The foreign language GCSE you can pass without speaking a single word

New "short" GCSEs in French, Spanish or another language will simply test candidates' reading and writing skills.

An alternative short course focuses on speaking and listening, meaning students can get a qualification without being able to read or write the language.

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The short courses are worth half a GCSE and count towards a school's ranking in national exam league tables.

Pupils studying full language GCSEs or language short courses in their current form must demonstrate speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

However, a Government-backed inquiry concluded that languages GCSEs are perceived as too hard by many students.

Experts yesterday questioned the wisdom of making short courses easier and warned that students would be left unprepared for further study.

The changes, announced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority this week, are part of a shake-up of the 20-year-old GCSE exam system.

As details emerged of changes to courses, a "dumbing down" row over languages qualifications grew last night.

Helen Myers, president of the Association for Language Learning, said: "I'm perplexed. What I understand as the purpose of GCSEs is to lay the foundation for future education and study."

Conservative schools spokesman Michael Gove said: "Just weeks after a new English exam with no books, we now learn there are plans for a French exam which doesn't require reading and writing.

"Introducing weaker exams will do nothing to help us ensure that our children are properly equipped for the future. How can Ed Balls be taken seriously saying education should be worldclass when standards are falling on his watch?"

The QCA said the GCSE short course qualifications would make explicit in their titles that they concentrated only on certain skills.

They would be called short courses either in written or spoken language.

A spokesman said: "The current short course model has not proved very successful. Entries have been dropping and teachers have found that the short course requires much more than 50 per cent of teaching time.

"The new model, especially the possibility of a short course in spoken language (speaking and listening), was felt to be a potentially more attractive alternative for students not wishing to commit to a full GCSE."

The QCA overhaul will also split many GCSEs into bite-size chunks with pupils able to bump up their marks by resitting units as they progress through their courses.

Coursework will also be slashed to clamp down on cheating and internet plagiarism.