Balancing evidence-informed language policy and pragmatic considerations:Lessons from the MFL GCSE reforms in England

SUMMARY. POLICY CHANGE oNew curricula for GCSE French, German, and Spanish were released by the DfE in 2022 (DfE, 2023), for first examination in 2026. About 250,000-300,000 16-year-olds are likely to take these exams every year. oMany aspects remained the same as DfE (2014), including similar rationales to broaden horizons and promote skills including meaningful interaction. oInnovations included: reduced amounts of grammar; detailed specification of sound-writing relations; detailed specification of word patterns; tests of core literacy; a word list of 1250/1750 items (Foundation/Higher), of which 85% are high-frequency, from which reading and listening exams must be created; recognition that irregular forms are learnt holistically; explicit assessment of inferencing skills; opportunity to broaden language use to cultural/historical/geographical/social/political domains; foregrounding of unprepared speech, emphasising comprehensibility over accuracy. RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT: oThe previous, ‘guide’ word lists optionally provided by the awarding organisations had not been used in principled ways in exams, so the lexical content of curricula (textbooks, schemes of work) has been poorly aligned with high-stakes exams. oNew frequency-informed GCSE vocabulary lists provide better preparation for many different types of text, including adolescent fiction and A level exams. oThe highest frequency words substantially overlap across different corpora. oA series of four exams has generally included about 1350/1750 unique words, suggesting the newly specified number of words allows awarding organisations to produce appropriately different exams year-on-year. oKnowledge of high frequency vocabulary is positively associated with inferencing skills and with self-efficacy. WE ARGUE FOR: oCloser scrutiny of how the government’s subject content is operationalised in exams and criteria. oBetter alignment between the pace of policy change and the pace of dissemination of peer-reviewed research. oMore opportunities for educators and policymakers to engage in research (often kept behind paywalls). oMore, high-quality, applied linguistics research conducted in schools about languages other than English. oResearch into desirable balances between teaching (and assessing) language itself and the understanding of other societies and cultures.