Abstract :
Sign language is a language and a form of communication used by the deaf community (Kincaid, 2012). In Malaysia, Malaysian Sign Language (Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia or BIM) is widely used. It is fundamental to use BIM in teaching the deaf Perkara Asas Fardhu Ain (PAFA) to ensure the teaching process is carried out effectively. There are two issues revolving PAFA studies for the deaf – firstly, lack of signs for Islamic terms and secondly, no BIM curriculum specially designed for PAFA. The rationale of this study is to emphasize the need to use BIM in teaching PAFA to the deaf. A special curriculum must be devised to enhance the skills of individuals teaching PAFA to the deaf. This study assists in designing the content of the BIM curriculum for PAFA. Among the objectives of this study is to design the content of BIM for PAFA based on the consensus of experts. The fuzzy Delphi technique is used to obtain consensus of experts, whereby the research instrument is distributed to 30 experts from various fields and background. The instrument consists of 14 items. Research findings portray that in terms of content, five items are given priority, namely signs regarding syahadah, Pillars of Faith and Pillars of Islam, purification, aurah and solah (deffuzification value: 0.767). Overall, the experts totally agreed (full consensus) with the content design of BIM curriculum for PAFA.
