GCSE French, German and Spanish in England were reshaped around a defined vocabulary list, a marked change from earlier courses in which topic areas set the content. This article summarises the Department for Education (DfE) document “French, German and Spanish GCSE subject content” (September 2025 version) and an AQA news item of 16 September 2025 explaining a minor update to its specifications. The subject content applies to GCSE specifications offered in England. Wales and Northern Ireland run their own qualification systems, and Scotland uses different national qualifications, so those systems are not described here. This is general information; each awarding organisation’s specification is the definitive guide for a given course.
What the document is
The DfE says the subject content sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills common to all GCSE specifications in a subject, and provides, together with the assessment objectives, the framework within which awarding organisations write their specifications. The September 2025 document says it incorporates updates from versions published in February 2025 and May 2022, and that it has been effective since the academic year beginning in September 2024. It states that linguistic content will focus largely, but not exclusively, on the most commonly occurring vocabulary of each language, and that students are expected to know and use it receptively and productively, in spoken and written form, with approximately equal emphasis on each.
The vocabulary lists
The subject content says students are expected to know 1,200 lexical items for foundation tier and a further 500 for higher tier, so 1,700 in total at higher tier. They are also expected to know words that can be regularly inflected and, for reading only, regularly derived from the listed items using the grammar specified.
The lists must be compiled with reference to frequency of occurrence in large, modern corpora, and at least 85% of the 1,200 and 1,700 words must come from the 2,000 most frequent words of the most widely used standard forms of the language. Words with several meanings or parts of speech are to be listed as one entry, with all English equivalents that could be tested provided.
AQA’s September 2025 news item says that the vocabulary list totals remain 1,200 at foundation tier and 1,700 at higher tier, and that it removed individual words only where they can be reached through the grammar rules, adding items to maintain the totals.
What students must do
The subject content requires GCSE specifications to have students understand written texts and spoken extracts. Spoken extracts are delivered at a pace no faster than moderate, with each word clearly discernible. Students must also undertake dictation of short spoken extracts, including some vocabulary from outside the list, with credit for accurate spelling; write accurately in response to simple and familiar stimuli; and translate short sentences or texts in writing from the language into English and vice versa. They must infer plausible meanings of single unseen words from context.
For speaking, students read aloud a short text and take part in a short unprepared conversation about it, undertake role plays, and talk about visual stimuli, extending that into a short unprepared interaction. Comprehension questions on written and spoken texts are in English.
Unseen words in reading texts
For reading only, the content allows higher and overlapping tier texts to include a small number of words outside the vocabulary list, with English meanings supplied next to the text and no more than 2% of the words glossed. Up to a further 2% can be cognates not on the list. For spoken and written production, students get equal credit for language beyond the defined content that fulfils the task.
Grammar and sounds
The grammar to be learnt in each language, and the sound-symbol correspondences, are set out in annexes. The document also says students should learn the principles by which spelling represents sounds and use clear, comprehensible pronunciation. AQA’s summary of the 2025 update lists some of the changes: certain grammar requirements previously at higher tier moved to foundation tier, including the reflexive use of verbs in the singular and plural, plural reflexive pronouns in French and Spanish, dative plural nouns in German, and the German ohne/statt … zu and um … zu constructions and Spanish antes de and después de plus infinitive. It says words listed under one part of speech may now be used as another when the meaning is equivalent, and that derived forms may be used in other skills as long as they are clearly recognisable as derived from a listed base form. AQA describes these changes as minor and not significantly affecting teaching and learning.
What this means for learners and adult returners
The site’s explanation of what GCSE and A-level grades certify covers grading, and the guide to taking a language GCSE as a private candidate covers entry. On level, the site’s article on CEFR levels explains the framework often used to compare qualifications.
Common questions
Do all exam boards use the same word list?
The subject content sets the total size and rules, but each awarding organisation writes its own specification and list; AQA, for example, publishes lists within its specifications.
Does this apply in Wales or Northern Ireland?
The DfE document sets content for GCSE specifications in England. Wales and Northern Ireland have separate qualification arrangements.
The bottom line
The DfE subject content for GCSE French, German and Spanish in England defines a 1,200-item foundation and 1,700-item higher vocabulary, at least 85% drawn from the 2,000 most frequent words, and requires listening, reading, dictation, translation, writing and speaking. AQA’s 2025 summary describes the latest changes as minor. Awarding organisations’ specifications hold the definitive lists.
Sources
- Department for Education, “French, German and Spanish GCSE subject content” (September 2025), GOV.UK (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
- AQA, news item on GCSE French, German and Spanish specification updates (16 September 2025) (aqa.org.uk)