Lire des textes d’élèves: une approche longitudinale centrée sur les qualités des textes

Résumé

An analysis was done of the written productions of children over several years, from the beginning of primary school to the end of secondary school. The analysis illustrates a way of reading these productions which focusses on their qualities. This enables us to define levels of development in written expression:

– an elementary level, where productions are simple frames which allow the child to assemble a few elements of written language into one or two sentences;

– a level where stable and regular writing procedures appear, making it possible to compose real texts for the first time;

– a level of writing techniques, where the child fashions his texts and creates localized effects by engaging in specific work on writing and language;

– finally, a level of writing strategies where the child chooses and exploits a coherent and organized set of techniques to compose a complete text.