Most IB students don't struggle with the texts in their Individual Oral. They struggle with the sentence that has to hold both texts together.

You have read the novel. You have a striking advert or a set of speeches. You can feel that they are talking about the same thing. But when you try to write that thing down, it comes out as one word: "identity", "power", "technology". And one word cannot carry a 10-minute oral.

The five fields of inquiry fix that. They don't hand you a global issue. They show you where to look for one, and how to sharpen it into a claim you can prove with both texts.

This guide walks you through all five fields, a step-by-step method for building your global issue, a full worked example, how the IO is marked, and a practice routine that actually moves your score. Students looking for more personalised support can also explore IB English tutoring with Mentor Match.

[Hero image brief: realistic photo of an IB student at a desk with a novel open on one side and a printed advert on the other, highlighter in hand, natural light, premium Gen Z feel. Yellow doodle Mentor Match logo top-right. Alt text: "IB English A student linking a literary and non-literary text for the Individual Oral"]

The IO at a glance

Keep these facts in front of you while you plan:

• Length: 15 minutes in total. You speak for 10 minutes, then your teacher asks questions for 5.
• What you bring: one extract from each of your two texts, plus a short outline of up to 10 bullet points.
• The two texts (Language and Literature): one literary work and one non-literary body of work.
• The two texts (Literature): one work originally written in the language you study and one work in translation.
• The glue: one global issue that both texts present, explored through the authors' choices.
• Marking: four criteria (A to D), 10 marks each, 40 in total.
• Weighting: about 30% of your final grade at SL and 20% at HL.

Check the exact rules with your teacher, as schools sometimes add their own deadlines and outline formats.

What are the fields of inquiry in IB English A?

The fields of inquiry are five broad areas the IB uses to frame global issues in both English A courses: Language and Literature, and Literature. If you are exploring the wider course, see IB English tutoring for SL and HL students.

1. Culture, identity and community
2. Beliefs, values and education
3. Politics, power and justice
4. Art, creativity and the imagination
5. Science, technology and the natural world

Think of each field as a different pair of glasses. Put on one pair and a novel about a family moving abroad becomes a story about belonging. Put on another and the same novel becomes a story about who controls the borders they cross.

You are not tested on memorising the fields. You are tested on whether your global issue is focused, matters beyond the page, and is shown through the choices the writers made.

Why the fields matter for your IO

A field of inquiry does three jobs for you:

• It narrows a theme into an issue. "Inequality" is a topic. "How unpaid domestic work keeps women financially dependent" is an issue you can argue.
• It keeps you analysing, not retelling. Once you know the issue, every quotation has a job: show how the writer presents it.
• It joins your two halves. Without a shared issue, the IO sounds like two mini-presentations stapled together. With one, it sounds like a single argument.

A quick test: if you can explain your global issue in one sentence to a friend who hasn't read either text, you are ready to build the IO around it.

The five fields explained, with global issue examples

For each field you'll find what it covers, four global issues you could adapt, and how to handle it in your IO.

1. Culture, identity and community

This field asks who belongs, who decides, and what people give up to fit in.

It covers: race, ethnicity and nationality; migration and diaspora; gender and family roles; tradition and assimilation; language and belonging; colonial history and cultural memory.

Global issue examples:

• How second-generation migrants are pressured to choose between inherited culture and acceptance.
• How stereotyped media images shrink minority communities into a single story.
• How family expectations limit the career choices of young women.
• How losing a home language weakens a person's connection to their community.

In your IO: track how identity is shown: names, dialogue, code-switching, clothing, settings, and who gets to speak. Explain what each choice reveals about the pressure on the individual.

2. Beliefs, values and education

This field asks how people learn what to believe, and what happens when they question it.

It covers: religion and morality; ideology; access to education; social conditioning; family values; authority and free thought.

Global issue examples:

• How unequal access to education passes poverty from one generation to the next.
• How strict moral codes are used to justify punishing people who break them.
• How schools reward obedience over independent thinking.
• How exam pressure shapes young people's sense of their own worth.

In your IO: look for moments when a character's beliefs are tested. Analyse the language of authority (commands, rules, sermons, slogans) against the language of doubt.

3. Politics, power and justice

This field asks who holds power, how they keep it, and who pays the price. It is the most popular field, so it needs the sharpest focus.

It covers: rights and the law; state and corporate power; propaganda and censorship; class and economic exploitation; protest and resistance; war and conflict.

Global issue examples:

• How governments use patriotic language to silence criticism during conflict.
• How low-wage workers are kept invisible to the people who depend on their labour.
• How justice systems treat the poor more harshly than the powerful.
• How protest movements are reframed as threats by those they challenge.

In your IO: don't just say "power". Name the type of power and the method it uses: fear, persuasion, money, law. Then show the techniques that make that method visible.

4. Art, creativity and the imagination

This field asks what art does in the world: whom it serves, challenges or leaves out.

