English

English — Diploma Programme

International Baccalaureate · Ages 16-19

IB Diploma English is offered as Language and Literature or Literature, at Standard or Higher Level, and both are studied through the three areas of exploration: readers writers and texts, time and space, and intertextuality.

Assessment comprises Paper 1 guided textual analysis of unseen passages, Paper 2 comparative essay on studied works, an internally assessed Individual Oral connecting a global issue to two texts, and at Higher Level a 1,200 to 1,500 word HL Essay.

Paper 1 is where most students lose marks: analysing an unseen text to a coherent line of argument in limited time is a skill that improves markedly with structured practice and feedback, more than with additional reading.

Key topics covered

• Readers, Writers & Texts — How meaning is constructed and how readers respond to it.
• Time & Space — How context of production and reception shapes a text.
• Intertextuality — Connections, comparisons and transformations across texts.
• Paper 1 — Guided Analysis — Analysing an unseen literary or non-literary text under time.
• Paper 2 — Comparative Essay — Comparing two studied works in response to an unseen question.
• Individual Oral — Connecting a global issue to two texts in an assessed oral.
• HL Essay — A 1,200 to 1,500 word formal essay on a self-selected line of inquiry.