1. IB Language A Language and Literature
New revision – First exams 2021

2. Parameters of the review
What are the changes and what does that mean to us?

3. New Parameters and Connection to syllabuses and assessment
The number of assessment components for SL will be three and the number of assessment components for HL will be four.
No unmoderated work may be counted for final grades.
Syllabuses need to be developed to promote conceptual understanding.
Consistent course parts need to be established across all three syllabuses

4. New Parameters and International mindedness
International-mindedness needs to be actively incorporated into all Studies in language and literature syllabuses.
A greater profile should be developed for the Core in all Studies in language and literature syllabuses.
The current model needs to be reviewed to ensure it complies with the IB’s diploma assessment policy.
Assessment objectives should be consistent across all three syllabuses and clearly reflect the aims of the syllabuses.

5. What is happening now and in the future
The aims of further development meetings in Language A: Language and Literature and in Language A: Literature next year will be to
(i) initiate the design of the Teacher Support Material
(ii) produce the specimen papers and the final version of the guides for first teaching in 2019.

6. Curriculum and syllabus decisions
At the External Review Committee meeting in February 2014, considering the prevailing satisfaction with the current syllabuses’ aims, the following draft set of studies in language and literature aims was established with the intention that they will apply as far as possible to all three courses together.
(language A: literature; language A: language and literature and literature and performance

7. The 8 aims of studies in language and literature are to
1. engage with a range of texts, in a variety of media and modes, from different periods, styles, genres and cultures; 2. develop skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting and performing; 3. develop skills in analysis, interpretation and evaluation; 4. develop sensitivity to the formal and aesthetic qualities of texts;

8. The 8 aims of studies in language and literature are to
5. develop an understanding of the relationships between studies in language and literature and other areas of knowledge; 6. understand a variety of perspectives and cultural contexts in order to engage with local and global issues; 7. communicate and collaborate in a confident and creative way; 8. foster a lifelong appreciation and enjoyment of language and literature.

9. Assessment objectives
The assessment objectives for the studies in language and literature were found to be too disparate. A set of assessment objectives common to all three courses was written.

10. The 3 assessment objectives for studies in language and literature are:
1. Know and understand:
a range of texts, works and/or performances
elements of literary, linguistic and/or performance craft
features of particular genres or text type • the role of contexts in which texts are written and/or received

11. The 3 assessment objectives for studies in language and literature are:
2. Analyze, interpret, and evaluate: • the ways in which the use of language creates meaning • the use and effect of literary, linguistic or theatrical techniques • the relationships among different texts • the ways texts offer perspectives on human concerns

12. The 3 assessment objectives for studies in language and literature are:
3. Communicate: • ideas in clear, logical, and persuasive ways

13. Curriculum mode
The development of skills and the study of language, literature and performance is divided into three areas of exploration – the interactions between readers, writers and texts, texts across space and time, and the interconnections between texts. The three areas of the course offer focuses for investigation while blending together in interesting ways. The areas of the course are also clearly linked to concepts that shape or capture the nature of the discipline. There are ample opportunities to make connections with theory of knowledge, approaches to teaching and learning and international-mindedness. The portfolio will be a key resource in this process.

14. Areas of exploration of all courses
The courses will be divided into three areas of exploration common to language A: literature, language A: language and literature and literature and performance. The areas of the course allow students to explore different aspects of language, literature and performance:

15. Areas of exploration of the course
Readers, writers and texts aims to introduce students to the notion and purpose of literature and the ways in which texts can be read, interpreted and responded to.
Time and space draws attention to the fact that texts are not isolated entities, but are connected to space and time.
Intertextuality: connecting texts focuses on the connections between and among diverse texts, traditions, creators and ideas.

16. Areas of exploration of the course
Each area of exploration of the course is accompanied by six questions, linked to the course concepts, that provide a guide to the learning in each area of the course.

17. Readers, writers and texts
Why and how do we study language and literature?
How are we affected by texts in various ways?
In what ways is meaning discovered, constructed and expressed?
How does language use vary amongst text types?
How does the structure or style of a text affect meaning? • How do texts both offer insights and challenges?

18. Time and space
• How important is cultural context to the production and reception of a text? • How do we approach texts from different times and cultures to our own? • To what extent do texts offer insight into another culture? • How does the meaning and impact of a work change over time? • How do texts engage with local and global issues? • How does language represent social distinctions and identities?

19. Intertextuality: connecting texts
How do texts adhere to and deviate from conventions associated with genre or text type?
How do conventions evolve over time?
In what ways can diverse texts share points of similarity?
How valid is the notion of a ‘classic’ work? •
How can texts offer multiple perspectives of a single issue, topic or theme?
In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative?

