GAMIFICATION IN ARABIC INTERACTIVE EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS: CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE CONSIDERATIONS IN MOTIVATIONAL AFFORDANCES OF DESIGN ELEMENTS

Gamification has recently emerged as a strategy for applying game elements and techniques in non-game contexts to improve the user engagement, motivation, and learning. It includes key elements, such as progress bars, badges, levels, and gifting that can be applied on any type of application or website to enhance the learning experience of users. In this study, we examine the gamification design issues in the context of Arabic interfaces and focus on design considerations that are specific to language and culture of educational software. Gamification elements in a selected sample of Arabic applications have been examined and classified based on an evaluation framework for gamification adapted from previous studies. Interface design issues of layout, salience, and navigation are discussed. Motivational affordances, psycological outcomes and behavioural outcomes for gamification elements are analyzed for these interactive systems. Media types and their characteristics that are used to produce/present these gaming elements are also examined and the implications of design constraints are discussed.