IB MYP Language Acquisition – Text types and their conventions Study Guide

This study guide teaches the conventions of seven common text types for IB MYP Language Acquisition. It is aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Language acquisition, from 2020 (first eAssessment May 2023/November 2023), and applies to eAssessment sessions from May 2023 onwards. It suits MYP years 4 and 5. There is no SL/HL split: courses are assessed at one of three proficiency levels, emergent, capable or proficient.

MYP has no prescribed content list – schools design their own units. This page covers a skill the brief’s Criterion D (Writing) names, and one of the brief’s example related concepts: conventions. The brief does not list which text types you will meet, how tasks are set, or word limits at your level. Your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications.

The page and its models are in English. Every model is original and fictional. To use one, keep its structure and conventions and rebuild the language in your target language.

Go straight to the revision notes or the practice questions, or back to the course hub and the printable checklist. For how the four criteria are judged, see the four criteria in practice.

What this unit covers

Area	What you must be able to do	Where the brief names it
Audience and purpose	Say who a text is for and what it must achieve, then choose language to suit	Criterion D: language suitable to the audience and purpose
Register	Write formally, informally or in between, and keep it consistent	Criterion D: formal and informal exchanges; social and academic language
Form and format	Lay out each text type so a reader recognises it at a glance	Criterion D: language, form, mode and medium
Conventions	Use the features readers expect of each text type	Example related concepts: word choice, conventions and idiom
Recognising text types	Name a text type from its features when you read or listen	Criteria A and B: how written, visual and spatial aspects convey meaning

Four decisions before you write

Every writing task asks for the same four decisions. Note them at the top of your plan.

1. Text type. What form does the task ask for? An email is not an article, even if both inform.
2. Audience. Who reads it? Someone in authority, a friend, younger pupils, the public?
3. Purpose. What must the text do: inform, persuade, describe, recount, advise, complain, thank?
4. Register. Given the first three answers, how formal should you be?

Register follows from audience and purpose, not from the topic. A text about school uniform can be formal (an email to the head teacher) or informal (a message to a cousin). Once you choose a register, hold it from the first line to the last.

Register: what changes

Feature	Formal	Informal
Address	Title and surname, or a role (“Dear Director”)	First name or nickname
“You”	Polite form, where the language has one	Familiar form
Contractions	Avoided	Common (“I’m”, “can’t”)
Vocabulary	Precise and neutral (“inform”, “request”)	Everyday (“tell”, “ask”)
Idiom and slang	Rare	Welcome, if natural
Sentences	Complete, often complex	Shorter; fragments allowed
Punctuation	Restrained	Exclamation marks, dashes
Closing	Fixed polite formula	Friendly sign-off

A semi-formal register sits between the two: a school blog post or a speech to your year group is friendly but careful, with no slang.

The seven text types

Email

• Purpose: to contact one reader or a small group, usually to ask, thank, inform or complain.
• Conventions: a subject line that states the point; greeting; a first sentence that says why you are writing; one idea per paragraph; a clear request or next step; closing formula; name. Formal emails add your role under your name.
• Slip: a vague subject line (“Hello”), or a request hidden in the last line.

Blog post

• Purpose: to share experience and opinion with an online audience and invite a response.
• Conventions: a catchy title; date; author name; first person; direct address to readers (“Have you ever…?”); short paragraphs, often with subheadings; a question or call for comments at the end.
• Slip: writing a diary entry and calling it a blog. A blog is public and speaks to readers.

Article

• Purpose: to inform or persuade the readers of a magazine, newsletter or newspaper.
• Conventions: headline; optional subheading; byline; an opening paragraph that hooks and summarises; one point per paragraph, backed by facts, examples or quoted comments from people in the story; an ending that returns to the headline idea. Mostly third person.
• Slip: no headline or byline, or an article written as a letter.

Speech

• Purpose: to persuade, inform or celebrate, for listeners who hear it only once.
• Conventions: greet the audience (“Good morning, everyone”); introduce yourself and your point; signposts (“First… Next… Finally…”); rhetorical questions; repetition and lists of three; “you” and “we”; a memorable last line and thanks.
• Slip: an essay with a greeting on top. Listeners need signposts and repetition that readers do not.

Brochure or leaflet

• Purpose: to inform and persuade the public about a place, service or event.
• Conventions: title and slogan; headings; short sections; bullet points; imperatives (“Visit”, “Book now”); practical details (times, prices, contact); space marked for images; a call to action.
• Slip: long, unbroken paragraphs. A brochure is scanned, not read line by line.

Review

• Purpose: to judge a film, book, product, restaurant or event and advise the reader.
• Conventions: a title naming what is reviewed; key facts (what, where, who); a short description with no spoilers; evaluation with evidence, both strengths and weaknesses; a clear recommendation, often with a rating.
• Slip: retelling the plot and forgetting to judge it.

Diary entry

• Purpose: to record and reflect on events and feelings, for the writer alone.
• Conventions: a date; an opening such as “Dear Diary” if your target language uses one; first person; past tenses for events and present for feelings; reflective, emotional language; informal register; thoughts about what happens next.
• Slip: writing to an audience (“Hi, readers!”), which turns it into a blog.

