How to prepare your IB English Language and Literature Internal Assessment
It is that time of year again where you are being bombarded with a thousand internal assessments for all your different courses. But what do they actually mean?
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Language A course is designed for students aged 16-19 to develop a deeper understanding of concepts and principles in English. For your Language A class, you have the opportunity to either take the Literature or Language and Literature courses. Language and Literature course offers a comprehensive coverage of both literary and non-literary mediums of text and allows you to understand both the context and the outcome of these texts.
Today we will take a look into all of our tips to be successful in the IB English Language and Literature Internal Assessment.
What is the assignment?
Firstly, let’s have a quick run through of what the internal assessment actually entails. The English internal assessment for both standard level and higher level include the individual oral, also known as the IO. As implied by its name, this will be an oral assessment based on two works- one literary and one non-literary- that you have covered throughout the 2 years of IB. You will need to connect these to a great global issue.
Note:
If you are a higher level student, you will have to also do an additional Higher Level Essay. Although this will be prepared beforehand throughout the year, this is considered an external assessment as it will be marked by IB markers. This will be considered in the same category as your paper 1 and paper 2. To learn more about your external assessments, read our article on how to write your IB Language and Literature Paper 1.
Structure
The 15 minute oral assessment is structured as follows:
- 10 minute individual presentation where you analyse two texts and connect them to your global issue
- 5 minutes of questions asked by your teacher relating to things you have said
You will also need to submit 10 bullet points to your teacher which effectively summarise and outline what you will be discussing in the oral. These will be the only things allowed for you to bring during your presentation.
What is a global issue?
A global issue is one that is felt universally, implying everywhere in the world, but it does not have to be felt evenly. For example, although the issue of gender pay gap may not be an issue for certain people, it is felt in every country, hence making it a global issue. On the other hand, the issue of increased government funding going to space exploration is an issue that only affects a handful of countries, making it inappropriate for the given task.
The IB English syllabus (First assessment 2021) outlines 5 potential categories for your IO. Although you are allowed to choose from outside of these categories, they offer a good guideline to what sort of topic you may want to pick. These include:
- Culture, identity and community
- Beliefs, values and education
- Politics, power and justice
- Art, creativity and the imagination
- Science, technology and the environment
Before picking your texts, you can begin to think about what topics out of these global issues may be of interest to you. Picking something you are interested in will mean you are more willing to dedicate time to the assignment, and will help you score a higher grade.
Picking your texts
As mentioned in our other articles, picking texts proves challenging for many students. This is due to the fact that many students do not plan out what texts they want to use for their paper 2, and effectively “waste” a good text on the IO. Although there are no good or bad texts to use for your IO, as mentioned in our how to tackle your Paper 2 guide, using novels is recommended for your Paper 2. As you cannot use two of the same texts for your assignments, for your IO we recommend using any other form of literary texts, such as poetry. Although you can use a novel, we recommend “saving” your novels for paper 2s.
Remember when you are choosing your extracts, you can only pick up to 40 lines, even though you may only choose to analyse less than that, make sure you choose them wisely.
You want to be able to choose a text that you feel like you can succinctly analyse in approximately 3 minutes, and then connect it to a global issue with relevance. Once you have analysed your literary text, you can look for any major themes that arise and see if any similar themes or ideas are present in non-literary texts you have studied.
Your two texts do not necessarily have to have the same opinion on your global issue, but should both contribute to the discourse surrounding said issue.
How to write your speech
When writing the IO you want to structure it as follows;
- Introduction ~ 1 minute ~ 150 words
- Text 1 analysis ~ 4 minutes ~ 500 words
- Text 2 analysis ~ 4 minutes ~ 500 words
- Conclusion ~ 1 minute ~ 150 words
This structure will allow you to evenly discuss all the topics necessary, however, what should you write in your speech to ensure that you get that 7?
When analysing your text you want to make sure you are doing three things:
- Identifying phrases and stylistic devices used
- Analysing their significance within the passage
- Connecting them to your global issue
Make sure you are explaining all of the examples in sufficient detail so that you are covering all of the potential questions your teacher may throw at you.
Lastly, you need to discuss the body of work that the extract was taken from. Here you need to discuss both the significance of the whole text and the way it would relate to the global issue. Hence, you will have a nice transition to discuss the second text.
Practicing your speech
Once you have written a speech, you need to write ten bullet points that you can refer to throughout your speech that will help you remember what to say. Make sure to dedicate most of the bullet points to the information in your text analysis. Furthermore, when writing your bullet points, include buzz words that will help you recall what you had previously written.
Lastly, and we cannot emphasise this enough: practice, practice, practice!
Practicing by yourself will help you stay within the time limits. However, you should also practice in front of other people and have them ask you questions related to what you have spoken about. This will help you to be more comfortable answering questions that you may not have felt prepared for. Everyone has a different style of asking questions, so try to practice in front of at least 5 different people.
Conclusion
Although the IO may seem like a daunting task, when broken down, you simply need to ensure you feel confident that you have covered all of the criteria of the assignment, and that you can present your speech effectively. Working towards this goal slowly and consistently will help you get your 7!
At Aegis Advisors, we specialize in guiding students through the intricate world of IB English. Contact us to start your tutoring journey today so that you can feel more secure going into your assignments!