Embedded Files
Guidance on the creation of a language policy, including all expectations, interactions with practices and requirements, and resulting questions for self-reflection.
EXPECTATION: Recognize that all teachers are, in practice, language teachers with responsibilities in facilitating communication
EXPECTATION: Recognize that all teachers are, in practice, language teachers with responsibilities in facilitating communication
Culture 4.4
(0301-04-0400)
The school clearly describes in its language policy the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community and what constitutes good practice within the school context.
What are the school’s beliefs as regards the language rights of the members of the school community and how do these reflect a commitment to multilingualism?
What are the responsibilities of all teachers in relation to student language development and what are the expectations as regards how these should manifest in practice?
What constitutes, for the school, good language learning and teaching practice in all subjects and classrooms? Which methodologies, approaches and strategies does the school believe in, and apply, to support language development in students?
Approaches to teaching 5.4
(0403-05-0400)
Teachers support language development with consideration for the language profiles of students.
How are the students’ language profiles communicated to and shared with their teachers?
How do teachers differentiate instruction in order to allow for the development of the students’ varied and complex language profiles?
Student support 5.1
(0202-05-0100)
The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning.
In which ways do the virtual and physical resources in the school (access to virtual platforms and software, material in the library) reflect and support the schools’ commitment to multilingualism?
Is professional development offered to teachers so that they are able to support language development in students?
Coherent curriculum 2.2
(0401-02-0200)
Teachers plan and reflect collaboratively to consider connections and relationships between different areas, and reinforce shared concepts, content and skills.
How is collaborative planning time used in order to consolidate teachers’ knowledge and understanding of how they can support language development in their students?
How is the expertise of teachers who have specialised in language learning and teaching profited from in order to support teachers with no such specialisation?
Related tenets: Language is a system that has a purpose and is contextual.
How do teachers create in students an awareness of how context, purpose and audience influence communication?
In which ways does the school develop in students an understanding of language as a meaningful social practice?
Related tenets: Language is both an object of study and a means of constructing and communicating our understanding of the human and natural world(s).
Which opportunities are provided to students to reflect on language as a way of knowing?
How are the students’ resources to create and communicate meaning consolidated and expanded?
Related tenets: Meaning is not univocal but is constructed through a process of exploration, negotiation and cooperation.
How is formative and summative feedback used in order to strengthen and refine students’ language practices?
How are students’ interactions with one another and with texts supported so as to maximize communication and understanding?
In what ways are students’ mediation skills developed?
Related tenets: Language is learned, taught and developed in context.
How does the school maximize the multiple opportunities for language development offered by the varied disciplinary, transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary activities students engage in?
EXPECTATION: Outline how students are to learn at least one language in addition to their home / personal language(s)
EXPECTATION: Outline how students are to learn at least one language in addition to their home / personal language(s)
Culture 4.2
(0301-04-0200)
The school describes in its language policy the way that the school recognizes multilingualism as a fact, a right and a resource for learning.
How far does the school provide opportunities for students to use additional languages in their learning?
To what extent can daily interactions in the school community be considered multilingual?
Lifelong learners 7.1
(0402-07-0100)
The school provides opportunities for students to explore and develop their personal and cultural identities.
How does the school provide opportunities for students to explore their interests in relation to linguistic and cultural practices?
How broad is the subject offering in relation to language courses?
To what extent does the school encourage students to use all the linguistic resources which make up their linguistic repertoires?
Lifelong learners 7.3
(0402-07-0300)
Students take opportunities to develop their language profiles.
What placement strategies does the school implement to guarantee that students study additional languages at a suitable level of challenge?
Related tenets: Language variation, like multilingualism, is a right and a resource.
To what extent does the school expose students to different varieties of the additional languages studied?
Related tenets: Language is a means of exploring ourselves and others, diverse world views, and diverse cultures.
How are an attitude of openness to other world views and a greater awareness of the students’ own fostered through the learning of additional languages in the school?
EXPECTATION: Describe how the development and maintenance of the home / personal language(s) for all learners is to be supported.
EXPECTATION: Describe how the development and maintenance of the home / personal language(s) for all learners is to be supported.
Culture 4.2
(0301-04-0200)
The school describes in its language policy the way that the school recognizes multilingualism as a fact, a right and a resource for learning.
How far does the school provide opportunities for students to use their home/personal languages in their learning, if these languages differ from the language of instruction?
To what extent can daily interactions in the school community be considered multilingual?
Culture 4.3
(0301-04-0300)
The school identifies in its language policy a variety of physical and virtual resources used to facilitate language development.
How broad and varied, as far as home/personal languages are concerned, are the resources provided by the school to facilitate consolidation of students’ linguistic competencies in their respective home/personal languages?
Lifelong learners 7.1
(0402-07-0100)
The school provides opportunities for students to explore and develop their personal and cultural identities.
What placement strategies does the school implement to guarantee that students can and will study a language they are proficient in at a suitable level of challenge?
Lifelong learners 7.3
(0402-07-0300)
Students take opportunities to develop their language profiles.
How are students encouraged to appreciate, develop and value their home/personal languages?
Student support 2.1
(0202-02-0100)
The school implements and reviews systems and processes to identify the needs of students.
How does the school identify and describe the students’ linguistic profiles?
Student support 2.2
(0202-02-0200)
The school supports the identified needs of students, and evidences this support through planning, policy, and practice.
How does the school enable students to continue to build their linguistic proficiency in their home/personal languages if these languages are not offered in the school as established, taught courses?
Student support 5.1
(0202-05-0100)
The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning.
How does the school involve parents and the broader community in the support of home/personal languages?
Coherent curriculum 1.6
(0401-01-0600)
The school demonstrates that the curriculum is influenced by an understanding of students’ prior knowledge, identities, backgrounds, needs and contexts.