Worked example: one topic, three text types

Scenario (fictional). The town of Harwick is holding its first food festival on 8 June. Your class wants to run a stall selling home-made snacks to raise money for a class trip. You write three texts.

Step 1 – plan the four decisions.

Decision	Text 1	Text 2	Text 3
Text type	Formal email	Blog post	Diary entry
Audience	Mr Brennan, Festival Coordinator, Harwick Council	Readers of the student blog	Yourself
Purpose	Ask for a stall at the festival	Persuade students to volunteer	Reflect on your feelings
Register	Formal	Semi-formal	Informal

Step 2 – write. The facts stay the same across all three texts. Everything else changes.

Text 1: formal email (original model)

Subject: Request for a student stall at the Harwick Food Festival

Dear Mr Brennan,

I am writing on behalf of the Year 10 class at Harwick Community School to ask whether we could run a stall at the Harwick Food Festival on 8 June.

We would sell home-made snacks to raise money for our class trip. Our food technology teacher would supervise all preparation, and two adults would be at the stall throughout the day.

We would be grateful if the council could waive the stall fee, as all profits will go to the school. If that is not possible, we would welcome a smaller pitch at a reduced rate.

Thank you for considering our request. I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely, Amira Haddad Class Representative, Year 10

What makes it work: the subject line names the request; the first sentence gives the purpose; each paragraph has one job; the polite conditional (“We would be grateful if”) softens the request; a fallback option shows reasoning; no contractions; a fixed closing formula and role.

Text 2: blog post (original model)

Bake, sell, travel: we need you! Posted 22 March by Amira H.

Picture this: a sunny Saturday, the smell of fresh cookies and a queue at our stall. Sound good? It could happen.

Great news – the council has given Year 10 a stall at the Harwick Food Festival on 8 June. Every snack we sell brings our class trip closer.

Here’s the catch: we can’t do it alone. We need bakers, sellers and someone to make a poster. Sign up at the school office before Friday. You don’t need to be a chef – just bring your energy.

Who’s in? Tell me in the comments.

What makes it work: title, date and author; direct address; contractions; rhetorical questions; a problem (“Here’s the catch”) before the request; a call to action; an invitation to comment. No slang, because the whole school can read it.

Text 3: diary entry (original model)

20 March

Dear Diary,

They said yes! Mr Brennan’s email arrived at lunch and I read it three times. We’ve got a stall at the festival!

But now I’m nervous. What if nobody buys anything? What if it rains? Tomorrow I’ll write a post for the school blog and ask for helpers. I just hope people sign up.

What makes it work: only a date and a greeting; feelings first; past tenses for events, present and future for worries and plans; short, emotional sentences; questions asked of yourself, not of readers.

Step 3 – compare. Underline what changed: layout signals, form of address, contractions, sentence length and the ending (a formula, a question to readers, a private worry). If two endings could be swapped unnoticed, your conventions are too weak.

A checklist for any text type

Before you hand in, check:

• ☐ I can name the text type, audience and purpose in one line each.
• ☐ A reader would recognise the text type from the layout alone.
• ☐ The opening does what this text type’s opening should do.
• ☐ The register is the same in the first and last paragraph.
• ☐ I used one form of “you” throughout.
• ☐ The ending uses the right convention: formula, call to action, recommendation or reflection.
• ☐ Idioms are ones the target language really uses, not English idioms translated word for word.

Applying this in your target language

• Learn the fixed formulas exactly. Formal openings and closings differ between languages. Keep two formal and two informal versions in a phrase bank, checked by your teacher.
• Choose one “you”. Many languages mark politeness in the pronoun: French vous/tu, German Sie/du, Spanish usted/tú, Mandarin 您/你. Pick the one that fits your audience and keep it, along with the matching verb forms.
• Check the date format. English “12 March” becomes le 12 mars in French, 12. März in German and 12 de marzo in Spanish.
• Collect idioms carefully. The brief lists idiom as an example related concept. One natural idiom in an informal text shows range; a translated English idiom shows the opposite.
• Match ambition to level. At every level, correct layout and a steady register show audience awareness; what grows with your level is the range of language inside that frame.

Common errors

• Register drift: a formal opening, then “anyway” and “cool” in paragraph three.
• Mixed pronouns: polite “you” in the greeting, familiar “you” in the request.
• Missing format signals: no subject line, headline, byline or date.
• Right text type, wrong audience: a speech that never addresses the listeners.
• Layout without purpose: a brochure shape with no call to action.
• Topic, not task: describing the festival instead of making the request the task set.
• Blog and diary confused: both use the first person, but only a blog has readers.

Where to go next

Use the revision notes and practice questions. Wider course: syllabus guide, proficiency phases and eAssessment exam preparation.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Language acquisition, from 2020 (first eAssessment May 2023/November 2023), published by the IB, 2020. The brief names Criterion D: Writing, including language suited to audience and purpose and the use of language, form, mode and medium, and it gives word choice, conventions and idiom as example related concepts. It does not list required text types; the seven here are Marlbridge’s selection. All model texts are original.