IB MYP Language Acquisition – Criterion C – Speaking and interacting Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked examples, start with the Criterion C study guide. These notes condense it for the final weeks before your speaking examination.

They cover Criterion C: Speaking for IB MYP Language Acquisition and are aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Language acquisition, from 2020 (first eAssessment May 2023/November 2023). They apply to the course examined from the May 2023 and November 2023 eAssessment sessions onwards. MYP has no SL/HL split; the notes suit MYP years 4 and 5.

MYP has no prescribed content list – schools design their own units – so these notes cover a skill the brief’s criteria name. For task details the brief does not print (timing, preparation, stimulus format), your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications.

Links: IB MYP Language Acquisition hub · printable checklist · practice set.

The facts, from the brief

Point	What the brief says
Criterion name	Criterion C: Speaking
Weighting	One of four equally weighted criteria (A Listening, B Reading, C Speaking, D Writing)
Levels	Eight achievement levels (1-8) in four bands
The task	Internally assessed, IB moderated speaking examination
Type	An interactive summative assessment task
Objective and marks	Speaking in response to multimodal texts – 24 marks
Who marks	Your classroom teacher, against published speaking examination marking criteria for MYP year 5
Moderation	The IB moderates a sample from each school each session and adjusts grades if needed
Proficiency levels	Emergent, capable or proficient
Topics	Personal, local and global interest and significance
Support	Spoken, written and visual texts in the target language

Not in the brief: preparation time, length of the task, stimulus format, named strands. Get these from your teacher.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Multimodal text	A text that combines modes – words, images, layout, colour, sound
Stimulus	The text you are given to respond to
Interaction	Two-way talk: answering, asking, reacting, extending
Fluency	Smooth flow: steady pace, natural pauses, little restarting
Accuracy	Control of grammar, vocabulary and word order
Range	Variety of vocabulary and structures
Intelligibility	How easily a listener understands you
Paraphrase (circumlocution)	Describing a word you cannot remember
Self-correction	Fixing your own slip straight away
Chunk	A multi-word phrase learned as one unit

Method: responding to a stimulus

1. SEE     -- people, place, action, mood             (1-2 sentences)
2. READ    -- headline, key words, data: what they mean
3. THINK   -- audience, purpose, how image + words work together
4. RELATE  -- me -> my community -> the wider world; view + reason

Reminder: every point should point back to something visible or written in the stimulus. A general speech about the topic is not a response to the text.

Mini example (original, fictional): an infographic shows a cartoon phone with a clock face and the words “3 hours a day?”. See: “There’s a phone drawn like a clock.” Read: “It asks if we spend three hours a day on our phones.” Think: “The clock suggests phones use up our time; the question mark makes you check your own habit.” Relate: “I probably spend more at weekends, so it made me think.”

Method: extending any answer

ANSWER -> REASON -> EXAMPLE -> CONSEQUENCE
"Yes" -> "because…" -> "for example, last week…" -> "so / if…, then…"

This chain brings in different tenses on its own: present for the answer, past for the example, future or conditional for the consequence.

Method: the unexpected question

1. BUY TIME   -- "That's an interesting question…"
2. NARROW     -- "For me personally…" / "In my school…"
3. LINK BACK  -- reuse vocabulary from the stimulus

Never answer with a memorised block that does not fit the question.

Worked reminder: a short exchange

Stimulus (original, fictional): a photo of a crowded beach covered in plastic bottles, with the caption “Whose bottle is this?”

Teacher: Why do you think the caption is a question? Student: It makes you feel guilty (interpret), because it could be your bottle (reason). When I go to the beach last summer – sorry, when I went to the beach last summer (self-correct) – I saw the same thing (past example). If everyone took their rubbish home, the beach would stay clean (conditional consequence). Do you think people would listen to a poster like this? (invite a view)

What earns credit here: the answer links to the caption, gives a reason, uses three time frames, repairs a slip, and hands the turn back.

Last-week checklist

• ☐ I know which proficiency level I am entered at.
• ☐ I have seen the descriptors for my level.
• ☐ I have a target-language frame for each step of see-read-think-relate.
• ☐ I have rebuilt the phrase bank in my target language and can say every line without notes.
• ☐ I have recorded myself on at least three different stimuli and reviewed each one.
• ☐ I have practised with a partner asking questions I had not seen.

