C1 Society Discussion Questions for Late Teens (16-18)
Watch a tutorial on how to run this activity with your class
Explore More Questions
C1 Society Discussion Questions for Late Teens (16-18)
C1 late teens are the strongest English speakers in any school: international baccalaureate students, bilingual speakers, or those headed for English-medium universities. They can discuss society fluently. What they need are questions that force them to interrogate their own assumptions and engage with genuine complexity. These 50 questions go beyond debate into inquiry: What does it mean to be a citizen in a globalised world? Can equality and meritocracy coexist? How do narratives about the past shape political action in the present? These questions do not have sides to argue. They have depths to explore.
The vocabulary draws from academic and philosophical discourse: 'hegemony,' 'intersectionality,' 'social contract,' 'neoliberalism,' 'utilitarianism,' and 'agency.' C1 teens preparing for university need to produce these words in seminar-style discussion, not just recognise them in reading. Pair discussions give them repeated low-pressure practice with the academic register that higher education demands.
From debate to inquiry
C1 late teens benefit from extended discussion formats: 5-minute paired explorations where both speakers build on each other's ideas rather than opposing them. The goal shifts from winning an argument to constructing a shared understanding. This collaborative discourse style mirrors what university seminars expect and what most school settings never practise.
University-level vocabulary in spoken practice
For students applying to English-medium universities, these society discussions serve as interview preparation. Admissions interviews at competitive universities frequently feature open-ended social questions designed to assess analytical thinking and verbal precision. Regular practice with these questions builds both the intellectual habits and the English fluency that interviewers look for.