Historically, the overlooked younger sibling of English Literature, English Language now fully deserves to be placed on the same level, but that’s hard to do with a GCSE that’s so light on language content. Continuing the NATE Language Working Group blogs for 2026, Dan Clayton looks back at the previous round of curriculum reform and the thin gruel it served up for GCSE English Language.
It’s probably no surprise to anyone who has read NATE publications since 2010 that I am one of many English teachers and examiners who think that the existing GCSE qualification is not up to scratch. In issue 3 of Teaching English back in 2014, I concluded an article called ‘Not Rigorous, Just Wrong…’ with the following paragraph:
If the new programmes of study fail to incorporate some of the approaches that have made A-level English Language so successful and so popular (growing from just under 15,000 candidates in 2003 to nearly 25,000 in 2012) and instead stick to a narrow fixation on labelling the nuts and bolts of language, describing language as right or wrong, then all the positives that the A Level offers — exploratory and investigative approaches, discussion and debate about language, detailed analysis and (yes) rigour — will only be available at A-level. And that would be a huge mistake.
In some ways, I was wrong. The new GCSE, outside of the marks awarded for SPaG, didn’t really have much to say about language being described as right or wrong, because the new GCSE didn’t have much language in it at all. What ended up being produced for English Language by Gove’s review was an amorphous and unappetising afterthought to his main course, English Literature and his appetiser, the Key Stage 2 GPS tests. We got some reading comprehension, some 19th century texts and a few moments of creative writing. The spoken language study, along with media texts (not ‘high quality’ enough, apparently) got ditched and the speaking and listening component stopped contributing any marks. Any chance of some language study? Two chances: fat chance and no chance.
What’s also interesting — and depressing — are the figures quoted in the article for the numbers taking A-Level English Language. One of the (possibly) unintended consequences of creating a dry and largely content-free GCSE has been the precipitous drop in A-Level English numbers, not just for Language but for combined Language and Literature and Literature on its own. From about 25,000 in 2012 we now have just under half that for Language, and the knock-on for university departments has been pronounced, as has recruitment of English teachers. In the (slightly paraphrased for reasons of decency) words of several English teachers I’ve spoken to in recent years, ‘Why would you choose to do A-level English after that GCSE? Why do more of *that*?’.
With curriculum reform in the air and the new draft being written (and shortly to be reviewed, it appears), we might hope for a shift in direction. The signs from Becky Francis’s Curriculum and Assessment Review were broadly positive: a fundamental change to GCSE English Language, with a clearer identity for each of the English qualifications (with less reduplication across Lit and Lang), a wider range of text types (eg multi-modal and ephemeral texts), more focus on oracy and a greater focus on the study of language being mentioned.
Anything that foregrounds genuine language study would be a start and might help us make up for the lost language years we’ve been through. Including some GCSE assessment of ideas about language would be a great way of showing that this was a step forward.
What might this look like?
- Work on accent and dialect — helping students explore the rich variety of linguistic diversity around the UK and beyond. This could cover the basics of what accents and dialects are and how they are related, why some accents have historically been given more prominence than others and how that’s changing. We could even look at how standard English emerged, what it means to us and why it — and non-standard English — matters. If the restrictions on British Isles literature texts remain then GCSE English Language could be one of the few places to take us around the world, looking at how English is used by those outside the UK (many more of them than are actually in the UK!).
- Discussion of sociolect and the ways we use language in different settings and contexts. From online language and slang through to occupational jargon and discourse conventions, students could start to think about the ways we adapt our language depending on who we are with and what we are doing.
- Analysis of how the language around us is used to persuade and convince. The CAR makes several references to media literacy and English Language is a prime place for this to be developed. If we can look again at multi-modal and ephemeral texts we should be able to look at speeches, websites and social media sources.
Who knows, we might even get students saying, ‘How can I do some more of *that*?’ and we might be able to point to A-level English Language and degree courses in linguistics and say ‘There you go!’.
Featured image: iStock/BrianAJackson
