Writing: What students at the end of primary school have to say
This article presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey on writing conducted in France with 160 students in their final year of primary school (CM2). The content analysis uncovers that the respondents struggle to objectivize (identify) the nature of writing in its diverse functions. The primacy of correction over all other preoccupations, and the fear of making mistakes, are not conducive to their engagement in writing. For the students, language, understood as something to be mastered, is thought to instantaneously guarantee the success of their written productions. In light of the items cited in the responses, over the course of their primary schooling, the students appear to have built up conceptions that continue to be unlikely to facilitate their engagement with the dimensions specific to writing, and consequently with literacy in a broader sense.