Mohammad Shah Kamarulzaman, Noor Aida Mahmor and Siti Nazuar Sailin
Keywords: educational game, vocabulary acquisition, early literacy, instructional design, fun learning
Abstract: Le SWinG (Learning Sight Words in Games) is an early literacy research based digital educational game to make literacy milestone fun. The game is developed towards mastery of sight words in English Language in order to teach young learners age between 6-12 years old to read and write. Child cognitive development begins with recognizing words and learning what the words mean. Thus, Le SWinG Beginner provides young learners the tool to quickly decode words and unlock meaning. Le SWinG Beginner is designed based on the principles of teaching sight words and Taxonomy Alignment for Gaming. Le SWinG Beginner is a product of Design and Development Research (DDR) based on the five phases of the ADDIE model. This paper documents the first cycle of Le Swing Beginner instructional design process that incorporates the methods and approaches of DDR. Evaluation of Le SWinG Beginner was conducted through product testing and focus group interview with content and instructional design experts and potential users to inform improvements. Findings from the experts’ evaluation reveal that Le SWinG Beginner scores highest in terms of its functionality and navigation as well as graphics and user interface design. Potential users provide some recommendations in terms of usability of the product.