Introducing the Individual Oral

A guide by

Brad Philpot for students of IBDP �English A: Language and literature SL/HL

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This slideshow is not endorsed by the IB

What is the individual oral?

• A recorded 10-minute oral talk, prepared in advance,
• followed by a 5-minute discussion with your teacher.

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Photograph: Lucas Film

The individual oral prompt

“Examine the ways in which the global issue (GI) of your choice is presented through the content and form of one of the [literary] works and one of the [non-literary] bodies of work (BOWs) that you have studied.” - IBDP Guide for Language A: Language and Literature, 2019

What to bring to the oral

• A clean copy (no annotations) of an extract from a literary work
• A clean copy of an extract from a non-literary body of work (BOW)
• An outline of no more that 10 bullet points on an IB form, including your global issue, literary work, non-literary body of work. See suggested format

How should I organise it?

What’s a literary work? �What’s a non-literary body of work (BOW)?

• Literary work: A longer literary piece (such as a novel, play or memoir) or a collection of shorter texts (such as poems or short stories) by the same author with an aesthetic purpose.
• Non-literary Body of Work (BOW): A longer text or a collection of non-literary texts (including all forms of moving image) of the same text type with a unified sense of authorship.

How many texts are in a work or BOW?

*Grey area

Some ‘grey area’ texts are literary and fall under ‘Literary prose: non-fiction’. All texts by authors on the Prescribed reading list (PRL) are considered literary. Texts with a clear aesthetic purpose are literary. In any of these cases, the text cannot be considered non-literary and must be studied as part of a literary work.

What is a ‘passage’ from a work or BOW?

• Less than 40 lines from a written text, such as a poem or speech.
• Approximately 3-5 stills*, accompanied with captions from those segments of a multimodal text, such a commercial, music video or feature film
• 1 cartoon or comic strip*
• Approximately 1-2 pages from a graphic novel*

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* Unofficial numbers, use professional judgment

What is a Global Issue?

• It’s significant, meaning it matters.
• It’s transnational, meaning it’s ubiquitous.
• It’s relevant to local contexts. Look around!

Examples of Global Issues

The ways in which colonial power structures are still prevalent and relevant.

How gender constructs are unfairly defined

Harmful definitions of beauty standards

The effects of growing up during social unrest

How do I find my Global Issue?

1. Explore a literary work or non-literary body of work (BOW) in class and discuss its major themes.
2. Revisit the criteria for global issues and examples. Turn a theme into a global issue.
3. Match the literary work with a non-literary body of work (BOW) based on your global issue.
4. Reword the GI so that it’s relevant to both works.

Now I have 2 texts and a GI. What next?

1. Get approval of your works and GI from your teacher.
2. Analyse both passages in depth. Annotate them. Connect them to the global issue.
3. Write an outline for a 10-minute oral.
4. Write a script! Practice reading the script at a normal pace. Time yourself. Listen to practice recordings. Make changes. Edit out repetitive, ineffective parts. Memorise chunks and transitions.
5. Show up prepared to the final and deliver!

What happens in the discussion?

• You can make connections to the concepts: identity, representation, transformation, culture, communication, perspective and creativity
• You can make (more) comparisons between texts.
• You can evaluate (further) how effective the authors are in achieving their aims.
• You can explore (more) meaningful features from passages, work and BOW.
• Elaborate!

What about mocks and finals?

• It’s not ‘best one counts’. The final IO counts.
• You cannot do your final oral on any passages that you previously used in mocks.
• You cannot do your final oral on any global issue that you previously used in mocks

What are the assessment criteria?

Criterion A: knowledge, understanding and interpretation - 10 marks

To what extent does the oral show knowledge and understanding of the extracts, of the extracts, and the literary work and the non-literary body of work from which they were taken?

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To what extent are interpretations relevant to the global issue?

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To what extent are interpretations supported by relevant references to the texts, the work and the body of work?

Criterion B: Analysis and evaluation - 10 marks

To what extent does the oral analyse and evaluate how the authors present the global issue through authorial choices in the extracts, the work and the body of work?

Criterion C: Focus and organisation - 10 marks

To what extent does the oral show coherence, balance, focus and organisation?

Criterion D: Language - 10 marks

To what extent is the student’s use of vocabulary, tone, syntax, style and terminology accurate, varied and effective?

What are the grade boundaries?

Note: These grade boundaries are not official. Please see the latest Subject Report for the most recent grade boundaries

How is it marked?

• It’s internal assessment (IA), meaning your teacher marks your oral.
• Your teacher submits your class’ marks and a sample of recordings from your class to the IB for moderation.
• Based on the sample, an IB moderator may change your teacher’s grades and apply a moderation factor to all students’ grades.
• The IO counts for 20% of your final grade at HL and 30% of your final grade at SL.

May the force be with you!

But if you’re not a Jedi master:

• practice a lot,
• get meaningful feedback,
• apply the criteria,
• and make improvements.

Photograph: Lucas Film