What are the differences between the IB Literature and Language and Literature courses?

Choosing your IB subjects can be nerve-wracking. Choosing which English course to take can be equally stressful and confusing. Here are a few things you need to know about the two courses: Language and Literature (Lang/Lit) and Literature (Lit).

Focus

In Lit, you will focus solely on literary texts, while both fiction and non-fiction are studied in Lang/Lit. If you take Lit, you will be studying canonical literature such as Macbeth. In short, you will be exploring the nature of literature and learning to do literary criticism. In Lang/Lit, you will be exploring the nature of language. As such, you will be studying a broad range of texts, including advertisements.

Works studied in SL and HL

Now that you understand the main difference between the two courses, let’s look at the table for the summarized distinctions between works studied in SL and HL.

Lang/Lit

Works	SL	HL
Works in translation (from a prescribed list of translated texts [PLT])	One text	Two texts
Works originally written in the language studied (from a prescribed list of authors [PLA])	One text	Two texts
Texts chosen from a variety of genre, source, media	Two texts	Two texts
Total texts studied:	Four Texts	Six Texts

Literature

Works	SL	HL
Works in translation (PLT)	Three text	Four texts
Works originally written in the language studied (PLA)	Four texts	Five texts
Texts chosen from a variety of genre, source, media	Two texts	Four texts
Total texts studied:	Nine Texts	Thirteen Texts

Assessment at a glance for both SL and HL

From the summarized table below, it is clear that both subjects follow very similar assessment formats.

Lang/Lit

External	Format	SL (%)	HL (%)
Paper 1	Written analysis of unseen non-literary texts	35	35
Paper 2	Respond to one out of four questions, writing a comparative essay based on two literary works studied	35	25
HL Essay	1200-1500 word essay on one literary/non-literary work studied	-	20

Internal	Format	SL (%)	HL (%)
Individual Oral (IO)	Oral response on one literary work and one non-literary text. The work and text selected must have a clear connection with the global issue.	30	20

Literature

External	Format	SL (%)	HL (%)
Paper 1	Written analysis of two unseen literary texts. One is always a poem and the other is a prose extract from a novel or short story.	35	35
Paper 2	Respond to one out of four questions, writing a comparative essay based on two literary works studied.	35	25
HL Essay	1200-1500 word essay on one work studied.	-	20

Internal	Format	SL (%)	HL (%)
Individual Oral (IO)	Oral response on one work originally written in the language studied and one work studied in translation. The work selected must have a clear connection with the global issue.	30	20

Similarities:

Expectations of language usage, of level of analysis and of critical reflection are the same across the two courses.
Both subjects focus on exploring language in cultural contexts.
Both courses use similar assessments.

So, how do you choose which English subjects to take? Well, it really depends on your preference. Remember, you will be enrolled in this course for two years, so you need to choose the course that you’ll enjoy. That being said, you need to also analyse your strengths and weaknesses. You may enjoy exploring language in general, but you could be better at analysing literary texts. You may not necessarily enjoy it, but it’s just something that you’re really good at. Ultimately, they are both IB subjects, and regardless of which subject you choose, you’ll have to put in the effort and work hard to do well.

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