IB English Literature HL
IB Literature Higher Level is an intensive course and part of the IB diploma program taught over two years. The IB Lit HL curriculum focuses on the study of 13 literary texts from different periods and cultures (Time and Space). Through critical analysis and interpretation, students in the Eng Literature HL develop an in-depth understanding of the connections between texts (Intertextuality) and their role as readers and writers in shaping meaning. (Readers, Writers, and Texts)
The IB Lit HL course explores, analyzes, and develops a more nuanced understanding of Literature than the SL course. The Eng Lit Higher Level course is highly demanding. It requires strong analytical skills, very good usage and understanding of language, detailed knowledge and understanding of genre conventions, and literary and stylistic features.
Course Structure and Content
The Higher Level course requires students to study thirteen literary texts. These must be balanced between literary form, period, and place and include a variety of forms.
At the end of the program, all English Literature HL students sit papers 1 and 2. Paper 1 consists of two literary texts for analysis. Each text has a guiding question as an entry point from which to write the response. Lit HL students must complete both written pieces in two hours and 15 minutes. Paper 2 is a comparative essay of two literary works. The paper offers four questions and should be completed in 1 hour and 45 minutes. The third component HL students complete is the Individual Oral, which consists of two parts: a 10-minute oral analysis by the student, where the student presents two extracts (one from a text originally written in English and the other in translation) examining how a global issue is presented both in the selected extracts and the complete works. This part is followed up by a 5-minute conversation about the extracts and the global issue led by the teacher. Finally, English Literature HL students complete a fourth component, the HL essay, which is completed in class and consists of exploring a line of inquiry in connection with a literary work/s by the same author. The work must have been studied in class. The essay must be between 1200-1500 words.
