Skip to main content

Comparing new GCSE thematic content

This post is about the topics (thematic content) proposed by the three awarding bodies in England - AQA, Pearson-Edexcel and Eduqas. These topics cover all the languages taught - French, German and Spanish. For a detailed analysis of all aspects the three GCSE specifications I suggest you have a look at Helen Myers' meticulous analysis. Her analysis is here.  Here 'at a glance' document is here. Helen has done a great job pulling this material together. Keepin mind that, as i write, the Eduqas specification is in draft form.

A little background first. Because Ofqual/DfE wanted the focus of the specifications to be on phonics, vocabulary and grammar (the so-called three pillars of languaage learning), there was doubt about whether thematic content would be included at all in exam board specifications. The government-associated bodies were concerned that a thematic (topic-based) approach to syllabus design might compromise methodology, the claim being that a focus on topics would necesssitate compromising the order of grammar teaaching and require too much low-frequency vocabulary. Thankfully, it was decided that it made most sense to tell teachers what the general thematic contexts would be for the three pillars. In a nutshell, teachers want to know what sort of topics they should be covering with classes. I daresay the exam boards agreed.

What has emerged can be summaried as follows. You will see that, not surprisingly, there is a good deal of overlap between the thematic content specified. It is summarised below, the information coming from the relevant specifications (November 2023):

AQA

Theme 1: People and lifestyle 

• Topic 1: Identity and relationships with others • Topic 2: Healthy living and lifestyle • Topic 3: Education and work 

Theme 2: Popular culture 

• Topic 1: Free-time activities • Topic 2: Customs, festivals and celebrations • Topic 3: Celebrity culture 

Theme 3: Communication and the world around us 

• Topic 1: Travel and tourism, including places of interest • Topic 2: Media and technology • Topic 3: The environment and where people live

Pearson-Edexcel

  • Lifestyle and wellbeing
  • My neighbourhood
  • Media and technology
  • Studying and my future
  • Travel and tourism

Eduqas (in DRAFT form as of 12.11.23)

Identity: for example, personal attributes, cultural background, languages

spoken and learning, national, racial, gender stereotypes, family, friends,

relationships

Everyday life: for example, education, school life, routines, activities, sport,

being healthy/unhealthy, entertainment, social media

My future: for example, future plans (work, education, aspirations), role models

Exploring: for example, places and people, travel (including geography)

customs and traditions, festivals, famous lives, historical stories

Global matters: for example, the natural world, environment/climate change,

attitudes, inequalities, poverty, prejudice, war/peace, citizenship.


What topics could be said to overlap between the boards? 

Well, using my own wording, the following broad areas are shared by the three exam boards:

  • Personal world – identity and relationships, family, free time activities, everyday life, routines
  • Lifestyle and well-being 
  • Neighbourhood, where people live, the world around us
  • Media, social media and technology 
  • Education, school life and future plans (work, education,etc), everyday life (school, routines, sport)
  • Travel and tourism 

Specific differences

AQA and Eduqas appear to place greater emphasis on the environment, climate change, customs and festivals. The Eduqas vision, on the face of it, looks broader and more ambitious with its specific references to inequalities, poverty, war/peace, citizenship, famous people, historical stories and geography.

The Pearson-Edexcel offer looks thinner, but that's not to say that assessment materials will not include a range of contexts and perspectives. Their 'at a glance' document mentions, in the context of its general themes, equality, environmental issues and the natural world. Overall, however, their specification is less specific and includes only a brief summary of the thematic content. AQA puts its thematic content right up front in their specification.

AQA and Eduqas appear to put greater emphasis on celebrity culture and entertainment. Pearson-Edexcel does not refer to customs, festivals and traditions.

Other points…

Clearly, thematic content is only one aspect to bear in mind when selecting a specification for September 2024. Other factors will include the precise nature of the assessment procedures, mark schemes (including the approach to marking the dictation), previous experience with exam boards and whole school policy on exams. I note, for example, that the AQA role plays are more ‘conversational’ than Pearson’s transactional ones. My preference would be for AQA on that score.

You might be tempted to think that Pearson-Edexcel have played the DfE game a bit more rigidily in according less prominence to topics than the other boards. As I mentioned before, AQA place the topics very clearly early in their spedcification, Eduqas less so. Overall I like the clarity and scope of the Eduqas topics the most. As I write, I do not know if their draft specification will survive the accreditation process largely intact. I'll update this post when the spec is accredited.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the natural order hypothesis?

The natural order hypothesis states that all learners acquire the grammatical structures of a language in roughly the same order. This applies to both first and second language acquisition. This order is not dependent on the ease with which a particular language feature can be taught; in English, some features, such as third-person "-s" ("he runs") are easy to teach in a classroom setting, but are not typically fully acquired until the later stages of language acquisition. The hypothesis was based on morpheme studies by Heidi Dulay and Marina Burt, which found that certain morphemes were predictably learned before others during the course of second language acquisition. The hypothesis was picked up by Stephen Krashen who incorporated it in his very well known input model of second language learning. Furthermore, according to the natural order hypothesis, the order of acquisition remains the same regardless of the teacher's explicit instruction; in other words,
4 comments
Read more

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a language).
Post a Comment
Read more

12 principles of second language teaching

This is a short, adapted extract from our book The Language Teacher Toolkit . "We could not possibly recommend a single overall method for second language teaching, but the growing body of research we now have points to certain provisional broad principles which might guide teachers. Canadian professors Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada (2013), after reviewing a number of studies over the years to see whether it is better to just use meaning-based approaches or to include elements of explicit grammar teaching and practice, conclude: Classroom data from a number of studies offer support for the view that form-focused instruction and corrective feedback provided within the context of communicative and content-based programmes are more effective in promoting second language learning than programmes that are limited to a virtually exclusive emphasis on comprehension. As teachers Gianfranco and I would go along with that general view and would like to suggest our own set of g
2 comments
Read more