Malay Sign Language Courseware for Hearing-Impaired Children in Malaysia

In Malaysia, deafness is the third highest registered disability. Manually Coded Malay is used as the formal teaching sign language in school, while Malaysian Sign Language is the official sign language for the deaf community in Malaysia. The existed tools are not entirely based on local contents, while others are absence of video capability, 3D images and animatedly rotational view. The objectives of this paper is firstly to develop a Malaysian Sign Language courseware for hearing-impaired children in Malaysia and secondly to evaluate the courseware with selected participants. The courseware was built using Microsoft Visual Basic 2008, Microsoft Access 2007 and 3D Poser 7.0. In comparison, by employing the proposed courseware, it shows higher understanding and performance level of the children, due to interesting usage of colors and design, simple and easy navigation method and inclusion of 3D images with video capability and animated rotational view. The teachers and parents showed high satisfaction level on the performance of the children and the courseware capabilities. The recommended future work is to produce a much comprehensive courseware which focuses on interactivity, visual effects, dual language options, larger databases of words and multiple stages of exercises in granting value-added courseware for the children, teachers, parents and Malaysian deaf community as a whole.