- How the Language B Individual Oral Works
- SL vs HL: Visual Stimulus or Literary Extract
- Structuring Your 3 to 4 Minute Presentation
- Language B Oral Criteria: The 30-Mark Rubric
- How to Prepare in the Weeks Before
- Using Your 15 or 20 Minutes of Preparation
- During the Oral: Techniques That Score
- Common Mistakes in the Language B Oral
Quick Answer
The IB Language B individual oral is a 12 to 15 minute conversation with your teacher, marked out of 30 and worth 25% of your grade at SL and HL. At SL you prepare a visual stimulus for 15 minutes; at HL, a literary extract for 20 minutes. You present for 3 to 4 minutes, discuss for 4 to 5, then hold a 5 to 6 minute general conversation.
What You'll Learn
- Worth 25% of your Language B grade at SL and HL, marked out of 30
- SL: choose one of two visual stimuli, with 15 minutes of supervised preparation
- HL: choose one of two literary extracts from the works you studied, with 20 minutes of preparation
- Three parts: presentation (3 to 4 minutes), follow-up discussion (4 to 5), general conversation (5 to 6)
- Language is worth 12 of the 30 marks; what you say and how you interact earn the other 18
How the Language B Individual Oral Works
The individual oral is the internal assessment for every Language B course, from English B to Spanish B or Mandarin B. It is a conversation with your teacher in the target language, based on a stimulus you prepare under supervision. Your teacher conducts, records and marks it, and the IB moderates a sample of recordings from each school. The structure is the same at SL and HL; what changes is the stimulus and the preparation time. The course is built around five prescribed themes, and the oral draws on them: identities, experiences, human ingenuity, social organisation and sharing the planet.
- Preparation: 15 minutes at SL or 20 minutes at HL, supervised, in which you choose one of two stimuli
- Notes: you may make brief working notes during preparation, up to 10 bullet points, and use them for reference
- Part 1, presentation: 3 to 4 minutes on your chosen stimulus
- Part 2, follow-up discussion: 4 to 5 minutes with your teacher, building on your presentation
- Part 3, general conversation: 5 to 6 minutes on course themes; at SL this includes at least one theme beyond the one in your stimulus
- Total: 12 to 15 minutes, marked out of 30, worth 25% of your final grade at both levels
Pro Tip
Because the general conversation moves on to other themes, you need vocabulary, examples and opinions ready for all five themes, not only the ones you enjoy.
SL vs HL: Visual Stimulus or Literary Extract
At SL, you are shown two visual stimuli, usually a photograph, poster or similar image, and you choose one. Each is clearly linked to one or more course themes, and your presentation should describe it, connect it to its theme and relate it to the culture or cultures where the language is spoken. At HL, you are given two extracts of up to about 300 words, one from each of the two literary works you studied in the target language, and you choose one. Your presentation discusses the extract: what happens, the characters and ideas, and how it connects to the work as a whole.
- SL stimulus: a visual image linked to a course theme, which you have not seen before
- SL focus: describe, interpret, connect to the theme and to target-language culture, and give a justified personal response
- HL stimulus: a literary extract from one of your two studied works; you do not know in advance which passages will appear
- HL focus: place the extract in the work, explain events, characters and ideas, give your interpretation and link it to course themes
- Both levels: the follow-up discussion builds on your presentation, and the general conversation moves beyond it
Pro Tip
At HL you cannot predict the passage, so know both works well enough to place any page: a timeline of key events, a character map and three or four ideas per work that you can discuss in the target language.
Structuring Your 3 to 4 Minute Presentation
A clear shape helps you sound confident and fills the time without padding. For example, an SL student shown a photograph of a busy city cycle lane might name the sharing the planet theme, describe the scene, compare cycling policy in a country where the language is spoken with their own country, and end by asking whether cities should close their centres to cars. Adapt this order to your stimulus:
- 1Introduce the stimulus in one or two sentences: what the image shows (SL) or where the extract sits in the work (HL)
- 2Name the theme it connects to and the main message or idea you see in it
- 3Develop two or three points with detail from the stimulus: people, setting, text and symbols (SL), or events, characters and language (HL)
- 4Connect to the wider picture: a target-language culture you know about (SL) or the work as a whole (HL)
- 5Give and justify a personal response, then finish with a point or question that opens up the discussion
Language B Oral Criteria: The 30-Mark Rubric
Your teacher marks the oral against four criteria. Language carries the most marks, but more than half of the total rewards what you say and how well you interact.
- Criterion A, Language (12 marks): the range and accuracy of your vocabulary and grammar, and how clear your pronunciation and intonation are
- Criterion B1, Message (6 marks): how relevant and well developed your presentation is, based on the visual stimulus at SL or the literary extract at HL
- Criterion B2, Message, conversation (6 marks): how relevant and well developed your answers are in the follow-up discussion and the general conversation
- Criterion C, Interactive skills, communication (6 marks): how well you understand your teacher, keep the conversation going and contribute ideas of your own
Pro Tip
Criterion C rewards independent contributions. Adding an example nobody asked for, or turning a question back to your teacher, shows you are taking part in a conversation rather than just answering.
How to Prepare in the Weeks Before
The oral tests what you can say spontaneously, so most of your preparation should be speaking, organised by theme.
- Build vocabulary by theme, including words for describing images, such as foreground, background, mood, gesture and slogan
- Collect two or three concrete cultural examples per theme from places where the language is spoken, such as a festival, a policy, a news story or a well-known person
- Learn phrases for giving opinions, comparing, speculating and concluding, and practise using them in full answers
- Practise with unseen images (SL) or random passages from your works (HL) under a 15 or 20 minute timer
- Record yourself, listen back and note repeated errors to fix
- Hold regular short conversations on all five themes, with classmates, a tutor or a language partner
- At HL, reread both works and practise summarising any chapter in the target language in one minute
Using Your 15 or 20 Minutes of Preparation
The preparation time is short, so go in with a routine:
- 1Look at both stimuli and decide within a minute or two. Pick the one you can say most about, not the one you like most
- 2Brainstorm what you see or what happens, the theme, cultural links and your opinion
- 3Turn the best ideas into your bullet points in presentation order, using keywords only
- 4Note a few precise words or phrases you want to use, especially any you tend to forget under pressure
- 5Predict two or three follow-up questions and think of an example for each
Watch Out
Your notes are brief working notes for reference. Writing out sentences to read aloud costs you preparation time and usually costs marks in the oral too.
During the Oral: Techniques That Score
These habits help in every part of the oral:
- Extend every answer: make a point, give a reason, add an example, then a consequence or comparison
- If you do not understand a question, ask for clarification in the target language
- Use natural fillers while you think, rather than silence or switching language
- Self-correct quickly and keep going; a small slip matters less than a stalled answer
- Paraphrase when you forget a word: describe it rather than stopping
- Link back to target-language culture when it is relevant
- React to your teacher's comments and add your own ideas, so it feels like a real conversation
Pro Tip
Your teacher marks communication, not perfection. An answer with minor errors that communicates ideas clearly and develops them scores better than a short, careful answer that avoids risk.
Common Mistakes in the Language B Oral
These are the habits that most often pull marks down:
- Memorising a presentation in advance and forcing it onto whatever stimulus appears
- Describing the image without interpreting it or connecting it to a theme
- At SL, making no link to a target-language culture
- At HL, retelling the plot instead of discussing characters and ideas
- Giving one-sentence answers in the discussion
- Preparing only one or two themes for the general conversation
- Freezing after an error instead of rephrasing