Interdisciplinary Unit Planning for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) to Support Multilingual Language Learners

Abstract

The research conducted in this thesis intends to consider the possibilities within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) to establish similar levels of interdisciplinarity as the rest of the IB continuum, specifically in the support of multilingual language learners (MLL), given the high numbers of students completing the coursework in their second or third language around the world. In considering various IB publications and the research conducted by Ecctis (2021), the basic framework for how to define interdisciplinarity in the Diploma Programme would be established, but the methodology and support for MLL students in this academic level would come from several other studies from both primary and secondary schools around the world, as current research for interdisciplinary teaching specific to the IBDP is limited. From these studies, where the key focus was the expansion of students’ grasp on literacy, academic language, and successful building of communicative skills, there were several patterns that were extracted that would be used in preparing an effective interdisciplinary unit plan for the IBDP: objectives around building literacy; integration of the arts through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), thematic considerations to unite the coursework, and a project-based planning model that would allow for a culminating task across disciplines and for students to use the combined academic language