It covers: storytelling and myth; satire and parody; censorship of artists; representation and beauty standards; form, genre and medium; the artist's role in society.

Global issue examples:

• How satire lets writers criticise those in power without direct confrontation.
• How advertising imagery sets narrow standards of beauty.
• How censorship of artists reveals what a society fears.
• How retelling old myths can give a voice to characters history ignored.

In your IO: this field rewards attention to form. Ask why the writer chose this genre, structure or visual style, and what would be lost in a different form.

5. Science, technology and the natural world

This field asks what progress costs, and who pays.

It covers: climate change and the environment; technology and identity; social media; medicine and ethics; artificial intelligence; human control over nature.

Global issue examples:

• How beauty filters and editing apps reshape young people's self-image.
• How wealthy nations shift the costs of climate change onto poorer ones.
• How medical advances raise questions about who deserves access to treatment.
• How constant connectivity erodes privacy without people noticing.

In your IO: look at how writers present nature or technology: as a tool, a threat, a mirror, or a victim. Imagery and personification often carry the argument here.

[Image brief: clean infographic of the five fields as five coloured cards, each with an icon and one example global issue. Alt text: "The five IB English A fields of inquiry with example global issues"]

From field to global issue in 4 steps

A field is a big room. A global issue is one clear sentence you say inside it. Here is how to get from one to the other:

1. Pick the field: Science, technology and the natural world.
2. Spot the topic both texts share: beauty filters and photo-editing apps.
3. Name what it does to people: they make users compare their real faces to an edited ideal.
4. Write it as one sentence: How digital beauty filters distort young people's self-image by setting an unreachable standard.

That last line is a global issue. It names a cause (filters), an effect (distorted self-image) and a group (young people). It also tells you what to look for in your extracts: images of mirrors and screens, before-and-after contrasts, the language of perfection.

Too broad vs. sharp enough

• Too broad: "Technology." Sharp: "How social media rewards outrage over accuracy."
• Too broad: "Racism." Sharp: "How everyday language normalises racial hierarchies."
• Too broad: "Women." Sharp: "How unpaid domestic work keeps women financially dependent."
• Too broad: "War." Sharp: "How official language hides the human cost of conflict."

If your global issue has no verb, it probably isn't sharp enough yet.

A worked example: one global issue, two texts

Here is how a Language and Literature student might build an IO from start to finish.

Field: Culture, identity and community

Global issue: How second-generation migrants are pressured to choose between their inherited culture and acceptance in their new country.

Literary work: Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake

• Extract: the scene where Gogol legally changes his name to Nikhil.
• What to analyse: the symbolism of the name, the cold official setting of the courtroom, and the gap between how freeing the change feels and what it quietly cuts him off from.
• Wider work: link to his shifting relationships with his parents and his partners, each one pulling him towards a different identity.

Non-literary body of work: a brand's festival-season advertising campaign aimed at diaspora families

• Extract: one print or video advert from the campaign.
• What to analyse: the blend of traditional and Western clothing, the warm colour palette, the slogan's "you can have both" message, and who is placed at the centre of the frame.
• Wider work: how the campaign as a whole sells a tension-free mixed identity that real families rarely experience.

The argument that connects them: the novel shows the private cost of choosing between two cultures; the adverts turn the same tension into a product, promising a balance that can be bought. Together they show how the pressure on migrants is felt inside the family and then reflected back by the market.

Notice the shape: one issue, two very different forms, and a contrast that gives the oral a clear direction. That is what examiners are listening for.

How the IO is marked

Your IO is marked on four criteria, each out of 10:

• Criterion A – Knowledge, understanding and interpretation: do you know both texts well, and is your global issue supported with well-chosen references?
• Criterion B – Analysis and evaluation: do you explain how the authors' choices present the issue, not just that they do?
• Criterion C – Focus and organization: is the oral balanced between the two texts, and does it follow one clear line of argument?
• Criterion D – Language: is your spoken language clear, accurate and suited to an academic discussion?

The field of inquiry quietly supports all four. A sharp global issue makes your references relevant (A), gives your analysis a target (B), keeps the structure tight (C) and helps you sound precise (D).

For more support with your IB subjects and assessment preparation, explore IB tutoring at Mentor Match.

A 10-minute IO plan

Use this as a starting structure, then adjust to your texts:

1. Introduction (about 1 minute): state your global issue, introduce both texts and extracts, and preview your argument.
2. Text 1 extract (about 3 minutes): two or three key authorial choices, each linked back to the global issue.
3. Text 1, wider work (about 1 minute): one or two moments elsewhere in the work that develop the issue.
4. Text 2 extract (about 3 minutes): the same depth of analysis, with a clear comparison to Text 1.
5. Text 2, wider body of work (about 1 minute): how the issue appears across the body of work.
6. Conclusion (about 1 minute): what the two texts together reveal about the issue, and why it matters beyond them.

Keep the two halves roughly equal. An IO that spends seven minutes on the novel and two on the advert will lose marks for balance.

