially, Primary One students in Malaysia. It can become a teaching
the student’s ability to remember Jawi scripts increases and tool for the teachers or also can be used as individual
contributes toward answering responses correctly. Based on learning tool to learn Jawi script. . The game able to capture
student’s interest to learn Jawi and students can use this
application as one of their computer game.

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 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology（ICEMT 2010）
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We like to say our gratitude to the AI department, FCSIT
and UM ICT Research Cluster. The system has been
developed as part of the undergraduate thesis together with
Abdurrahman Jalil, Kevin Loo Teow Aik, Irene akun and
Nor Hadzrena Md Salleh.
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