While the 1988 and 2008 French writing exams seem largely similar, in the past decade there has been a seismic shift in the approach to teaching French in schools.

In 2004 the Government decided that modern foreign languages should no longer be compulsory after the age of 14, resulting in an instant, dramatic decline in the numbers taking French GCSE (though the numbers taking Spanish GCSE have risen).

Previously about half of all candidates took GCSE French; now far fewer do so. In 1988 265,317 students sat the French exam, according to figures compiled by the University of Buckingham, but by last year that had fallen by 24 per cent to 201,940. The result of the Government’s move, as predicted by academics and linguists, was a steep drop in the number of primary and secondary schools teaching French, and a fall in the number of A-level candidates.

Buckingham’s figures indicate that the numbers taking French A level fell by more than a third, from 23,633 in 1998 to 14,885 in 2008. Those taking German fell by 39 per cent, from 10,192 to 6,245. Critics accused the Government of creating an “educational apartheid” in which only children of parents who could afford private-school fees would learn a foreign language.

Should GCSEs be abolished? Discuss

For 21 years, more students have passed GCSEs each year than the year before. So are the exams too easy?

Concerns have also been expressed that today’s French GCSE does not prepare pupils sufficiently for French A level.

In an effort to answer such concerns, the Government has pledged that from September 2011 all primary school pupils in England aged 7 to 11 will have to learn a modern foreign language. However, there are fears that teaching will be done “on the cheap” and that there will be too few qualified teachers available to fulfil the promise.

An EU survey in 2007 found that more than 65.9 per cent of Britons could speak only their mother tongue. In the rest of Europe, the figure is 44 per cent.

The invigilator’s verdict

So, GCSE has come of age. How interesting to compare a GCSE French foundation-level writing paper from 2008 (AQA) with a “basic level” from 1988 (NEAB). The 1988 paper required candidates to produce roughly 100 words in 25 minutes, whereas its modern counterpart requires the same number of words in 40 minutes. Both papers require the use of different tenses.

The earlier paper consists mainly of phrases to be translated into French, albeit in the guise of a postcard and a letter, for example: “Tell your French friend that: you arrived on Thursday evening; at the moment the weather is hot.”

The latest paper is less predictable and expects the candidate to be more creative in his or her responses — still in the letter guise (don’t French teenagers text or e-mail their friends?), eg, “Say: what the whether is like; what you do on the beach.” The final question of the modern paper poses some challenging prompts, eg, “Tell Alain if you have chosen your new bedroom and what plans you have for your bedroom”, which reflect the creative and spontaneous language that we encourage pupils to use in class.

It seems to me that the earlier exam relied heavily on memorising, and if a candidate had forgotten the words/phrase asked for by the rubric, eg, “Say: this morning you swam in the sea,” he or she would gain no credit, whereas today’s candidates are rewarded for using their skills and applying their knowledge.

Neil Hillman

The writer is a languages teaching adviser with 23 years’ experience of language teaching

Explore A-Level and GCSE Results

• Primary Schools

Times recommends

• Students to rate lecturers online
• Students face big rise in university fees
• Queen’s English Society boss’s poor spelling