What Is the Individual Oral (IO)?
The IO is a 15-minute internally assessed spoken exam in which you explore a global issue through two literary works, delivered as a 10-minute presentation followed by 5 minutes of teacher questioning.
The Individual Oral, or IO, is one of the most distinctive parts of the IB English A: Literature course. Unlike the written papers, it's internally assessed — your own teacher marks it — and it's the one moment in the course where you choose the topic, the texts to focus on, and the shape of the argument. Understanding exactly what the IO is (and isn't) before you start preparing will save you from common structural mistakes later on.
At its core, the IO asks you to explore how a global issue is presented in two literary works you've studied in class. Crucially, one of these two works must be a work in translation — a text originally written in a language other than English. You are not required to directly compare the two texts against each other; instead, your job is to show how each text, through its own methods and choices, illuminates the same global issue.
| Component | Time | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation | 10 minutes | You speak individually, analysing a global issue as it appears in extracts from two literary works |
| Questioning | 5 minutes | Your teacher asks follow-up questions based on your presentation — clarifying your argument, probing other parts of the text, or testing alternative interpretations |
- The IO requires two literary works studied in class.
- One of the two must be a work in translation.
- You do not need to compare the texts directly — focus on how each independently explores the same global issue.
- There is no non-literary text in the English A: Literature IO (this differs from Language & Literature, which pairs a literary work with a non-literary body of work).
So what counts as a global issue? The IB defines it as a topic that is:
- Of broad significance — relevant to people across different regions and societies, not just a single local context.
- Transnational — it shows up in multiple cultures, not tied to one country or community alone.
- Grounded in ethical considerations — it raises questions about right and wrong, justice, power, or human welfare.
Examples include power and oppression, identity and marginalisation, gender inequality, human rights, and technology and surveillance. The key skill is phrasing your issue as a full, specific sentence rather than a single abstract word. "Identity" is too vague to analyse; "the psychological effects of patriarchal control on a woman's sense of self" gives you something concrete to trace through both texts.
- The IO is 15 minutes total: 10-minute individual presentation + 5-minute teacher questioning
- You explore ONE global issue through TWO literary works studied in class
- One of the two literary works MUST be a work in translation
- There is no non-literary text — both works are literary (unlike Language & Literature's IO)
- You don't need to directly compare the texts — show how each independently illuminates the global issue
- Phrase your global issue as a full, specific sentence, not a single abstract word
IO Requirements: Two Works Including One in Translation
For the English A: Literature IO, you must analyse two literary works studied in class, one of which must be a work in translation — but the texts do not need to be directly compared.
The Individual Oral (IO) is a 15-minute internally assessed task built around a global issue that you trace through two literary works you've studied in class. Before you even think about which global issue to choose, you need to lock down a non-negotiable structural requirement: one of your two works must be a work in translation.
What Is a Global Issue?
A global issue is a broadly significant, transnational, ethically-grounded topic (e.g. power, identity, human rights) that anchors your IO and must be traceable through authorial choices in two literary works.
Everything in your Individual Oral hangs off one sentence: your global issue. Get this wrong — too vague, too narrow, or not actually 'global' — and even brilliant close reading won't save your Criterion A mark, because your interpretations won't be relevant to the global issue. So before you touch a single extract, you need to understand exactly what makes an issue 'global' in the IB sense.
The IB defines a global issue by three tests. It should be:
| Test | What it means | Non-example (fails the test) |
|---|---|---|
| Broadly significant | Matters to people beyond one character, one book, or one country | 'Why Nora leaves her husband' — too tied to a single plot event |
| Transnational | Recognisable across multiple cultures or societies, not culturally unique to one setting | 'The 1953 Iranian coup' — too historically/geographically specific on its own |
| Grounded in ethics | Involves a moral stake — questions of right/wrong, justice, harm, freedom | 'People wearing veils' — descriptive, not ethically loaded until framed as repression or control |
Common global issue territory includes: power and oppression, identity and marginalisation, gender inequality, human rights, and technology and surveillance. These aren't a checklist to pick from — they're a sense-check for the scale your issue should operate at.
Notice what's missing from that list: single words. 'Identity' is not a global issue — it's a topic area. A real global issue is a claim, not a category. That's why the single most useful habit you can build now is phrasing your issue as a full sentence, not a noun.
| Weak (single word/topic) | Strong (full sentence, ethically framed) |
|---|---|
| Freedom | The psychological cost of resisting authoritarian control |
| Trauma | The impact of trauma on female agency in patriarchal societies |
| Censorship | The psychological consequences of state censorship on personal identity |
| Class | Class as a barrier to legitimacy and self-worth |
A single-word issue invites two failure modes: (1) you drift into plot summary because there's no argument to prove, and (2) the examiner can't tell what claim you're testing against the texts. A full-sentence issue gives you a thesis before you've written a word of analysis.
You do not need to pick your issue from an official list — the IB's five suggested categories (culture/identity/community; beliefs/values/education; politics/power/justice; art/creativity/imagination; science/technology/environment) exist to spark ideas, not to fence you in. What matters is that the issue you land on genuinely satisfies broad significance, transnationality, and ethical stakes — and, critically, that it emerges organically from both texts rather than being forced onto them.
Exam tip: Test your issue by asking three questions before committing to it: Is it present in both texts without me stretching? Can I analyse specific authorial techniques tied to it? Does it allow multiple perspectives (e.g. oppressor vs. oppressed) rather than a single flat reading? If you can't answer 'yes' to all three, refine the phrasing before you build extracts and analysis around it.
- A global issue must be broadly significant, transnational, and grounded in ethical considerations.
- Phrase it as a full sentence/claim (e.g. 'the psychological cost of state censorship'), never a single word like 'freedom' or 'identity'.
- You are NOT required to choose from the IB's five categories — they're optional inspiration, not a constraint.
- A strong issue should emerge organically from both texts, not be forced onto them, and should be traceable through specific authorial choices.
- Test it: is it present in both texts, does it allow multiple perspectives, and can you analyse literary technique through it?