Selected student pages
Review/revision
Can I listen to an example?
Under this page, you will find Individual Oral sample responses. Use them for a wide variety of purposes: to help you understand what the assessment task is asking you to do; to recognize the qualities...
Review/revision
Paper 1
Paper 1 is an examination that requires students to write a guided textual analysis from an unseen non-literary text or extract. The exam will contain two unseen non-literary texts or extracts. Key...
DP essentials
Extended Essay (2027): Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We have written elsewhere on the site about Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, we have a whole section dedicated to AI. In the context of the Extended Essay (EE), you and your students are likely...
eBook
The Language of Migration
Current events offer Language and Literature teachers a wide variety of avenues in which to explore the course. In fact, you might even be able to construct all of your non-literary units of study around...
DP essentials
Sample essays
As you prepare the extended essay, you will want to study several sample essays. This will help give you an impression of the final product and an understanding of what is expected. You can do a lot with...
DP essentials
What is this thing called free speech?
In September 2025 - the month in which, in the United States, the activist, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed, we are republishing this page. The contended nature of free speech - its value and its limits...
Assessment
Connecting, Comparing and Contrasting in Paper 2
Teachers familiar with the IB Language and Literature course for last examinations in 2020 will know that the Paper 2 examination does not require students to compare and contrast their literary works....
eBook
Q&A For Students: The Higher Level Essay and the Individual Oral
Q&A: The Higher Level Essay Q&A: The Individual Oral...
DP essentials
Skills
The extended essay is the culmination of a long process. You could say that the final product is like the tip of a very deep iceberg. While you 'only' see 3,000 - 4,000 words, hours of research, writing,...
eBook
Academic Writing: Writing Paragraphs – Introductions
I have read thousands of essays written by high school and undergraduate students. And, I have written a few essays myself. Of those that I have read, I have witnessed the sacred and the profane, the...
Assessment
Doing Textual Analysis: Representing People Free
This page will help you develop your skills in doing this thing that we call textual analysis. The page focuses on the ways that language is often used in texts to represent people. We suggest that meanings...
eBook
Patterns in Literature - Parallelism and Deviation
In an earlier scheme of work – see Literature: Challenging Perspectives – the essence of language art was the central concern. The focus of the activities foregrounded a debate between those who claim...