Assessment and tracking progress

GCSE Exams and Internal Assessments Concessions

Exam guidance for multilingual learners using EAL is provided by Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).

Bilingual dictionaries – can be used for internal and external assessments if the learner’s home language ‘is not English, Welsh or Irish’ and if this reflects the learner’s ‘normal way of working’. Exam centres do not need to record the use of dictionary or make a formal application to use one. Electronic copies are allowed; however, they must not have pictures, explanations or clarification of words.

Bilingual dictionaries are not allowed in the following GCSE exams:

• English Language
• English Literature
• History
• Geography
• Religious Studies

Reading pens – are permitted to be used if this reflects the ‘candidates’ normal way of working’. Reading pens cannot be used if they have an in-built dictionary or glossary.

Extra Time for Users of Bilingual Dictionaries

JCQ – Access arrangements and reasonable adjustments

Multilingual learners using English as an additional language who are permitted a bilingual dictionary in exams, are also entitled to 25% extra time if the following stipulations are met:

• the candidate entered the United Kingdom less than 3 years before the time of the examination(s), with no prior knowledge of the English Language. Note: holiday periods are included in the 3-year rule. Where the three year period from the candidate’s entry into the United Kingdom falls within an examination series, the candidate is permitted to complete that series in full using a bilingual dictionary with 25% extra time.
• the candidate may have been assessed on arrival as being ‘new to English’ (Band A on the DfE scales) or in the early acquisition stages of language development (Band B on the DfE scales)
• English is not one of the languages spoken in the family home (a candidate with no prior knowledge of the English Language who has been placed in a foster home upon arriving in the United Kingdom would not be considered to be living in their family home)
• prior to their arrival in the United Kingdom the candidate was not:
  • educated in an International School where some or the entire curriculum was delivered in English
  • prepared for or entered for IGCSE qualifications where the question papers were set in English
  • prepared in English for other qualifications eg IELTS qualifications, Preliminary English Tests
• the candidate has to refer to the bilingual dictionary so often that examination time is used for this purpose, delaying the answering of questions
• the provision of 25% extra time reflects the candidate's usual way of working with the dictionary.

Applications to have extra time can be submitted using Form BD25.

Note: In subjects where a bilingual dictionary is not permitted, 25% extra time will still be available provided the candidate meets the above criteria. This means that a candidate entered for English Language, English Literature, Geography, History or Religious Studies would be entitled to 25% extra time in those examinations even though they could not use their bilingual dictionary.