Course Outline IB1 year 12

Assessments

Group 2 aims

Group 2 consists of three language courses accommodating the different levels of linguistic proficiency that students have when they begin. There is a single set of group 2 aims, which are common to all the courses, but the assessment objectives are differentiated according to what the students are expected to be to able to demonstrate at the end of each course.

The aims of group 2 are to:

1. develop students’ intercultural understanding
2. enable students to understand and use the language they have studied in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes
3. encourage, through the study of texts and through social interaction, an awareness and appreciation of the different perspectives of people from other cultures
4. develop students’ awareness of the role of language in relation to other areas of knowledge
5. develop students’ awareness of the relationship between the languages and cultures with which they are familiar
6. provide students with a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language
7. provide the opportunity for enjoyment, creativity and intellectual stimulation through knowledge of an additional language.

Language B aims

The aims of the language B course reflect those of group 2 listed above but are to be defined within the parameters of the language B syllabus. The range of contexts, purposes, language skills and texts to be taught are listed in “Syllabus content”. The use of appropriate language and the breadth of intercultural understanding to be demonstrated are also defined within the syllabus content.

There are six assessment objectives for the language B course. Students will be assessed on their ability to:

1. communicate clearly and effectively in a range of situations, demonstrating linguistic competence and intercultural understanding
2. use language appropriate to a range of interpersonal and/or cultural contexts
3. understand and use language to express and respond to a range of ideas with accuracy and fluency
4. organize ideas on a range of topics, in a clear, coherent and convincing manner
5. understand, analyse and respond to a range of written and spoken texts
6. understand and use works of literature written in the target language of study (HL only).

The core is divided into three areas and is a required area of study.

• Communication and media
• Global issues
• Social relationships

In addition, at both SL and HL, teachers select two from the following five options.

• Cultural diversity
• Customs and traditions
• Health
• Leisure
• Science and technology

Receptive, productive and interactive skills

Language acquisition will be achieved through the development of the receptive, productive and interactive skills and competencies that can be accomplished through a variety of activities in oral and/or written forms.

These skills have been defined as follows by the Council of Europe (2001).

“Receptive activities include silent reading and following the media. They are also of importance in many forms of learning (understanding course content, consulting textbooks, works of reference and documents).

Productive activities have an important function in many academic and professional fields (oral presentations, written studies and reports) and particular social value is attached to them (judgments made of what has been submitted in writing or of fluency in speaking and delivering oral presentations).

In interaction at least two individuals participate in an oral and/or written exchange in which production and reception alternate and may in fact overlap in oral communication. Not only may two interlocutors be speaking and yet listening to each other simultaneously. Even where turn-taking is strictly respected, the listener is generally already forecasting the remainder of the speaker’s message and preparing a response. Learning to interact thus involves more than learning to receive and to produce utterances. High importance is generally attributed to interaction in language use and learning in view of its central role in communication.”