ICONS AS COGNITIVE-SEMANTIC MORPHEMES IN URDU EDUCATIONAL INTERFACES: CROSS-CULTURAL INTERPRETATION, LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM, AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

This paper examines icons as the unit of meaning in Urdu educational interfaces. It looks into the functionality of visual symbols in learning applications, e-books and online learning portals. Based on concepts about educational signs, language that forms thought and design of various cultures, the study examines the impacts of icons on the comprehension, the place of where the Urdu learners gaze and meaning by the learners. The research draws a combination of experimentation done with 120 students, eye-tracking, cross-cultural comparison, and an overview of 25 education websites. It examines the way icons are read by people depending on their position, the use of Urdu words, and culture. We discovered that icons are like bricks. Their meanings are clear, they operate with language in systematic ways and are interpreted differently in a given culture. The point is that the icons are read differently by Urdu speakers in comparison with the West users. The reason is that word structure, right-left writing, as well as word groups in Urdu, affect the thinking of people regarding pictures. We demonstrate that in Urdu websites, right-sided icons are given more focus as compared to English websites that favour left side icons. The work indicates that universal design presupposes that the icons are obvious at all times, whereas the actual comprehension must rely on the language habits, culture, and the school environment. Four major types of icons are found, namely representational icons which depict actual objects, operational icons which initiate actions, organizational icons which order content, and modal icons which depict learning modes or states. The research contributes to the body of knowledge on education technology that recognizes culture and provides information to consider icons as the elements of language in educational signs. Our results have implications on how to localise software in Urdu, how to train digital literacy, how to create interfaces in right-to-left readers, and how effectively technologies are cross-cultural with the 230 million Urdu speakers around the globe.