WRITTEN PRODUCTION IN BILINGUAL SPANISH STUDENTS. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOURSIVE PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This paper aims to study the writing skills in texts, in Spanish, produced by students at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The paper analyzes the student’s linguistic  trajectory and observes their difficulties and skills in the production of argumentative texts. We also consider the possible relationship of the language biography with the written production.Forty seven students took part in this work. They attend the first course of Spanish Translation and Spanish Literature, at the University of Geneva. The students were asked to answer a questionnaire about their linguistic trajectory. They were also asked to write a linguistic biography and an argumentative essay. Difficulties associated with planning and textualization were observed in the written productions. The results showed also a correlation between written performance and some variables considered in the questionnaire