IB Language A: English Language and Literature Course Material

The course is broken into four parts. Your English language skills and your textual analysis skills will be increasingly challenged and refined by the topics studied. You will be assessed through spoken and written assignments during each part of the course.

Language in a Cultural Context
The focus of this part is to explore how people are influenced in thought and culture by the language they use. It will also investigate how languages change and adapt to suit the cultural context. Each topic will consider a different aspect of language and culture and explore case study examples as well as developing your own language skills.

Topic 1: English Language, Community and Individual Identity

 * Discussing issues such as how language reinforces social or cultural values, how language constructs our identity, and how English speaking leads to English thinking.

Topic 2: English Language and Power

 * Discussing issues such as Globish, English imperialism, language death and metaphorical language.

Topic 3: English Language and Taboo

 * Discussing issues such as swearing, appropriate contexts for language use, People First language and euphemism.

Topic 4: History and evolution of the English Language

 * Discussing issues such as language change and conversion in words.

Language and Mass Communication
This part of the course will explore the different ways language is used to communicate in the mass media. We will explore the different potentials for educational, political or ideological influence of the media and investigate the way language and images inform, persuade or entertain.

Literature - Texts and Contexts
The purpose of the part is to master detailed analysis of literature, explore texts and their relation to context, and develop oral commentary skills. We will be studying these texts in preparation for the oral commentary assessment. You will get an extract of 40 lines from one of the texts, and your spoken analysis of the extract will be recorded under timed conditions.


 * "Life and Times of Michael K"
 * "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Literature - Critical Study
The Great Gatsby

Start with the following videos and reading for context and interpretation


 * Crash History of the 20's
 * Crash History Gatsby
 * Gatsby and the 20's
 * Gatsby and the Jazz Age
 * Empathy and Gatsby
 * Was Gatsby Black?
 * Symbols and motifs
 * Geography in Gatsby
 * Consumerism and Fitzgerald
 * Decline of the West; Inspiration for Fitzgerald
 * Main Street by Sinclair Lewis; Inspiration for Fitzgerald

Accidental Death of an Anarchist


 * Fo Subverting History
 * Farce and Fo
 * [http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/10/world/italy-s-barbed-political-jester-dario-fo-wins-nobel-prize.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
 * H. W. Fowler's Types of Humour
 * Humour in Commedia Dell'Arte
 * Interview with Fo
 * Moliere; Inspiration for Fo's theatre
 * Moliere; theatre tradition
 * Fo and Rame plays
 * Gramsci; Inspiration for Fo
 * Jester tradition

History of Literature


 * Lost generation
 * Naturalism
 * Realism
 * Realism
 * Tragedy
 * Faustian Tragedy
 * Literature at the Turn of the Century
 * Modernism; Freud and Fitzgerald
 * Modernism the Jazz Age
 * Modernism in Gatsby
 * Romaticism
 * Romaticism
 * Satire
 * Commedia Dell'Arte
 * Medieval Allegory

Course Assessment
You will find the Language A: language and literature subject outline will answer most questions about assessment, but you should read the complete guide to be familiar with all expectations of the course.

Assessment Objectives
There are four assessment objectives for the course. These are summarised here but see page 10 of the guide for more details.


 * 1) Knowledge and understanding
 * You must gain the knowledge necessary to critically read a wide variety of texts. You must learn to analyse how language, structure, technique and style are used for effect. You need to understand how and why readers might form different perspectives and interpretations of a text.
 * 1) Application and analysis
 * You must be able to analyse and produce texts of various genres and styles. You must understand the relationship between purpose and construction (including factors such as language, structure, technique and style).
 * 1) Synthesis and evaluation
 * You must compare and contrast the construction, the content and the context of texts. You must be able to appreciate and evaluate conflicting viewpoints within and about a text.
 * 1) Selection and use of appropriate presentation and language skills
 * Your written and oral communication must be clear and fluent and you must demonstrate the ability to adapt your language use to a range of styles and registers. Your expression of ideas should be focused and logical.

Assessment Outline

 * Internal Assessment
 * Individual oral commentary
 * Students comment on an extract from a literary text studied in part 4 of the course
 * Further oral activity
 * Students complete at least two further oral activities, one based on part 1 and one based on part 2 of the course
 * External Assessment
 * Paper 1: Comparative textual analysis (exam paper)
 * The paper consists of two unseen texts.
 * Paper 2: Essay (exam paper)
 * In response to one of six questions students write an essay based on the literary texts studied in part 3.
 * Written tasks
 * Students produce at least four written tasks based on material studied in the course.
 * Page 25 onwards of the guide deals with this in detail. Written tasks are designed to demonstrate students’ ability to produce or critically reproduce types of work studied in the course. Students will be marked on the appropriateness of their language in relation to the task. Students are expected to be able to state the audience for their work and the purpose for which it was produced and, in doing this, they then must use the language appropriate to the task. The written task must be accompanied by a rationale which explains:
 * how the content of the task is linked to a particular part of the course
 * how the task is intended to explore particular aspects of the course
 * the nature of the task chosen
 * information about audience, purpose and the varying contexts in which the task is set

Course Terminology
It is important you become confident with the language and terminology used in the course guide. The descriptions below should help you with some of the basic language but you need to spend time making sure you fully understand any new terms.

What is a Text?
From the perspective of critical literacy a text is any visual or written information. In expressing a thought, idea, belief or facts a text is designed to make an impression upon the reader. The construction of this impression is what we will learn to interpret as critical readers, and will learn to create as writers. Once a writer has decided on the message or purpose of the text, they will normally choose the genre or text type to best address the intended audience.

For the composition of a text to be most effective a writer needs to consider lexical cohesion and the careful use of literary devices suited to the genre. The genre will also define the structure of the text. For further analysis we also need to consider the context and page layout

Brief list of genres

By adopting this detailed approach of New Criticism to a text you will be able to both analyse with detail and specificity, and understand what it would take to recreate texts of this type.

What is Context?
Context is the social environment in which a text is produced. Context might be historic, cultural, economic, political, religious, gendered, ethnic or ideological. The social context will influence what texts are produced and how they are interpreted. You must learn to recognise contextual factors and the influence they have on a text. Understanding how different audiences might react to texts due to their different contexts will be a significant part of your reading and writing process.

What is Interpretation?
Texts have multiple meanings and interpretations. It is important to remember that there is no "right" answer, responses are subjective and often conflicting. In learning to be a critical reader you need to identify and explain the many factors that influence you responses to texts. Through self-reflection, reasoning and critical theory you will understand more about why you respond the way you do, and when and why other readers might interpret texts differently.

Interpretation requires exploration of the construction and the meaning of texts. Some important terms are context, genre, denotation and connotation.

Literary Criticism and Linguistic analysis of texts will help you develop and explain a variety of interpretations.

Course Skills
Commentary Analysis Skills

Writing
Your ability to compose careful, accurate, precise English suited to a variety of styles and situations is a major part of the course assessment. It is vital to spend time developing and practicing writing skills and perfecting your style.


 * Technical Writing
 * Writing Styles and Forms
 * Refining Tone

Speaking
Clarity, variety, effective intonation and adaptability are key speaking skills you will need to demonstrate through the course assessments. In both formal and informal oral activities, showing eloquence and sophistication in your ability to speak English is essential. Practice and self criticism will ensure you progress through the course.


 * Considering Audience
 * Inspirational Speeches
 * The Power of Eloquence
 * Developing Speaking Skills

Grammar
There are lots of brilliant resources available to help you perfect and refine you accuracy of English. Make use of them.


 * Using English
 * My English
 * Learn For Good