Specification at a glance
This
qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the
course.
Subject content
Assessment is set in the context of these three themes.
- Theme 1: People and lifestyle
- Theme 2: Popular culture
- Theme 3: Communication and the world around us
Assessments
GCSE Spanish has a Foundation tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher
tier (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question
papers must be taken in the same series.
| Paper 1: Listening |
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What's assessed
- Understanding and responding to spoken extracts comprising the defined
vocabulary and grammar for each tier
- Dictation of short, spoken extracts
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How it's assessed
- Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation tier), 45 minutes
(Higher tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation tier), 50 marks (Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
Recording controlled by the invigilator with built-in repetitions and pauses.
Each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time at the start of the question paper
before the listening material is played and 2 minutes at the end of the recording
for students to check their work.
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Questions
- Section A – listening comprehension questions in English, to be answered in
English or non-verbally (32 marks at Foundation tier and 40 marks at Higher
tier)
- Section B – dictation where students transcribe short sentences, including a
small number of words from outside the prescribed vocabulary list (8 marks at
Foundation tier and 10 marks at Higher tier)
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| Paper 2: Speaking |
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What's assessed
- Speaking using clear and comprehensible language to undertake a Role-play
- Carry out a Reading aloud task
- Talk about visual stimuli
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How it's assessed
- Non-exam assessment (NEA)
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions
The format is the same at Foundation tier and Higher tier, but
with different stimulus materials for the Role-play and the Reading aloud task. For
the Photo card task, the same photos are used at both tiers.
- Role-play – 10 marks (recommended to last between 1 and 1.5 minutes at both
tiers)
- Reading aloud task and short conversation – 15 marks (recommended to last in
total between 2 and 2.5 minutes at Foundation tier and between 3 and 3.5 minutes
at Higher tier)
- Reading aloud task: minimum 35 words of text at Foundation tier and 50
words at Higher tier
- Short unprepared conversation
- Photo card discussion – 25 marks (recommended to last between 4 and 5 minutes
in total at Foundation tier, and between 6 and 7 minutes in total at Higher tier)
- Response to the content of the photos on the card (recommended to last
approximately 1 minute at Foundation tier and approximately 1.5 minutes at
Higher tier)
- Unprepared conversation (recommended to last between 3 and 4 minutes at
Foundation tier and between 4.5 and 5.5 minutes at Higher tier)
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| Paper 3: Reading |
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What's assessed
- Understanding and responding to written texts which focus predominantly on the
vocabulary and grammar at each tier
- Inferring plausible meanings of single words when they are embedded in written
sentences
- Translating from Spanish into English
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How it's assessed
- Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions
- Section A – reading comprehension questions in English, to be answered in
English or non- verbally (40 marks)
- Section B – translation from Spanish into English, minimum of
35 words at Foundation tier and 50 words at Higher tier (10 marks)
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| Paper 4: Writing |
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What's assessed
- Writing text in the language in a lexically and grammatically accurate way in
response to simple and familiar stimuli
- Translating from English into Spanish
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How it's assessed
- Written exam: 1 hour 10 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher
tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions
Foundation tier
- Question 1 – student produces five short sentences in response to a photo (10
marks)
- Question 2 – student produces a short piece of writing in response to five
compulsory bullet points, approximately 50 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 3 – student completes five short grammar tasks (5 marks)
- Question 4 – translation of sentences from English into Spanish,
minimum 35 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 5 (overlap question) – student produces a piece of writing in response
to three compulsory bullet points, approximately 90 words in total. There is a
choice from two questions (15 marks)
Higher tier
- Question 1 – translation of sentences from English into Spanish,
minimum 50 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 2 (overlap question) – student produces a piece of writing in response
to three compulsory bullet points, approximately 90 words in total. There is a
choice from two questions (15 marks)
- Question 3 – open-ended writing task (student responds to two bullets, producing
approximately 150 words in total). There is a choice from two questions (25 marks)
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