AIMS

1. Develop international-mindedness through the study of languages, cultures, and ideas and issues of global significance.

2. Enable students to communicate in 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 a variety of perspectives of people from diverse cultures.

4. Develop students’ understanding of the relationship between the languages and cultures with which they are familiar.

5. Develop students’ awareness of the importance of language in relation to other areas of knowledge.

6. Provide students, through language learning and the process of inquiry, with opportunities for intellectual engagement and the development of critical- and creative-thinking skills.

7. Provide students with a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language.

8. Foster curiosity, creativity and a lifelong enjoyment of language learning.

9. Explicit links to TOK strengthen the ability to communicate in the target language by increasing students’ self-awareness as inquirers in their own language learning process.

10. As appropriate to the level of the course, communication skills are reinforced through the other categories of approaches to learning skills: think research, social and self-management skills.

ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES

1. Communicate clearly and effectively in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes.

2. Understand and use language appropriate to a range of interpersonal and/or intercultural contexts and audiences.

3. Understand and use language to express and respond to a range of ideas with fluency and accuracy.

4. Identify, organize and present ideas on a range of topics.

5. Understand, analyse and reflect upon a range of written, audio, visual and audio- visual texts.