Ofsted tells MFL teachers: don’t expose pupils to “unfamiliar” language as it is likely to demotivate them

Ofsted has set out a vision for major changes to the way modern foreign languages should be taught in school, in a document which contrasts with what the national curriculum states.

The inspectorate, seemingly under heavy influence from a group of external advisers most of whom have also been working for the Department for Education on reforms in the subject, wants a focus on the basics of grammar and vocabulary as pupils first get to grips with MFL, with their exposure to non-native languages said by Ofsted to need to be limited until they are identified as “experts”.

The inspectorate, whose thoughts on the subject are set out in detail in a “research review” published over the summer, is also putting forward suggestions that language teachers emphasise the teaching of phonics, in a move which appears to be an attempt to extend the government’s favoured, though enduringly contentious, approach from English into languages teaching.

Indeed, Ofsted suggests that the teaching of phonics in English literacy classes “can transfer to the languages classroom”.

But the approach has set up a collision with subject experts on the issue, while closely related proposed major changes to the content of GCSEs in French, German and Spanish have also set up conflicts with two leading exam boards.

The detail