Brevity
Advantages and Disadvantages of the new Programmes of Study for KS3 MFL
Advantages
Disadvantages
Flexibility
Free content
Opportunity to design SOWs which suit individual
schools / departments
Chance to build in some creativity
Uncertainty
How to choose the right content
Schools will have to reassess the suitability
of their SOWs
Current lack of guidance could lead to some
confusion over what the ‘right’ approach is
Exam boards will need to set some context
and vocab acquisition will still be important?
A plethora of different approaches may
make collaborative work difficult
Lack of prescription means exam boards
may interpret things differently and KS4
assessments may straight jacket new
freedoms
Some depts. will have to build up stronger
sound-spelling routines
Pronunciation often highlighted as a
weakness by Ofsted – so some depts. could
find transcription a challenge
More focus on skills and less on content
Less prescription should lead to more ownership
of individual courses
Opportunity to improve make steps to improve
the KS4 assessment in line with KS3 skills based
approach
Focus on ‘sound-spelling’
Translation
Transcription
More development of pronunciation
Builds skills for further study
Makes links between the 4 skills (especially
listening and writing)
Can be fun!
Many pupils find transcription rewarding due to
instant feedback and right/wrong answers as
marking can be quite subjective in MFL
May lead to more emphasis on sound – spelling
and key language skills in KS4 assessment
Lends itself more readily to more TL use
Carefully chosen translation tasks can help pupils
see that word for word translations don’t work
Opportunity to teach pupils how to use reference
sites like online dictionaries and google translate
effectively
Useful for picking out grammatical features of a
text and improving accuracy and precision
Pupils enjoy finding ‘meaning’
Nice opportunity to use authentic and literary
texts
Implicit benefits for learning of own language
and more general literacy skills
If links not made between the 4 skill areas
transcription can be very difficult
Can be dull!
Can be very challenging in less phonetic
languages (e.g. French) and frustrating for
weaker pupils if not in a framework
Could be interpreted as old fashioned O’
level methodology rather than skill building
Translation can be hugely frustrating for
pupils + counter-productive when not
carefully planned + guided
If translation is not purposeful or skills based
it can become just a more complex
vocabulary test
Literary Text
Chance to do some creative work with poetry,
film, song, short stories, rhymes, articles +
cartoons
More stimulating for the teacher
Makes the language more ‘real’ – gives it ‘weight’
Leads more naturally into KS5
Builds an effective KS2 learning
Removal of NC levels
More genuine rigour
More emphasis on development of skills
More emphasis on appreciation of language and
culture
Core grammatical knowledge valued
Generally
Greater emphasis on ability to manipulate
language rather than memorise it
Greater emphasis on challenge for all learners
Assessment should reflect genuine ability rather
than misleading and token levelling
Less prescription – no 3 part lessons, starters,
thinking skills etc
Freedom from topic lists and prescribed content
Freedom to create a SOW which teachers can
enjoy teaching and which challenge pupils
Need to invest time in looking for
appropriate texts
Pupils who find literacy and English
challenging may be resistant to this
approach
KS2 learning is not consistently effective in
teaching an ‘appreciation of stories, songs,
poems and rhymes in the language’
Discussion of ‘literary texts’ could lead to
even more use of English in some classes
Removal of NC levels
More confusion of what progress looks like
More work for teachers to design SOWs and
find texts which inspire and motivate
Can be hard to get the balance right
between grammar and communication
With no prescribed assessment levels
schools there is a risk some schools may
LOWER standards and level of challenge
rather than raise them
Non-uniform assessment has many
implications both in and across institutions
Greater freedom can bring greater confusion
and less purposeful direction
Teachers will need to work together to make
the new curriculum truly successful but with
different schools running different
assessment, reporting, QA and observation
regimes this may become increasingly
difficult