Test your global issue against all four evidence areas
The 2026 IB examiner instructions ask for sustained focus and balanced consideration of both extracts and both wider contexts. This is a private checklist for your own class texts, not a script or assessed answer.
Which specific image, sentence, sound or structure creates meaning linked to your global issue?
Where else does the issue appear, and how does the author's later choice add or complicate it?
What visual/verbal choice shapes the audience's reading of the issue?
Which second text by the creator supports a pattern beyond this single extract?
0 of 4 parts have a developed evidence note (35+ characters). Define a narrower global issue first.
This is an organizational check only; a long note is not proof of Criterion A or B quality. Keep all work your own and confirm your text selection with the teacher.
A completed miniature evidence analysis
The texts below are new fictional teaching examples written for this page, not copyrighted class set works or official IB extracts. They demonstrate the reasoning process, not suitable texts to submit for the assessed oral.
Fictional literary line
“When the bell rang, only the children with blue cards could leave the courtyard.”
Authorial choice: a colour-coded object determines movement; the bell imposes impersonal timing. Issue: administrative classification controlling access to freedom.
Fictional poster
Large headline: “YOUR BADGE OPENS THE DOOR.” Small footer: “Access levels depend on registration.” A bright doorway occupies 80% of the design.
Visual choice: the brightly lit door makes controlled access aspirational; the smaller exclusion clause minimizes the restriction. Issue: institutional classification conditioning opportunity.
What a real oral must add: replace both simulations with studied authorised texts; analyse precise choices in each actual extract, then connect evidence to the whole literary work and non-literary body of work. The IB subject guide specifies an individual oral of 10 minutes plus five minutes of teacher questions; four internal-assessment criteria assess knowledge/interpretation, analysis/evaluation, focus/organisation, and language (10 marks each). This miniature is intentionally not a complete assessed oral.
An evidence map for one global issue
The 2026 examiner instructions expect sustained issue focus and balanced attention to extracts and the wider works. This planning map is for Language A: language and literature. Check the requirements for Language A: literature separately if that is your registered course.
01Global issue
Name a focused, transnational issue and state how the texts represent or examine it.
Weak signal: A very broad theme such as 'power' with no specific lens.
02Extract from literary work
Select a technique and explain how a precise textual choice constructs meaning related to the issue.
Weak signal: Retelling the plot or only naming literary devices.
03Literary work as a whole
Connect the selected extract to the broader work through another precise authorial choice.
Weak signal: Treating the extract as the entire work.
04Non-literary extract
Analyse a selected image/text/sequence and how audience, medium and design choices shape meaning.
Weak signal: Describing the image without analysing choices.
05Body of work
Show how the issue appears beyond the single selected item in the studied body of work.
Weak signal: Substituting general comments about the creator.
Rehearse with a question, not a script
Can you explain why each of four selected authorial decisions matters to this issue? If you cannot make the connection without reciting memorized sentences, rebuild the evidence map.
Do not force comparison
The current examiner instructions say the task is not fundamentally comparative. Sustained exploration of how the chosen issue appears in the two texts matters more than manufactured similarities.
Questions that change the next step
Do I need two different global issues for the English Individual Oral?
No. The task sustains a single defined global issue and examines how the chosen texts explore it. Use the exact brief for the Language A course and assessment session you are registered in.
Should I compare the two extracts throughout the oral?
You can make meaningful connections, but the oral is not fundamentally a comparison essay. Prioritise how authorial choices across each extract and its wider work/body of work illuminate the same global issue.
Can I discuss only the two selected extracts?
The guidance expects reference to the wider literary work and non-literary body of work, not only the isolated extracts. Use a second contextual example from each where it strengthens the global-issue argument.
Sources and verification
Primary-source references for this article, checked 8 October 2026. Rules and admission policies can change; confirm the current version for your assessment session or university course.
- IB — Language A: language and literature subject page ↗
Course context, selected works and oral assessment.
- IB — Language A examiner instructions (2026) ↗
Examiners explain global-issue focus and balance across extracts and whole works.
Independent student guidance, not an official IB publication. Ask your school coordinator to confirm policies relevant to your circumstances.