English Literature and Language

The English Literature and Language course is designed to prepare students for undertaking the Language A English courses at IBDP level. The course focuses on providing students with rich, culturally diverse and engaging stimulus material so that they can develop the key skills and attitudes that will enable them to thrive in, and enjoy, the IBDP Language A courses. The focus is on fostering a love of reading and responding to a wide variety of texts, as well as nurturing creativity through writing and the process of production. As a result, concepts related to peace education are now studied alongside the traditional language and literature focus of the course.

Course content

This course is a combined English Literature and Language course covering the following areas:

• short stories

• texts in translation

• genre studies: the novel, poetry and drama (Shakespeare)

• film as text

• language in a cultural context

• language and mass communication

The study of English A has three major aims: 

1. Functional: Language is the essential tool of learning.

The mastering of language promotes success across the curriculum, expands our capacity for conceptual thought and develops critical reading and thinking skills that are a vital part of intellectual maturity.

2. Cultural: Respect for cultural diversity lies at the very heart of the mission of UWCSEA. Language and culture are interconnected, and the learning of languages exposes one to different cultures and ideas, and promotes mutual understanding. We aim to explore this diversity in English and the texts studied on the course are chosen with this aim in mind.

3. Developing an appreciation for intellectual and aesthetic creativity: Studying language builds on the experiences we have from infancy of accessing and sharing the stories of different times, cultures and places. All cultures have an oral or written literature which is revered as an art form and valued for its potential to challenge or reflect that society’s virtues and faults. The study of literature allows access to some of humanity’s finest thoughts expressed in language that can be moving and beautiful.

A lifelong passion for reading is an implicit aim in all we do and all classes start with 15 minutes of personal reading during which the teacher conferences with individual students about what they are reading. Students are encouraged and expected to lead independent reading lives outside school.

Skills developed

• ability to express ideas clearly and with fluency orally and in writing

• ability to substantiate and justify ideas with relevant examples

• ability to evaluate conflicting viewpoints

• understanding of the ways in which cultural values are expressed in texts

• understanding of text structure, style and the writer’s technique

• ability to compare and contrast the form, style and content of texts

• understanding of individual literary works as representatives of genre and period

Assessment

Teachers provide ongoing formative assessment on the above skills as well as a student’s approach to the subject in terms of collaboration, communication and self-management. 

Furthermore, students will be assessed on their performance in the following IB-style assessment tasks:

• individual oral presentation

• individual oral commentary

• speaking and listening in discussion

• essay writing

• creative writing

• written examination: timed essay

Feedback will be given using the department’s Conceptual Understandings and Benchmarks as well as the following IB criteria:

• knowledge and understanding of texts

• appreciation of a writer’s choices

• organisation and presentation

• response to question(s)

• language