The Ultimate Guide to IBDP English Individual Oral Preparation

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is governed by the International Baccalaureate Organization based in Geneva Switzerland. This organization originated more than 50 years ago and was created by international schools to ensure quality education for students. IB offers globally recognized and accepted high-standard education for students in the age group 3 -19 years. Four main programs are offered at different age levels for the students

IB Diploma Program is one of the programs offered to students in the age group 16-19 years as a pre-university program. The DP program’s greatest advantage is to ensure comprehensive and cohesive education to the students which is the key objective of the IB. The DP aims not only at enhancing the academic excellence of the students, but also enhancing their future lives.

The IB assessment is conducted over the period of two years of the Diploma using internationally accepted performance standards.

The Diploma program requires the students to complete one subject each from the six study groups and three mandatory Core elements of the DP – Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Extended Essay (EE), Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS).

The six study groups are –Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, and Arts.

Students choose 6 subjects – one each from the six study groups. The Core elements are mandatory for the successful completion of the diploma. The CAS is not assessed through the participation is mandatory. CAS helps students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development by learning through experience.

The maximum score for each study group is 7 and for the core elements is 3. So, the maximum score for the DP program is 45.

Further each subject the students choose there are two levels of study available – Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL), the obvious difference being the difficulty levels. It is recommended to opt for 3HL and 3SL subjects, though at times students also consider taking 4 HL and 2 SL subjects.

Under the study group Language and Literature, three courses are offered as follows

1. Language A: Literature (HL and SL)
2. Language A: Language and Literature (HL and SL)
3. Literature and performance (SL) – This is an interdisciplinary subject recently introduced allowing the students to combine literary analysis with the investigation of our role of performance in our understanding of dramatic literature.

The aims of these studies in language and literature courses are to enable the students to

• Gain knowledge in a range of texts in a variety of forms and media from different periods, styles, and cultures
• Develop skills in reading, listening, writing, speaking, reading, viewing, presenting, and performing
• Enhance skills in interpretation, analysis, and evaluation
• Understand the relationship between the texts and appreciate their contribution in diverse responses and open up multiple meanings.
• Develop the understanding of the relationship between the literature and other disciplines
• Nurture a lifelong interest in and enjoyment of language and literature

The IB English syllabus, part of the Language A: Literature and Language A: Language and Literature courses, is designed to achieve these aims by providing students with a comprehensive and rigorous framework for studying English literature and language.

Assessment Summary

For the Language A: Literature

For Language A: Language and Literature

The Individual oral task is internally assessed in both cases, is assessed by the IB teachers, whereas the other tasks are externally evaluated and assessed by the IB examiners.

This task is an integral part of the internal assessment and is mandatory for both the HL and SL students. It helps the students demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge in a different scenario and to pursue their personal interests with the constraints of the written examination.

The work and the body of the work selected for the task should tie back to the common global issue. The task should be a well-supported argument about the ways in which the two chosen works represent and explore the global issue. The individual oral task submitted by the student should be his own work. The student can work with his teacher on this task, and it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that the student is aware of

• Requirements of the individual oral task
• Standards for academic honesty
• Assessment criteria for the task

The texts chosen by the student for the individual oral task must be different from those used for the other assessment components. The assessment duration is a total 0f 15 minutes – 10 for the student’s response and 5 for the teacher’s questions. Each student’s individual oral response is recorded and sent for moderation.

The prompt for the individual oral task is

Examine the ways in which the global issue of your choice is presented through the content and form of two of the works that you have studied. (40 marks)

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