Abstract
Some adolescents still experience difficulties in reading and writing hijaiyah letters despite having received instruction since early childhood. These barriers are not limited to technical skills but also involve unpleasant learning experiences, fear of making mistakes, and a lack of confidence to try again. This study aimed to identify adolescents’ learning needs and design an interactive hijaiyah learning medium that supports both skill and emotional development. The study employed a descriptive-exploratory design approach through a literature review, a questionnaire involving 169 junior secondary school students aged 12–16 years, interviews with three respondents, and prototype testing involving four junior secondary school students. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, thematic analysis, the 5 Whys, and root cause analysis. The results showed that 72.2% of respondents considered themselves not yet fully fluent or not fluent, 60.7% of this group had experienced unpleasant learning situations, and 85.2% were interested in trying card-game- or board-game-based learning. These findings informed the design of RIHLA, an educational board game that integrates activities for recognizing, arranging, reading, and writing hijaiyah letters with reflection and confidence-building activities. Initial prototype testing resulted in a mean score of 7.13 for skill development, 8.70 for emotional development, and 8.00 overall. RIHLA demonstrated potential as a complementary learning medium, particularly in supporting learning comfort, willingness to try, and motivation to continue practicing. However, its effectiveness cannot yet be concluded due to the limited number of participants and the absence of pretest-posttest measurements.