Reading Comprehension and Written Production Difficulties in Spanish among Wayuu Students

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore the problems of reading comprehension and written production in Spanish that the Wayuu have when they undertake higher education. To achieve this goal, the theoretical contributions of Matera (2001), Garcia et al (2003) and Pimienta (2008), among others, were used. These researchers try to explain the order in which linguistic elements are configured in both languages. Using a documentary, descriptive type of research, a survey-type questionnaire was designed and administered to a representative sample of 21 students from the University Village (Aldea Universitaria) in the La Guajira. Results led to the conclusion that Spanish syntactic relations are a difficult language barrier for the Wayuu speaker to overcome, and their errors are easily perceived by the gender differences that wayuunaiki has.