Defining Personas of university students for the development of a digital educational game to learn Portuguese as a Foreing Language

摘要

This study is part of a research project which aims to develop an educational digital game prototype for learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language - PFL - self-directed learning by university students interested in studying in Brazil and Portugal. Based on the current premises of Educational Design, to close educational technology resources to users and on the concept of personas that investigates user characteristics in order to identify profiles to support the technological product, thirty international university students who attended part of their academic course in Brazil and Portugal were interviewed. For this qualitative part, a script for the semi-directive interviews was created. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by content analysis technique using the software MAXQDA. Some of the findings were that 60% of students used informal learning as the only way or complement to formal learning of PFL before going to international program (the most mentioned resource Duolingo); plurilingualism characteristic of the sample; different vocabulary necessities according to Portuguese levels and mother tongue (Spanish, Romance language and other languages); varied habits of playing digital games, 63% of the sample as players (puzzles as the most mentioned gender played) and expectations as adaption to learning speeds, attractive design and story, challenges, competition, cultural information, fun, good feedback, good learning content, interaction with natives, original texts, reading and oral interpretation, talking/typing to characters, rewards and optional prizes in a digital game for learning a Foreign Language.