The OCR exam board has submitted draft specifications to modernise French, German and Spanish GCSEs. It explains that this revamp will help to make languages more appealing to pupils.

Three key changes have been proposed. This includes making content more contemporary; making vocabulary learning “more fun”; and bringing back the teaching of grammar as “components of an indispensable language toolkit”.

As an example, students would no longer learn about or build up their language skills through topics like “my holiday” or “my school day”.

Instead, it would be focused on youth-related subject matter, such as music festivals and tattoos.

Another major change proposed by the OCR is the adoption of techniques effectively used in the teaching of EFL (English as a Foreign Language)

This, explained Katherine Smith, curriculum manager of MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) at the OCR, would see teachers leave behind the laboured teaching of a “cliched topic until a student is bored with it”.

In doing so, pupils will be better able to pick up key language skills. Ms Smith added: “Current GCSE specifications have focused on preparing coursework which is more about the theme than learning the building blocks of a language.

“This has deskilled students and led to ‘topic fatigue’. Our new approach should fundamentally improve both the student’s enjoyment and their linguistic ability.”

The OCR also advocates abolishing “inflexible vocabulary lists and the adoption of new technology".

The latter includes, for example, utilising the power of apps like Memrise, which describes itself as making “learning languages and vocab so full of joy and life, you’ll laugh out loud”.