IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature: Syllabus Guide

This guide covers the full syllabus structure of IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature, first assessment 2021, for both Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) students. It complements the subject overview and the assessment revision notes already on the site by setting out what the course actually studies – three areas of exploration, each drawing on both literary works and non-literary text types (the official guide’s own table still uses “syllabus component” as its column header, but its body text and the current IB course page both use “areas of exploration”).

Total teaching hours are 150 at SL and 240 at HL, split evenly across the three areas of exploration (50 hours each at SL, 80 hours each at HL). The guide is explicit that this hour split is a recommendation, not a binding rule – a footnote to the table states the hours should not be taken as prescriptive or restrictive, since the areas will often overlap in the study of a text, and there should also be a balance between the time spent on non-literary texts and literary works within each area. The IB’s own course page heads the equivalent column “recommended” hours.

Central concepts and the learner portfolio

Seven concepts – identity, culture, creativity, communication, perspective, transformation and representation – structure the teaching and learning of the course (identical to the concepts used in Language A: Literature) and recur across all three areas of exploration. They are not directly assessed in any component, but the guide treats them as an essential part of a student’s investigation of every text and work studied.

The learner portfolio is a mandatory, central element of the course for every student, built up over the two years and used to prepare for every assessment component. It is not itself assessed or moderated by the IB, but schools may be required to submit it to help establish the authenticity of a student’s work – “not assessed” does not mean “never seen” or “irrelevant.”

Works studied

SL students must study a minimum of 4 literary works (at least 1 originally written in the language studied, at least 1 in translation, and 2 freely chosen); HL students a minimum of 6 literary works (at least 2 originally written in the language studied, at least 2 in translation, and 2 freely chosen). This is only the literary side of the requirement: each area of exploration must also involve non-literary texts equivalent in teaching and learning time to the literary works studied within it, so a works count by itself understates how much material the course actually covers.

Readers, writers and texts (50 hours SL / 80 hours HL)

Introduces close reading and analysis: how choices of language, form and structure by a writer shape meaning, and how readers actively construct interpretations rather than simply receiving them. This component establishes the analytical vocabulary the other two components then apply. Because this course studies both literary and non-literary material, this foundational component builds analytical skills across both – a newspaper editorial and a poem are approached with the same underlying question of how form and language choices create meaning, even though the specific techniques being analysed will differ.

Time and space (50 hours SL / 80 hours HL)

Examines how texts relate to the context in which they were written and received – historical period, culture, and place – and how the same text can be read differently across different times and places. For non-literary texts especially, this component asks students to consider how the same event or issue might be represented very differently by different media, institutions or audiences at different moments.

Intertextuality: connecting texts (50 hours SL / 80 hours HL)

Explores relationships between texts: how one text echoes, responds to or subverts another, and how meaning is shaped by putting texts into conversation with each other. This component is where the course’s dual focus is most visible in practice, since a literary work and a non-literary text type are often studied side by side to see how the same theme or issue is treated differently across genres.

Why “language and literature” rather than “literature” alone

The course’s name is a deliberate statement of scope: it treats literature as one important category of text among several, rather than the exclusive object of study. This reflects a view that the skills of close reading, contextual awareness and critical analysis developed through literary study transfer directly to, and are reinforced by, studying how meaning is made in non-literary communication – an advertisement, a political speech and a novel all use deliberate choices of language and structure to shape how an audience responds, even though the techniques and conventions available to each differ substantially.

The defining feature: language and literature together

What distinguishes this course from Language A: Literature is that all three components above draw on both literary works (such as novels, poetry and drama) and non-literary text types (such as journalism, advertising, speeches and digital media). Paper 1’s guided textual analysis is set on unseen non-literary passages specifically, which is the clearest structural signal of how central non-literary text study is to this course – it is not an occasional supplement to literary study but has its own dedicated external-assessment component.

How to approach it

Because all three components share the same non-literary-plus-literary approach, the most useful revision strategy is to build a bank of non-literary text types you have practised analysing (adverts, opinion columns, social media posts, speeches) alongside your literary works, so that Paper 1’s unseen non-literary passages do not feel unfamiliar on exam day. For Paper 2’s comparative essay, remember it is set on literary works only, so keep your literary-text preparation and non-literary-text preparation as two genuinely separate revision tracks even though the areas of exploration themselves blend both. The HL essay’s 1,200-1,500 word coursework can be written on either a literary work or a non-literary body of work – decide which route suits your strengths early, since the two require different critical approaches.

Because the non-literary side of this course spans such a wide range of text types – advertising, journalism, digital and social media, speeches, and more – it is worth deliberately practising with unfamiliar text types you have not studied in class, not just the ones your teacher has covered, since Paper 1 sets genuinely unseen material and a narrow practice diet leaves gaps. A useful habit is to keep a running list of the language features specific to each text type you encounter (the persuasive techniques of an advert, the structural conventions of a news report, the rhetorical devices of a speech) so that when an unfamiliar passage appears in the exam, you can quickly identify its type and bring the right analytical toolkit to it.

For the individual oral, which asks students to connect one literary work and one non-literary body of work to a common global issue, start identifying possible pairings well before the assessment itself – finding a genuine, well-supported connection between a literary work and a non-literary body of work takes real thought, and rushing this stage tends to produce oral commentaries that assert a connection without properly demonstrating it.

Total teaching hours are identical to Language A: Literature (150 SL / 240 HL, split evenly across the same three named components), which reflects how closely related the two DP language A courses are in skill development – the real difference between them is entirely in what kind of texts fill that shared structure, not in how much time is allocated or how the course is organised.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief – Language A: Language and Literature, first assessment 2021, © 2019.