The new modern foreign language GCSE – what you need to know

On January 14th 2022, teachers in the UK received the news that GCSE Modern Foreign Language qualifications in French, German and Spanish are changing. This news was met with a host of reactions, with many teachers and educators expressing their concerns about the changes to the specifications and how students will be assessed from 2026 onwards.

In spite of the adjustments and the impact on workload, teachers have known for some time that the current MFL GCSE exam does not allow our students to achieve the success that they deserve. 

 

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Modern Foreign Languages, usually abbreviated to MFL in an educational context, refer to all languages except English spoken and used around the world. Modern foreign languages are different to classical languages such as Latin and different again to ancient languages that existed before the 5^th century.

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The New MFL GCSE – what’s changed?

• The linguistic content of GCSE French, German and Spanish will focus largely but not exclusively on the most commonly occurring vocabulary of each language; students will be expected to know 1,200 lexical items for the foundation tier, and a further 500 lexical items for the higher tier.
• There will be new assessment objectives. Skills will no longer be equally weighted at 25% each and skills will be assessed together rather than separately similar to how A-levels already work. The assessment objectives reflect real-life language use, where skills are used interchangeably.
• The subject content being assessed will be built around vocabulary, grammar and phonics.
• A read-aloud task will form part of the GCSE assessment, meaning there is a greater emphasis on SSC – sound symbol correspondences.
• Students will be encouraged to use language skills interchangeably – such as reading a text followed by taking part in a short unprepared conversation about it.
• Students will have to complete dictation exercises (SSC – sound symbol correspondences)
• Questions testing comprehension will be in English; rubrics will be in English.

Things to keep in mind with the new GCSE for MFL

• It is important that teachers don’t confuse curriculum with assessment and qualifications. Some changes will need to be made to themes and topics, but the essential knowledge and skills for language learning and the principles of high-quality teaching stay the same.
• The first teaching date for the new GCSEs will be in September 2024, with the first exams taking place in 2026.

The current Year 7 cohort (2021-2022) will sit the new exams.

• The new assessment style starts in 2026, so there are three years to prepare and adapt without letting future changes distract us from the job at hand. 
• It’s yet unknown which common themes or topics the vocabulary will fall into, but we do know that the grammar that mostly occurs isis high-frequency irregular verbs such as: to have, to be, to go and to do.
• It’s worth waiting to see what specimen material exam boards come develop before you making changes to any school curriculum.
• Exam boards will categorise the most commonly occurring vocabulary into themes and topics. (These themes and topics are not intended to be specifically reflected in texts selected for the terminal examination.)

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Secondary schools are required to teach at least one modern foreign language up until the end of KS3. The study of GCSE MFLs may be mandatory at some schools, while at others students are able to decide their own options. At primary schools, it is compulsory for children in KS2 to study ancient and modern languages.

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What is staying the same with the GCSE MFL syllabus?

Curriculum and Methodology

• Teachers shall continue to teach vocabulary, grammar and phonics but with a greater emphasis on phonics which will be tested through dictation and the read-aloud task.
• Themes and topics shall continue to be taught although they are likely to be much broader.
• We shall still teach the four language skills and they should continue to have an approximately equal focus in the revised specifications.
• We still need to sequence our curriculum in a logical and intelligent way. Our sequencing of vocabulary grammar and phonics should be based on:

• • Frequency – the most commonly used vocabulary from the defined list.
  • What is age appropriate (e.g. Teaching more mature themes and complex language to older students.)
  • What is I context appropriate (e.g. Taking into consideration a school’s intake and language provision at primary etc.)
  • Learner choice.

• Our curriculum should remain as broad as possible for as long as possible, and we should be building our students’ cultural capital, literacy and numeracy skills as well as British values through what we teach and how we teach.
• Our curriculum and methodology should still aim to be ambitious and should inspire awe and wonder in our students. We need to continue to make our lessons fun, engaging and challenging.

Assessment

• Our students will continue to be assessed on their ability to:
  • understand written texts and utterances
  • translate from French into English and from English into French (or equivalent MFL)
  • respond to stimuli in written form
  • respond to stimuli in spoken form
• The GCSE will still be tiered, requiring students to be entered into a single tier across all assessments.
• The assessment of spoken language skills remains separate and will continue to be assessed through non-exam assessment (NEA), (as it is now at GCSE and at A level.)

 

New MFL GCSE – my thoughts

It is important, now we know these changes are happening, that we see the positives.

Firstly whatever MFL teachers’ feelings are about the defined vocabulary lists and grammar lists, they do mean that we will clearly know what has to be taught and what has to be learned, and perhaps this means our GCSE exam will be fairer for our young people.

Listening assessments have always been a major stumbling block for our students due to the difficulty of the utterances but also because of the many tricks and traps put in to prevent our students from being successful. Thankfully, we have also been promised that spoken extracts will be discernible, delivered at a moderate pace and will not contain extraneous distractions or interruptions. At last, our students will be rewarded for what they know and not just their ability not to get caught out.

Role-play instructions about what to say will be unambiguous which will give our students a greater chance of success in the speaking test.

Some of the changes to how MFL will be assessed at GCSE may inspire us to make improvements to our practice. Students will have to take part in an unprepared conversation meaning we shall have to put greater effort and emphasis on developing spontaneous speech which is what developing linguists is all about.

The read out loud and dictation element of the exam will mean we shall have to teach phonics more explicitly and this will certainly help students with interpreting spoken utterances, a skill most students find hard.

How GCSEPod's content and assessment can support

Using GCSEPod MFL content for the MFL GCSE qualification is hugely beneficial in introducing, embedding and consolidating key vocabulary and structures. Check & Challenge in our assessment area gives students the chance to perfect essential language skills and test their subject knowledge, and our exam-style assignments provide another opportunity for valuable practice.

GCSEPod MFL content provides the perfect solution to developing knowledge about sound symbol correspondence or phonics, as each utterance in the target language is accompanied with by the written transcript. The MFL GCSE 'Pods' will be invaluable in helping students prepare for the read-aloud part of the new assessment as students can read along with the person speaking on the pod or use the transcript as reading practice. Our pods will be ideal for developing our students’ dictation skills in modern foreign languages. Students can simply listen to the pod (pausing when they need to) and write what they hear. As the transcript is provided, students can check the accuracy of their dictation once they are done.