[Image brief: simple timeline graphic showing the 10-minute IO split into six coloured segments, plus a separate 5-minute block for teacher questions. Alt text: "How to structure a 10-minute IB English A Individual Oral"]

A prep routine that actually raises your mark

Reading your script over and over feels productive. It rarely is. The IO is a speaking skill, so you improve it by speaking, listening back and fixing one thing at a time.

Week 1 – Lock the foundations

• Write your global issue as one sentence and test it on someone who hasn't read the texts.
• Choose extracts packed with techniques you can analyse, not just strong quotes.
• Draft your 10-bullet outline. Each bullet is a prompt, not a sentence to read.

Week 2 – Practise in focused rounds

• Round 1, timing: run the full IO with a timer. Note where you overrun.
• Round 2, analysis: for every technique, say the effect and the link to the issue out loud.
• Round 3, transitions: practise only the move from Text 1 to Text 2 until it sounds natural.
• Round 4, record and review: record yourself, then mark it against Criteria A to D.

Week 3 – Prepare for the questions

• List five questions your teacher might ask, such as "Why this extract?" or "What would change if…?"
• Practise short, direct answers that bring the discussion back to your global issue.
• Do a final full run under exam conditions.

Short, focused practice sessions of 20 to 30 minutes beat one long, unfocused rehearsal the night before.

7 common IO mistakes (and quick fixes)

1. A one-word global issue. Fix: turn it into a sentence with a cause, an effect and a group of people.
2. Retelling the plot. Fix: every point should start with a technique, not with "In this chapter…".
3. Naming techniques without effects. Fix: after each technique, add "which shows…" and link it to the issue.
4. Uneven time between texts. Fix: time each half separately during practice.
5. Forgetting the wider work. Fix: plan one or two specific links beyond each extract.
6. Reading from a script. Fix: rehearse from your 10 bullets only, so you sound like you're thinking, not reciting.
7. Picking the field first, then forcing the texts to fit. Fix: start from what your texts genuinely share, then see which field fits it best.

The bottom line

The fields of inquiry are not one more thing to memorise. They are the shortcut from "I think these texts are about the same thing" to "here is exactly what they show, and how".

Pick the field your texts genuinely share. Sharpen it into one clear sentence. Tie every technique back to that sentence. Then practise speaking it until it sounds like your own argument, because by then it will be.

Need help with your IB English A IO?

At Mentor Match, IB students get 1:1 online tutoring with curriculum-trained IB English tutors who know both Language and Literature and Literature.

• Global issue coaching: sharpen a broad theme into a focused, arguable issue.
• Extract selection: choose passages rich enough to sustain 10 minutes of analysis.
• Mock IOs with feedback: timed practice marked against Criteria A to D.
• Same tutor every session: from the free trial onwards.
• Progress updates for parents: so you can see how preparation is going.

Whether your child is still choosing texts or a week away from their IO, a focused session can make the difference.

Book your free IB trial class.

Explore more:

• IB English Tutoring – SL and HL
• IB Tutoring at Mentor Match
• Meet Our Tutors
• SL Meaning in IB: The 2027 Guide

Frequently asked questions

1. What are the five fields of inquiry in IB English A?

They are culture, identity and community; beliefs, values and education; politics, power and justice; art, creativity and the imagination; and science, technology and the natural world.

2. Do I have to name my field of inquiry during the IO?

No. What matters is that your global issue clearly fits a field. Most students state their global issue in the introduction and let the field stay in the background.

3. Can my global issue fit more than one field?

Yes, many do. Choose the field that best supports your analysis of both texts, and keep your argument focused on that angle.

4. What is the difference between a theme and a global issue?

A theme is a topic, such as "identity". A global issue is a focused claim about that topic that matters beyond the text, such as how migrants are pressured to give up their inherited culture.

5. How long is the IB English A Individual Oral?

The IO lasts 15 minutes: 10 minutes of student presentation followed by 5 minutes of teacher questions.

6. How is the IO marked?

It is marked out of 40 on four criteria, each worth 10 marks: knowledge, understanding and interpretation; analysis and evaluation; focus and organization; and language.

7. Which field of inquiry is easiest?

No field is easier. The best field is the one your two texts genuinely share. Politics, power and justice is the most popular, so it needs an especially precise global issue.

8. Can I use the same global issue in other assessments?

Check with your teacher. The IB has rules against reusing the same texts across assessments, so plan your IO, essay and exam texts together.

9. How do I choose good extracts for the IO?

Pick extracts of up to 40 lines that clearly show your global issue and contain several techniques you can analyse. Avoid passages that are mostly plot or dialogue with little to say about form.

10. Can a tutor help with IO preparation?

Yes. A tutor can help you refine your global issue, choose strong extracts and run timed mock IOs with feedback, while the final work and ideas must remain your own. You can meet the Mentor Match tutors to explore personalised academic support.