The UK government plans to introduce changes to language teaching in schools wherein students in England will be required to memorize a list of 1,700 words to pass GCSEs in French, German, or Spanish. The Department for Education (DfE) decided on this measure despite strong opposition from language associations, teaching unions, and school headteachers, who fear that this could drive languages teachers away from the profession and discourage students from studying modern foreign languages (MFLs). The criticism was raised regarding the removal of cultural topics from the proposed course content and replacing them with lists of words to be memorized. While the DfE has made some adjustments in its final proposals, experts say that the changes merely made a small nod to earlier criticisms.
Simon Hyde, the General Secretary of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of independent schools, expressed concern that the narrow focus on grammar and vocabulary could discourage pupils from pursuing MFLs as a life skill, hindering their future studies, careers, and personal aspirations. The Association for Language Learning expressed disappointment that the DfE has not taken up their invitation to work collaboratively with subject associations, exam boards, and headteachers for a further review of GCSE content and development.
The DfE stated that students would be evaluated on 1,200 words or "word families" on the foundation-tier GCSE and 1,700 words or "word families" on the higher tier, primarily taken from the 2,000 most commonly used words in a languages conversations and writing. These assessments will also include grammar and pronunciation. However, some experts criticized the use of vocabulary frequency as the primary determinant for subject content, stating that there is no pedagogic precedent for this. They argued that vocabulary frequency is a statistical measure that is context-dependent and variable across languages. Furthermore, they pointed out that when people communicate, they often use less frequently used words, which may not be part of the required vocabulary.
The DfE acknowledged receiving 1,644 responses during the consultation, with most of them from language teachers in favor of the proposals. Nonetheless, many school leaders expressed gratitude for the DfEs decision to postpone the implementation of the revised curriculum until September 2024, which means that the first GCSEs with the new content will be taken in spring 2026 by pupils who are presently in Year 7. Robin Walker, the schools minister for England, emphasized the significance of studying languages and said the changes aimed to make these qualifications more comprehensive and accessible, enabling more young people to enjoy learning languages.
