Development of a Serious Game for British Sign Language Education

Abstract

Learning the alphabet is a fundamental part of any language, especially British Sign Language (BSL). Without an understanding of the alphabet, learners may lack awareness of where signs outside the alphabet originate from, which leads to gaps in proficiency. Although the BSL Scotland Act 2015 promotes the use of BSL, many learners in Britain continue to face challenges that hinder language acquisition, such as limited access to learning materials, classes, and groups. Serious games have captured great interest and have been applied in a plethora of areas for education, training, or awareness through engaging gameplay. They offer a unique approach to overcoming these barriers, promoting deaf awareness and encouraging sign language learning through engaging material. This paper presents the development of a novel, hangman-inspired serious game prototype designed to facilitate learning the BSL alphabet and vocabulary. The game integrates spelling exercises with visual sign representations, aiming to connect the BSL letter recognition to the corresponding dynamic sign.  This prototype serves as a step towards addressing resource gaps and accommodating the community by offering a potential model for sign language learning through a serious game.  Immersive serious games can add a level of engagement and potential haptic interaction to BSL education. This paper will also provide a preliminary scoping literature review of the state of the art of the application of VR and serious games for sign language education.