Which diagnostic tools are implemented in order to identify, in relation to languages, students’ prior knowledge, the linguistic and cultural practices they most identify with and their interests and needs?
How are the curriculum and its implementation influenced by the findings arising from these diagnostic tools?
Related tenets: Language variation, like multilingualism, is a right and a resource.
In what ways is an attitude of openness, appreciation and celebration fostered in students in connection with different languages and different varieties of language?
How does the school ensure that students have a descriptive, and not prescriptive, approach to language use?
To what extent does the school encourage creative, idiosyncratic use of language?
Related tenets: Language is a means of exploring ourselves and others, diverse world views, and diverse cultures.
How are students encouraged to delve further into their individual identities and those of the communities they belong to?
EXPECTATION: Ensure that there are practices in place to provide inclusion and equity of access to the IB programme(s) offered by the school for all learners, including those who are learning in a language other than their home / personal language(s).
EXPECTATION: Ensure that there are practices in place to provide inclusion and equity of access to the IB programme(s) offered by the school for all learners, including those who are learning in a language other than their home / personal language(s).
Culture 4.3
(0301-04-0300)
The school identifies in its language policy a variety of physical and virtual resources used to facilitate language development.
Which resources are available to facilitate learning for students whose level of competence in the language of instruction needs further development?
Approaches to teaching 5.4
(0403-05-0400)
Teachers support language development with consideration for the language profiles of students.
Which support do teachers provide to scaffold learning for students whose level of competence in the language of instruction needs further development?
What professional development is made available to teachers for them to be able to provide such support?
Student support 5.1
(0202-05-0100)
The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning.
Which support beyond the immediate classroom context is provided by the school to those who are learning in a language other than their home/personal language(s)?
How are parents and the wider community involved in providing further support?
Related tenets: Language learning is neither uniform nor linear.
To what extent are different trajectories of learning taken into account when planning for language teaching and learning?
What provisions are made to extend or scaffold language learning according to individual student needs?
How are learning preferences taken into account in language teaching and learning?
EXPECTATION: Ensure support for multilingualism, which is required to support multiliteracies
EXPECTATION: Ensure support for multilingualism, which is required to support multiliteracies
Lifelong learners 7.1
(0402-07-0100)
The school provides opportunities for students to explore and develop their personal and cultural identities.
To what extent are students provided with means of engagement, representation and action and expression which are varied enough to suit their interests, preferences and skills?
How are students provided with opportunities to discover and explore their preferred means and modes of communication?
Related tenets: Communication is often multimodal, including non-linguistic elements.
To what extent is the learning and teaching that happens in the school multimodal? How does the school guarantee a multimodal learning experience for the student?
Related tenets: The learning of language and communication goes beyond the development of language skills and includes a wider range of skills that enable meaning-making.
How far are students’ productive and receptive communicative skills developed beyond the linguistic mode?
Related tenets: The means of and opportunities for meaning-making are aided and extended by using technologies
How does the school encourage the use of technologies to enhance communication?
EXPECTATION: Describes how the language(s) of the wider community are respected and promoted
EXPECTATION: Describes how the language(s) of the wider community are respected and promoted
Student support 5.1
(0202-05-0100)
The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning.
To what extent are languages which are spoken in the wider community the school operates in appreciated and celebrated, even if they are not spoken in the immediate school community?
How is awareness created in students of the importance of all languages, however minoritised some of them may be?
In what ways are students encouraged to challenge language (or language variety) hierarchies?
Related tenets: Language development thrives in environments that by design embrace it.
How are students encouraged to develop all aspects of their linguistic repertoires?
EXPECTATION: Consider what resources and practices are to be used to involve parents in planning their children's language profile and development
EXPECTATION: Consider what resources and practices are to be used to involve parents in planning their children's language profile and development
Student support 5.1
(0202-05-0100)
The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning.
How does the school involve parents in the identification and description of students’ linguistic profiles?
Related tenets: Individuals’ repertoires are inextricably linked to their identities.
In what ways are parents invited to share and celebrate the cultural and linguistic practices of the communities the family belongs in or interacts with?
Related tenets: Learners bring valuable, rich, complex linguistic repertoires to the communication and learning process.
How are parents encouraged to contribute to the development of all aspects of the students’ linguistic repertoires?
How are made aware of language hierarchies and of the perceived value of individual languages and to lead by example in challenging them?
EXPECTATION: Consider the sociocultural circumstances of the school
EXPECTATION: Consider the sociocultural circumstances of the school
Coherent curriculum 1.6
(0401-01-0600)
The school demonstrates that the curriculum is influenced by an understanding of students’ prior knowledge, identities, backgrounds, needs and contexts.
How does the school make sure that it responds to the language needs of the students?
How does the school make language learning relevant to the context of its students?
Related tenets: Language is a means of exploring ourselves and others, diverse world views, and diverse cultures.
How does the school foster international-mindedness through language teaching?
Related tenets: Language is learned, taught and developed in context.
In what ways is context used in the classroom in order to make language learning meaningful?
EXPECTATION: Include evidence of a review process such as the date of the most recent review
EXPECTATION: Include evidence of a review process such as the date of the most recent review
Student support 2.1
(0202-02-0100)
The school implements and reviews systems and processes to identify the needs of students.
How does the school plan for evolving student language needs and changes in the composition of the student and teacher population?
Culture 6
(0301-06)
The school implements, communicates and regularly reviews its IB-mandated policies to ensure they are cohesive and reflect IB philosophy.
How does the language policy interact with the other IB-mandated policies?
How does the school make sure there is consistency across policies?
Related tenets: Language is neither static nor uniform. It changes over time and varies in space and from person to person.
To what extent is the school sensitive and open to new ideas about language and language teaching and learning?
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