Every subtopic of DP English A: Language and Literature, ready to teach.

This unit addresses the foundational questions of the course: how language constructs and conveys meaning, how literary and non-literary texts differ and overlap, and how contexts of production shape the texts writers create. Across 18 lessons and 6 topics, students examine prose, poetry and drama alongside a wide range of non-literary text types and media — including visual and multimodal forms — and develop the analytical vocabulary needed for all assessed components. The HL extension topic prepares students for the Paper 1 task of analysing two unseen non-literary extracts in a single sitting.

Skills & assessment. Lessons build close reading and textual analysis skills grounded in the key concepts of Communication, Perspective, Representation, Creativity and Transformation. Students practise identifying how textual features, structures, register, tone and style operate in context, developing the command of literary and non-literary analysis central to Paper 1 and the individual oral. HL lessons specifically develop comparative reading strategies and extended written response skills for the Paper 1 comparative task.

Across 18 lessons and 6 topics, this unit examines the ways texts are situated in time and place. Students explore how global and local contexts influence literary and non-literary production, how cultural values and beliefs are reflected and contested in texts, and how historical circumstance shapes both the language of a text and its reception across time. Dedicated topics address works in translation — including the impact of translation on meaning, tone and cultural nuance — works originally written in the language of study, and the selection and justification of free choice works at SL and HL.

Skills & assessment. Lessons develop students' ability to read texts through contextual lenses, drawing on the key concepts of Context, Culture and Transformation. Cross-cultural and cross-historical comparison is practised throughout, building the analytical frameworks needed for Paper 2 and the individual oral. The free choice works topic supports students in connecting self-selected texts to course concepts and areas of exploration, while the works in translation topic addresses the SL and HL prescribed reading list requirements directly.

This unit develops students' capacity to read texts in relation to each other. Across 15 lessons and 5 topics, students examine intertextual relationships — allusion, borrowing, influence and transformation — alongside the comparative study of literary works and the identification of global issues present across studied texts. The HL-only topic on the extended essay prepares students for the formal requirements of the HL essay: developing an original line of inquiry, sustaining a focused argument across 1,200–1,500 words, and applying appropriate citation and referencing. A further topic addresses performativity — how dramatic structures, voice, sound and live performance function as modes of textual interpretation.

Skills & assessment. Lessons focus on constructing coherent comparative arguments, identifying thematic and formal connections, and framing individual oral presentations around a focused global issue. The Paper 2 formal essay is specifically targeted through work on structured comparison and balanced argumentation. The HL essay topic builds the extended inquiry and formal writing skills that distinguish HL from SL in this course, with Transformation as the organising key concept throughout.

Across 14 lessons and 7 topics, this unit gives dedicated attention to each of the key concepts that organise the DP English A: Language and Literature course. Each concept is examined both as a lens for reading texts and as a framework for students' own critical and creative production. Topics address how context shapes communicative meaning, how writers' creative choices work on readers, how culture encodes values in texts, how language and literature construct identity, how positionality generates competing readings, how representation differs from reflection, and how transformation operates through adaptation, translation and performance.

Skills & assessment. Lessons develop the metalinguistic and metacognitive vocabulary students need to write with precision across all assessment components. By explicitly naming and practising the seven key concepts, students become more confident in framing analytical claims for Paper 1 and Paper 2 responses, the individual oral and the HL essay. The unit also supports students' own creative and critical writing, connecting AO1–AO4 to the conceptual dimensions of the syllabus.