Group 2: Language Acquisition

MYP Language Acquisition 

The study of additional languages in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) provides students with the opportunity to develop insights into the features, processes and craft of language and the concept of culture, and to realize that there are diverse ways of living, viewing and behaving in the world.

MYP language acquisition is a compulsory component of the MYP in every year of the programme. Schools must provide sustained language learning in at least two languages for each year of the MYP.

Language and identity

Learning to communicate in a variety of ways is fundamental to students’ identity affirmation.

What is the significance of language acquisition in the MYP?

The ability to communicate in a variety of modes, in more than one language, is essential to the concept of an international education. The language acquisition course provides a linguistic and academic challenge for students in order to facilitate the best possible educational experience.

Students are given the opportunity to develop their language skills to their full potential, as well as the possibility of progressing through various phases over the course of the MYP.

DP Language Acquisition

The language B Standard Level (SL) and language B Higher Level (HL) courses are language acquisition courses for students with some previous experience of the target language.

The distinction between language B SL and HL can been seen in the number of recommended teaching hours, the level of competency the student is expected to develop in receptive, productive and interactive skills, and that HL students are required to study two literary works originally written in the target language. 

Students develop the ability to communicate in the target language through the study of language, themes and texts.  In doing so, they also develop conceptual understandings of how language works.  Communication is evidenced through receptive, productive and interactive skills across a range of contexts and purposes that are appropriate to the level of the course (and beyond those for language ab initio).

The language B syllabus is organized into five prescribed themes: identities, experiences, human ingenuity, social organization and sharing the planet.  Optional recommended topics and possible questions for each theme are presented in the guide, but are not prescribed.