English - IB Diploma – Language A1 and Language B

Language A1

Language A1 is a literature course for first language speakers or for those who are fluently bilingual. There are four parts to the course;

1. World Literature; the study of literary works originally written in another language. Texts are selected from a prescribed world literature list.
2. Detailed Study; Close analysis of texts from different authors writing in English. Texts are selected from a prescribed list.
3. Groups of Works; A selection of texts are studied in relation to each other. Texts are selected from the two lists used for parts 1 and 2.
4. School’s Free Choice; A group of texts chosen by the school that share some uniting feature.

The course is available at Standard and Higher Levels.

Language B

Language B is a second language course for students who are not fluently bilingual. The subject involves working with 18 different types of texts, written and oral, and it is assessed against three key criteria:

Language To what extent does the candidate write the language fluently and accurately? How varied and accurate are the grammar and vocabulary used by the candidate? How clear are the sentence structures? To what extent is the candidate able to use complex structures? How accurate is the spelling? Has the candidate written the prescribed minimum number of words?
Cultural Interaction To what extent does the candidate select language appropriate to the audience and type of text? How appropriate and clear is the use of register and style to both the type of text required and the audience?
Message To what extent does the candidate include all necessary information from the source text in the message? Does the candidate seem to have understood the source text thoroughly and perceptively? Has the candidate provided all the details from the source text that are relevant to the task? How appropriately have the details from the source text been used in the written response, without undue copying of the source text?