IB Diploma Programme Language B: Subject Overview

Language acquisition in the IB Diploma Programme consists of two courses – language ab initio and Language B – designed to give students the skills and intercultural understanding needed to communicate successfully where the target language is spoken, across a wide range of languages offered by different schools. Language B is designed for students with some previous experience of the target language. Students further develop their ability to communicate through the study of language, themes and texts, built around five prescribed themes: identities, experiences, human ingenuity, social organization, and sharing the planet.

Language B vs Language ab initio

For students with no prior background in the target language at all, some schools instead offer Language ab initio rather than Language B — a separate course with its own, more foundational assessment structure. Language B itself is intended for students who already bring some prior experience of the target language, so confirming which of the two courses your school has entered you for is worth checking explicitly, since the required vocabulary range and oral formats differ between them.

SL and HL

Both Language B SL and HL students learn to communicate in the target language in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. The distinction between SL and HL is in the level of competency expected in receptive, productive and interactive skills. At HL, the study of two literary works originally written in the target language is required, and students are expected to extend the range and complexity of the language they use and understand.

Aims

The course aims to enable students to:

• develop international-mindedness through the study of languages, cultures, and ideas and issues of global significance
• communicate in the language studied across a range of contexts and purposes
• develop an awareness and appreciation, through the study of texts and social interaction, of a variety of perspectives of people from diverse cultures
• develop an understanding of the relationship between the languages and cultures with which they are familiar
• develop an awareness of the importance of language in relation to other areas of knowledge
• provide opportunities for intellectual engagement and the development of critical- and creative-thinking skills through language learning and the process of inquiry
• provide a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language
• foster curiosity, creativity and a lifelong enjoyment of language learning.

How it’s assessed

Language B is assessed through two written papers and an individually assessed oral, with the same weighting applying at both Standard Level and Higher Level – the distinction between the two levels lies in the complexity of language expected, not in how the components are weighted. Paper 1 (a piece of productive writing responding to a choice of tasks) is worth 25% of the final grade. Paper 2, which combines a listening comprehension section and a reading comprehension section, is worth 50%, split evenly between the two skills by weighting (25% each) – though not by raw marks, since listening carries 25 marks and reading carries 40 marks, making reading nearly two-thirds of the paper’s raw-mark total. The individual oral, worth the remaining 25%, is conducted and recorded by the student’s own teacher.

At HL, the individual oral is built around an extract from one of the two literary works HL students study during the course, requiring them to connect the extract to a broader theme; at SL, where the study of literary works is not required, the oral is based instead on a photograph or short stimulus connected to one of the five prescribed themes. This is consistent with the earlier point that HL Language B students study two literary works originally written in the target language, while SL students are not required to.

The oral itself is marked against four criteria: Criterion A, language (12 marks); Criterion B1, message (6 marks), which is Message—visual stimulus at SL and Message—literary extract at HL; Criterion B2, message—conversation (6 marks); and Criterion C, interactive skills—communication (6 marks), for a total of 30. The presentation on the stimulus or extract and the follow-up conversation are marked separately (B1 and B2), and interactive skills are a fifth of the marks. A common weakness at both levels is spending too much of the prepared time describing the surface content of the stimulus or extract, leaving too little time to develop an argument or connect it to the broader theme.

Paper 1’s productive writing task is assessed against text-type conventions — for example, the register and structure expected of a formal letter versus an informal blog post — as much as against grammatical accuracy; choosing a text type that doesn’t match the task’s purpose or audience loses marks even when the language itself is correct. Paper 2’s listening and reading comprehension exercises consistently test detailed understanding rather than only gist, so preparation should include practice at locating and extracting specific detail under timed conditions, not just skimming for general meaning.

How this compares to Language A

Language B is studied as an additional, typically non-native language, whereas the two Language A courses (Language and Literature, and Literature) are studied in a student’s best language, usually their native or most fluent one. This distinction shapes assessment design directly: Language B’s Paper 1 and Paper 2 test productive and receptive skill in a language still being actively acquired, while Language A’s assessment assumes near-native fluency and instead tests literary and textual analysis at a more sophisticated level.

Related resources

• Full syllabus guide — the five prescribed themes in detail, with their guiding principles
• Assessment revision notes — condensed recall of the weightings and oral criteria above
• Identities revision notes — one of the five prescribed themes covered in depth

Source

International Baccalaureate Organization, Language B subject brief (Diploma Programme), 2018.