Interaction phrase bank

Build your own target-language version of each line and learn it as a chunk.

Function	English model
Ask for repetition	“Could you repeat that, please?”
Ask to slow down	“Could you say that more slowly?”
Check meaning	“Do you mean…?”
Hold the turn	“Let me think…”
Paraphrase	“It’s a kind of… that you use for…”
Give a view	“In my opinion…” / “I’d say that…”
Contrast	“On the other hand…”
Agree in part	“I partly agree, but…”
Invite a view	“What do you think?”
Self-correct	“Sorry, I mean…”

Fluency, accuracy, pronunciation – quick checks

Fluency

• Pause at phrase boundaries, not in the middle of a verb.
• Use two or three target-language fillers, not “um” or your home language.
• Drill: 4-3-2 (same content in 4, then 3, then 2 minutes).

Accuracy

• Safe, then stretch: open with a structure you control, then try one complex form.
• Watch verb endings, tense consistency, agreement, word order in questions and negatives, false friends.
• Correct yourself quickly; do not stop and apologise at length.

Pronunciation

• Aim for intelligibility, not a native accent.
• Check sounds that change meaning, stress on long words, question intonation.
• Drill: shadow a short native-speaker clip.

Must-know distinctions

This	Not this
Interaction – two-way, you react to what is asked	Presentation – one-way, pre-planned
Prepared – frames and vocabulary ready to adapt	Memorised – whole answers recited word for word
Describe – what you can see and read	Interpret – what it means, who it is for, why
Fluency – flow and ease	Speed – fast speech can still be hard to follow
Accuracy – correct forms	Range – varied forms; you need both
Proficiency level – emergent, capable, proficient	Year group – the two need not match
Criterion C – separate speaking examination	Criteria A, B, D – on-screen examination

Quick self-test

1. What is Criterion C called in the brief?
2. Who marks the speaking examination first, and what does the IB then do?
3. How many marks does the brief’s blueprint give to speaking in response to multimodal texts?
4. What are the three proficiency levels?
5. Name the four steps of the stimulus method.
6. Give the four links of the extending chain.
7. What is the difference between prepared and memorised speaking?
8. Why is a pause after “In my opinion,” better than a pause mid-verb?
9. You forget the word for “ladder”. What strategy do you use, and what might you say?
10. A student speaks at a fast pace but restarts sentences constantly. Is this a fluency or an accuracy problem?
11. What does “safe, then stretch” mean?
12. Which three topic scales does the brief name for Criterion C?

Answers

1. Criterion C: Speaking.
2. Your classroom teacher, against the published speaking examination marking criteria for MYP year 5; the IB moderates a sample from each school and adjusts grades if needed.
3. 24 marks.
4. Emergent, capable, proficient.
5. See, read, think, relate.
6. Answer, reason, example, consequence.
7. Prepared means you have frames and vocabulary ready to adapt to any question; memorised means fixed answers recited word for word, which break down when the question changes.
8. It falls at a phrase boundary, so it sounds like planning, not a breakdown.
9. Paraphrase: “It’s a thing with steps that you climb to reach something high.”
10. Fluency – constant restarting breaks the flow, whatever the speed.
11. Start an answer with a structure you control, then add one more complex form once you are speaking steadily.
12. Personal, local and global interest and significance.

Where marks are usually lost

• Describing the image for a long time and never saying what it means.
• Ignoring the headline, caption or data on the stimulus.
• Giving one-line answers that end the exchange.
• Replying to an unexpected question with a memorised paragraph on a different point.
• Staying in the present tense when the question invites past or future.
• Long silences or home-language fillers instead of a turn-holding phrase.
• Pushing a complex structure too early and losing control of the sentence.
• Pronunciation slips on key topic words, so the listener loses the point.
• Never asking a question or giving a view back, so the task is not interactive.
• Practising against the wrong proficiency level’s expectations.

Related pages

• Criteria in practice revision notes – all four criteria side by side.
• Proficiency phases revision notes.
• Assessment revision notes.
• The other criteria: A – listening, B – reading, D – writing.
• Reading a stimulus closely: multimodal texts and visuals; finding topics: global contexts and topics.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Language acquisition, from 2020 (first eAssessment May 2023/November 2023). Published by the International Baccalaureate Organization.