Hello, I'm Alistair Drewery - Languages Advisor for Pearson Edexcel and I just want to say
a few words about our new GCSEs in French, German and Spanish for first delivery from
2016.
You've probably heard about some of the main changes already and you may have one or two
concerns so I'm keen to reassure you that we'll be supporting you through them.
It's certainly true that the new GCSEs will be very different to ones that you're currently
delivering in terms of the format and some of the assessments but I know, from our detailed
discussions with teachers, that many of you very much welcome the move away from controlled
assessments and are really looking forward to spending more time teaching and much less
time assessing.
The new GCSEs will provide your students with a really solid foundation in the target language.
Emphasis will be placed on learners developing knowledge and understanding of language and
grammar so that they can use the target language independently across a range of topic areas
and in different contexts.
Engaging and relevant for all, the new qualifications should inspire learners to continue with languages
and will offer a smooth and logical progression route to AS and A level study.
Furthermore, the new qualifications should, alongside your classroom teaching and passion
for languages, also help to motivate those who do not wish to study the language further
may be to visit the countries where the language is spoken or, perhaps, give them a head start
if they need to learn another language in the future.
So let's consider some of those aspects of the new GCSEs that represent new challenges.
Use of target language questions in the listening and reading, translations from and into the
target language and a requirement for literary texts in reading papers.
All GCSEs in French, German and Spanish now require 30% of the questions on the reading
papers and 20% of the questions on the listening papers to be in the target language.
In terms of the reading papers, we already feature a target language reading element
in our higher tier papers - believing this to be quite logical in a reading paper.
We've also used target language questions in previous GCSEs across both tiers and use
them in our current Edexcel Certificate and linked International GCSE qualifications (which
are both un-tiered) so we have plenty of good experience to draw on.
We know that it's crucial that the target language used in the questions is accessible
so that we actually test comprehension of the reading texts rather than an ability to
work out what the questions mean - this is also true in our listening papers where we
are, of course, testing target language listening rather than target-language reading.
Consequently, you'll see that our target language questions for the new GCSEs have been designed
to be concise and easy to understand.
We've had positive feedback from teachers and students following recent trialing and
they've highlighted the fact that TL questions are not necessarily any more challenging that
those asked in English.
It's also important to note that a TL question does not always require students to produce
their own response in the TL and in any case where that may be required, a short 1 to 3
words answer would usually suffice.
Any such target language answers would be marked for effective communication and not
for accuracy and it's our intention that no listening paper questions will require any
answers in the TL Translation is quite new to GCSE and, although
many teachers already do this now from KS3, has, understandably, caused a certain amount
of concern.
However, it's important to note that we're mainly looking at a short and straightforward
'transfer of meaning' type exercise of a few sentences at this level.
Students from trialling centres stated that, although they weren't used to this sort of
activity, they liked the task type and feel that it's important for any language learner
to have some practical translation skills.
The translation into English appears in the reading paper and the translation into the
TL will form part of the writing paper.
Marks will be awarded for effective communication of message only for the translation into English
and, similarly, marks will be given for effective communication as well as for how well the
language has been used in the translation into the TL.
It's worth stressing that although a key element of the new specification, it is intended that
the marks attributed to the translations will only account for a small percentage of the
overall qualification marks.
The incorporation of literary texts into the GCSE assessments coincides with increased
emphasis on their use in the classroom at key stages 3 and 4 so please don't panic about
these new assessments - it doesn't mean that your GCSE candidates will all have a set text
to learn as some first feared!
It will simply mean that the reading papers will feature some questions that just happen
to be based on a short extract of an authentic (or appropriately adapted) TL text.
This helps to ensure that students encounter a richer and broader range of reading material.
Our piloting of this new question type with certain centres soon enabled us to identify
which ones worked best so we can ensure that candidates can move on freely in the paper
to questions based on a literary text without undue concern.
Clearly the format of the new GCSE will be quite different with 25% of the marks allocated
to each of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and with 100%
external assessment through examinations and a centre-conducted oral in a final assessment
window.
It's not all change everywhere though and you'll find that a great deal that is familiar
- there's been no huge changes to the prescribed grammar list.
Although content will be linked to the contexts of Identity and culture, Local, national,
international and global areas of interest and Current and future study and employment,
much of the content will be familiar to you?
- the new topic areas should help to promote a broader and deeper understanding of the
cultures of the TL countries and communities whilst still offering popular content.
These GCSEs will also be tiered which means that our examiners will devise question papers
across all skills that are appropriately targeted to the needs of either foundation or higher
tier learners with appropriately scaffolded question papers that provide support and stretch
as required.
We're looking at creating student focussed assessment and it is intended that our speaking
and writing exams will feature a certain amount of choice where appropriate and we've been
refining our assessment criteria and mark schemes to ensure that they are easy to understand
and apply.
To develop appealing and inclusive qualifications, we've not been working in isolation - we're
been working with a variety of different language stakeholders, from language associations to
academics, advisers, and, of course, teachers and students.
Rest assured that we'll be supporting you through the changes, there'll be free qualification
'launch' events, 'Getting ready to teach' meetings as well as more focused training
including sessions on 'integrating literary texts in to assessment' and 'training for
translation'.
There will, of course, be specifications, plenty of sample assessment materials, teacher
guides and much more.
Keep visiting the Languages subject page or sign up to my Languages Subject Advisor e-updates
for further news
If you'd like to take a look at our draft materials, they'll be available to view in
the summer term, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
And if you think there are more (or different) things we could be doing to support you in
your teaching, we'd like to hear those too.
Your voice in this process is enormously important.