Semesta: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan dan Pengajaran
Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): Mei 2026

Recognition of Arabic Vocabulary Based on Machine Learning Using a Convolutional Neural Network on Mobile Devices

Rahmat Rahmat (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ternate, Indonesia)
Fauzi (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ternate, Indonesia)
Muhammad Husni Mubarak (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Manado, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
04 Jun 2026

Abstract

This study develops and evaluates machine-learning models based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for recognizing images of Arabic vocabulary (mufradat) and for deploying these models on resource-constrained mobile devices. Whereas most prior research on Arabic-script recognition has concentrated on isolated characters executed on desktop hardware, the recognition of whole words—whose connected and visually similar glyphs increase classification difficulty—remains comparatively underexplored, particularly for on-device educational use. To address this gap, the study contributes (i) a purpose-built image dataset of fifteen academic Arabic words, (ii) a systematic comparison between a CNN trained from scratch and a MobileNetV2 transfer-learning model, and (iii) a quantified analysis of mobile deployment. An experimental approach was adopted using 3,000 images (200 per class) compiled from tablet handwriting and Microsoft Word screen-captured images, partitioned through a stratified 70/15/15 training, validation, and testing split. Both models were trained using the Adam optimizer (learning rate 1×10⁻⁴), a batch size of 32, and 50 epochs. The from-scratch five-convolution model attained 94.4% test accuracy (loss 0.26; macro-averaged F1-score 0.95), whereas the MobileNetV2 model attained 99.1% accuracy (loss 0.20; macro-averaged F1-score 0.99). After conversion to TensorFlow Lite, the MobileNetV2 model required only 9.1 MB of storage and 42 ms per inference on a mid-range Android device, compared with 103 MB and 180 ms for the from-scratch model, confirming its suitability for real-time use. The findings demonstrate that transfer learning achieves higher accuracy with markedly fewer parameters and a smaller computational footprint, providing an efficient foundation for mobile-assisted Arabic vocabulary learning.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

semesta

Publisher

Subject

Education

Description

SEMESTA : Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan dan Pengajaran [e-ISSN: 2986-8874] adalah Jurnal Open Access yang diterbitkan oleh Yayasan Alpatih Harapan Semesta. SEMESTA membahas terkait tentang dinamika ilmu pendidikan dan pengajaran yang terjadi dalam konteks masyarakat di tingkat Pendidikan dasar, menengah ...