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Karen Forbes

@karenforbes.bsky.social

410 followers 230 following 22 posts

Associate Professor in Second Language Education at the University of Cambridge. Former languages teacher. Interested in multilingualism, identity, language learning strategies, EAL and much more! Webpage: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/forbes/

www.educ.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Karen Forbes

Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge @camedfac.bsky.social · 7d

Students from less wealthy backgrounds are more likely to attend schools where learning a foreign language to GCSE is considered optional – and not necessarily even encouraged – new research by @karenforbes.bsky.social shows.

Read more: content.educ.cam.ac.uk/content/poor...

Poorer students more likely to miss out on studying a language at GCSE

Students from less wealthy backgrounds are more likely to attend schools where learning a language to GCSE is treated as optional – and not necessarily strongly encouraged – new research shows.

content.educ.cam.ac.uk

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

Huge thanks to guest editors Norbert Pachler, Wendy Ayres-Bennett, @zhu-hua.bsky.social and @cforsdick.bsky.social for the invitation to contribute to this special issue of The Language Learning Journal on language education in the school curriculum in England. (6/6)

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

-> Overall, this paper provides evidence to suggest that prioritising and promoting languages at the level of school curriculum policy significantly increases uptake without dramatically lowering average grades. (5/6)

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

-> Offering a greater number of languages at GCSE was associated with higher attainment, suggesting that broadening language provision may help support attainment outcomes; (4/6)

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

-> However, schools where languages are positioned as core subjects tend to have students with significantly higher levels of prior attainment and lower levels of disadvantage, suggesting there is still work to be done in widening access for ALL learners; (3/6)

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

Key findings suggest that:

-> School-level curriculum policy is the strongest predictor of GCSE language uptake highlighting the importance of institutional commitment to language learning in shaping students’ opportunities; (2/6)

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 7d

Very happy to share this article exploring the influence of school-level curriculum policies on both uptake and attainment in GCSE modern languages in England @camedfac.bsky.social Freely available to download - key points below ⬇️ (1/6)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

Promoting modern languages beyond the compulsory stage: exploring the relationship between school-level curriculum policy, GCSE uptake and attainment in England

www.tandfonline.com

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · 29d

And it’s down to the other end of the country for #BERA2025 at the University of Sussex! Looking forward to presenting tomorrow morning in session P3.23 (Leadership for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity).

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Sep 7

Had an amazing time at #BAAL2025 in Glasgow! Great to (re)connect with colleagues and attend so many brilliant talks. Huge congrats to the organising committee for being such fab hosts 😃

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Sep 2

Our model highlights the crucial role played by home and particularly school contexts in providing students with language experiences which are key for developing their language knowledge and also the mediating role of students’ evaluations of their language proficiency.

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Sep 2

We define this as an experiential and evaluative state which represents an individual’s readiness to fully claim a multilingual identity.

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Sep 2

Through analysis of questionnaire data from 1280 secondary school students in England, here we propose a preliminary model for the construct of 'willingness to identify' as multilingual.

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Sep 2

Very happy to see this paper come out which builds on our work on multilingual identity @camedfac.bsky.social 😊 It's open access so free to download - brief overview in thread below ⬇️

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Willingness to identify: an exploration of the factors that influence secondary school students’ willingness to identify as multilingual

For decades researchers have debated the criteria for identifying someone as multilingual; however, little is known about how individuals, and particularly school-aged students, subjectively identi...

www.tandfonline.com

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · May 31

Really enjoyed my first experience of Swedish PhD examination yesterday @linneuni.bsky.social Huge congratulations to Dr Legutko and her supervisors 🎉

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · May 11

Always lovely to be back @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social 😊

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · May 10

Congratulations!! Looking forward to reading it 😀

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Apr 8

Excited to see this come out - it extends the application of our work on participative multilingual identity construction to higher education contexts @camedfac.bsky.social. Free to download here: www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15...

www.mdpi.com

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Jan 29

Gutted to see Modern Languages under threat at Cardiff - please consider signing and sharing!

chng.it/wpFjbhydsX via @UKChange

Sign the Petition

Save MLANG at Cardiff University!

chng.it

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Jan 20

Delighted to see this paper come out from Zehui Yang's doctoral research. Such an important and timely topic! It focuses on an identity-based approach to enhancing the agency of non-native English speaking teachers (of English). Freely available here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Dec 20

And with that, the brain is being switched off and the out of office is being switched on! Everything else is a 2025 problem. Wishing everyone a lovely festive break 🎄

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Dec 20

And the award for festive typo of the day goes to… “elf-regulation” 🤣

a man in a green elf costume is standing in front of a shelf .

ALT: a man in a green elf costume is standing in front of a shelf .

media.tenor.com

Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Nov 16

Love a world cloud! Thanks Scholar Goggler 😀 scholargoggler.com

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Karen Forbes @karenforbes.bsky.social · Nov 16

Hello! 👋 I’m new to the neighbourhood and looking forward to rebuilding the community here. Interested in all things language and education-related 🙂

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