The course is organized according to the requirements and guidelines of the current AP English Course Description and also the International Baccalaureate Organization’s A1 guidelines. Therefore, students are expected to read critically, think analytically and communicate clearly in both writing and speech. Students write in multiple modes and styles with major assessments in style analysis, comparative literary analysis, argumentation and synthesis. In addition, students conduct research using MLA format to contextualize novels.

Writing skills learned and practiced in this course will encourage students to move beyond formulaic organization and to develop their own sense of organization and style as they work with the various forms and consider their audience. Students engage in the process of writing by exploring ideas, reconsidering strategies, revising their work and become more aware of their own composing processes. The intense concentration on language use in this course will enhance students’ ability to use grammatical conventions both appropriately and with sophistication as well as to develop stylistic maturity in their writing.  Students learn how stylistic effects are achieved by writers’ linguistic choices. 

Students will be encouraged to develop critical reading skills through close and careful reading of complex texts. This will not only enrich their own use of language, but will also enable them to better synthesize material from a variety of sources in their own writing. Students will also learn to recognize the construction of texts and how the author makes meaning through his/her use of language as well as how to annotate for an author’s purpose.

Oral communication is another invaluable aspect of this course, preparing students to gain a deep knowledge and understanding of a work. Students must have knowledge and use of the linguistic register appropriate for the type of presentation, where register refers to the student’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task. Additionally, students must take into consideration the means (how) by which the author(s) have explored the aspect discussed and of the effects (to what purpose).