Here's a secret most IB English students find out too late, 

Your Individual Oral is decided the day you pick your global issue.

A global issue for the IB English Individual Oral is a specific, real-world issue that matters on a wide scale and plays out in everyday lives. 

You explore it through an extract from a literary work and an extract from a non-literary body of work. Pick a sharp one, and your 10 minutes almost structure themselves. Pick a vague one, and you'll spend them talking in circles.

This guide gives you a list of global issue examples, plus a simple way to choose yours. But before you pick one, you need to know what the IB will and won't accept.

What Is a Global Issue in the IB English Individual Oral?

In the IB’s terms, a global issue has 3 qualities: 

• It matters on a wide scale, 
• It crosses national borders and,
• Its impact shows up in everyday, local life. 

It also has to be narrower than a theme. 

“Identity” is a field of interest; “the pressure on migrants to give up a first language to fit in” is an issue you can actually analyse.

How the oral works in IB English Lang & Lit:

• Time: a 10-minute prepared response, then 5 minutes of questions from your teacher
• Texts: one extract from a literary work and one from a non-literary body of work
• The task: examine how your global issue is presented through the content and form of both texts
• Marks: 40 in total, worth 30% of your grade at SL and 20% at HL

One detail catches a lot of students out. 

The focus isn't the issue itself, it's how your texts present it. 

So you're not giving a speech on climate change. You're showing how two creators shape the way we see it.

That makes the wording of your issue matter more than the topic. 

Here's what a good one looks like…

IB English Global Issue Examples List

Each example below names a tension, not just a topic. 

Use them as starting points and adjust the wording to fit your texts.

1. Identity and Belonging

• The pressure on migrants to give up a first language to fit in
• How gender expectations limit the careers people feel able to choose
• The way social media turns self-image into a performance
• How minority communities are represented by outsiders rather than by themselves

Identity issues often grow out of what a society values, which is the next group…

2. Beliefs, Values and Education

• How exam-driven schooling rewards conformity over curiosity
• The conflict between family duty and personal ambition
• How religious or cultural tradition shapes choices about marriage
• The way wealth decides who gets access to opportunity

When values are enforced from above, the issue becomes one of power.

3. Power, Politics and Justice

• How governments use language to justify control
• The silencing of people who speak out against those in power
• How the media decides whose suffering counts as news
• The way war is made to seem heroic to young people

Some of the sharpest issues, though, come from the world we've built.

4. Technology, Science and the Environment

• How consumer culture hides the environmental cost of what we buy
• The way algorithms shape what people believe is true
• How communities near industry carry the cost of pollution
• The loss of privacy in exchange for convenience

And sometimes the issue is about the stories and images themselves.

5. Art, Creativity and Representation

• How beauty standards in advertising shape self-worth
• The way history is rewritten by whoever tells the story
• How art is used to resist censorship

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A list gives you options. It won't tell you which one fits your texts, so let's fix that.

How to Choose a Global Issue for Your IB English IO

Start with your texts, not the issue. 

The best global issue is the one both of your texts genuinely have something to say about.

Step 1: Pick two texts you know well

You'll need one literary work and one non-literary body of work. Which ones could you discuss for 10 minutes without notes?

Step 2: Find the overlap

What do both texts care about? Write down every shared concern, then circle the one with the most to say.

Step 3: Turn the topic into a tension

“Gender” is a topic. “How gender expectations limit the careers people feel able to choose” is a global issue.

Step 4: Test it against the IB's three checks

Does it matter on a wide scale? Does it cross borders? Can you see it in everyday life?

Step 5: Choose extracts that show it

Your extracts are the way into the discussion, so pick passages where the issue and the authorial choices are easy to point to.

If your issue passes all 5 steps, you've got a strong base. Even so, there are a few traps worth avoiding.

Common Mistakes When Choosing an IB English Global Issue

Most weak orals start with one of these 3 mistakes:

1. Choosing a topic, not an issue

“Racism” or “the environment” is too broad to analyse in 10 minutes. Narrow it to a specific tension your texts actually show.

2. Talking about the issue instead of the texts

The IB is clear that the focus isn't the issue itself. Every point should come back to how the extract presents it.

3. Turning it into a comparison

The oral isn't a comparative task. Give each text balanced attention, but you don't need to set them against each other.

Avoid these, and the oral becomes far more manageable. 

But what if you've read this far and still can't settle on an issue?

Need Help With Your IB English Individual Oral?

That's more common than you'd think. 

Plenty of students know their texts well and still freeze when it's time to frame an issue or pick extracts.

At Mentor Match, 1:1 IB English tutoring starts with a diagnostic that shows where your oral prep is stuck, from choosing the issue to analysing the authorial choices in your extracts. For the analysis side, our guide to IB English authorial choices is a good place to start.

Book a free session.

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FAQs

What is a global issue in IB English?

A global issue is a specific issue that's significant on a wide scale, crosses national borders and affects everyday local life. In the Individual Oral, you examine how it's presented through the content and form of two texts.

What are good global issue examples for the IB English IO?

Strong examples name a tension, such as “how beauty standards in advertising shape self-worth” or “how the media decides whose suffering counts as news”. Broad topics like “power” or “identity” are too general.

How long is the IB English Individual Oral?

It lasts 15 minutes: a 10-minute prepared response followed by 5 minutes of questions from your teacher.

Is the IB English Individual Oral comparative?

No. You discuss both texts in relation to the same global issue, but the IB says the task isn't comparative.

Does this apply to IB English A: Literature?

Yes, with one difference. In the Literature course, the oral uses a work in translation and a work originally written in the language studied, instead of a literary work and a non-literary body of work.