20. Reading list
Resources that describe the purpose of and best practices for using the reading list will be included in the section of the course website dedicated to the reading lists.

21. The proposed changes are:
• The current PLT and 55 PLAs will be replaced by a single multi-language reading list, an online resource accessible via the new studies in language and literature course websites. This multi-language reading list will be comprised of authors from each automatically available language

22. The proposed changes are:
Work on revising the content of the lists was undertaken by teams of IB examiners, teachers and subject area experts through March 2017.
The PLT will be eliminated. Guidance for selecting works to be read in translation will come in the form of six recommended authors in each automatically available language A, though schools will not be limited to these suggestions.
The revised reading list will be an electronic resource that can produce not only reading lists by language but also customized lists that combine or limit results based on language of the literary form, author, sex, time and/or place.

23. Syllabus content
In both courses, it is recommended that a balance will be achieved across the curriculum not only in connection with the genre of the texts studied and the period and place of their production, but also as regards the worldview of their authors, which may vary according to their gender, race, sexuality, beliefs and any other such component of their identities. Such a recommendation is made to ensure that students are exposed to the diversity of forms the human experience can take.

24. Language and Literature
In the Language and Literature course, students will be expected to read a breadth of non-literary texts. These texts are meant for exploration, analysis and to support the aims of the course (no text is created in a vacuum).
Teachers must make sure that as many text-types are covered in the course as a whole as possible. Any text-type could be potentially included in Paper 1, and although it is not expected that all text-types will be covered, it is recommended that there should be as wide a range of texts as possible so that transfer of skills to an unseen text is made easier to students.
In connection with literary works,

25. HL
HL students will have to read six works. Of these six works, • a minimum of two should be written originally in the language studied by authors on the reading list; • a minimum of two should be works in translation written by authors on the reading list; • two can be chosen freely. There should be a minimum of two literary works for each of the parts of the course. Works should be selected to cover three major literary genres, three periods and three places.

26. SL SL students will have to read four works. Of these four works,
a minimum of one should be written originally in the language studied by an author on the reading list;
• a minimum of one should be a work in translation written by an author on the reading list;
• two can be chosen freely. There should be a minimum of one literary work for each of the parts. Works should be selected to cover two major literary genres, two periods and two places.

27. Assessment decisions
Something old something new something borrowed something blue….

28. external assessment
Paper 1 HL – 2 ½ hours A separate analyses of two unseen texts of a different text-type each, guided by a question of stylistic focus.
SL -- 1 ¼ hours A analysis of one unseen text, guided by a question of stylistic focus.

29. Paper 2
Both SL and HL –1 ¾ hours An essay based assessment, the questions of which would be based on central aspects and concepts of the course.
Papers will be set in such a way as to avoid predictability

30. internal assessment
The internal assessment component will have the same format in both courses. It will consist of an Individual Oral with the following procedure:

31. Individual Oral
Students will keep an individual portfolio this may be digital, hard copy or both in which they will explore the relationship between the texts they study and a larger global, social or artistic issue. Through reflections on the texts they study, students develop their performative literacy – the literate practices that allow students to understand meaning and implications, respond critically and make extensions beyond texts. There will be a guiding question for the portfolio asking how texts relate to, represent or reflect important global, social or artistic issues.

32. Individual Oral
The portfolio will be a useful area for course work to be recorded and will be student-centered. It should not be seen as an additional assessment burden but an area for exploration of their chosen issue. It will also serve as a useful tool for learning and reinforcing other assessment-related areas.
The portfolio may contain any number of productions and is not assessed.

33. Individual Oral
This will culminate in a final oral assessment of 15 minutes at both SL and HL. The students will respond to a question in relation to the global issue chosen. This would be along the lines of:
Discuss the ways in which different texts you have studied engage with the global issue you have chosen

34. The exercise will be based on two works studied.
In the case of the Language and literature course, at both SL and HL, one of these texts must be a work of literature, and the other, a non-literary text.
The chosen work of literature may not be used again in Paper 2

35. Teacher Support Material
IB opened up a call for applications to participate in the TSM meeting and has selected a group of teachers from the applicants

36. HL essay
An essay guided by a question that each student decides to follow in the investigation of a text
A conceptual focus is proposed
1200 – 1500 words

37. Use of works of literature in assessment
At both SL and HL
No work of literature may be used in more than one area of assessment to prevent duplication of work.

38. Resources
Language A: Language and literature curriculum review
FAQ’s

39. All in formation belongs to the IB and is taken from:
Language A: Literature curriculum review and Language A: Language and literature curriculum review Second report to teachers by Guillermo Duff and Ryan Joyce, Curriculum Managers April 2017