Qualification Aims and Objectives

The course develops students’ understanding of how language and texts shape our world, while fostering critical inquiry, reflective thinking, and effective communication. It encourages students to be knowledgeable, inquiring, and open-minded, and to appreciate how meaning is constructed, transformed and contested across cultures and contexts.

Objectives

• Develop a deep conceptual understanding of how language, context and culture influence meaning.
• Acquire and apply skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and presenting.
• Build analytical and evaluative skills through the study of literary and non-literary texts, across media, form and genre.
• Consider the ethical, cultural, social and global implications of language use and texts.
• Prepare for further study and careers in communication, media, publishing, law, education, and cultural studies.

Course Outline

Syllabus Themes

• Readers, writers and texts: How meaning is created, produced, and interpreted.
• Time and space: How context, history, and geography influence texts and their reception.
• Intertextuality – connecting texts: How texts relate, reference, and influence each other across media and genres.

Assessment (HL)

External (80%)

• Paper 1: Guided textual analysis of unseen non-literary passages (35%)
• Paper 2: Comparative essay based on two literary works (25%)
• HL Essay: 1,200–1,500 word essay on one literary or non-literary work (20%)

Internal (20%)

• Individual Oral: Prepared oral on how a literary work and a non-literary body of work approach a common global issue