The Linguist

Hope for school languages? Change is afoot in languages education in England once again. The long-awaited Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) finally published its recommendations in early November, and the government responded by accepting most of them. The independent review, led by Professor Becky Francis for the Department for Education (DfE), was wide ranging and reviewed the entire curriculum from primary to secondary across all subjects. In an effort to remove artificial pressures on schools to prioritise certain subjects over others, the Ebacc performance measure (which incentivised schools to push a set of 'academic' subjects at GCSE, including a language) is being scrapped. While this has been welcomed by arts and humanities subjects, language organisations are worried that removing the only serious incentive for schools to encourage language take-up will lead to a sharp fall in numbers. There is also concern that the CAR has mainly focused on the 'big three' languages (French, German and Spanish) while barely mentioning ancient languages, home/ heritage/community languages (or indeed other less taught languages), linguistics and inter-cultural learning. Other elements are more positive for languages. For example, there is an explicit intention to ensure all primary schools deliver a core offer in languages, including better systems for easing the transition from primary to secondary – a recognised weakness in the current system that results in demotivation and early drop-out for many pupils. Wisely, the impact of the new GCSE specification (with the first examinations in summer 2026) will be evaluated before any further changes are explored. And the government announced its desire to develop alternative qualifications in languages – possibly modelled on previously available systems such as the Languages Ladder – in an effort to build learners' confidence and encourage them towards GCSEs and A levels. Meanwhile, funding has been confirmed for the flagship NCLE (National Consortium for Languages Education) network of schools led 6 The Linguist Vol/64 No/4 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist NEWS & EDITORIAL Philip Harding-Esch reports on the impact of the UK curriculum review by UCL Institute of Education, which is tasked with providing evidence-based guidance and CPD for teachers across England. Overall, the proposals have been cautiously welcomed by leading language organisations. However, there will clearly be calls to strengthen the incentives for schools to promote language uptake as the reforms get underway, as evidenced by statements from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages and the Association for Language Learning (ALL). Will it be enough to increase the number of young people learning languages and reverse the increasingly rapid closure of university language departments? Time will tell. Kids with rare condition benefit from bilingualism A team of cognitive scientists from Bangor University have shown that people with the rare Rett syndrome, which disrupts physical and linguistic development, may be helped by growing up in a bilingual environment. This is the latest in a long string of research suggesting that learning more than one language can have cognitive benefits. Despite the commonly held belief that parents of children with developmental conditions should only use one language to avoid 'causing confusion', there is no evidence to support this. This was the first study on bilingualism in people with Rett syndrome. It revealed that people with the condition living in bilingual Welsh-English homes can understand both languages, reflecting the findings of a similar study from Swansea University looking at Welsh-English bilingual children with Down syndrome. © SHUTTERSTOCK

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