Written Tasks for IB English A (HL)
Weighting: 20%
Overview of the Written Tasks
A written task demonstrates the student’s ability to choose an imaginative way of exploring an aspect of the material studied in the course. It must show a critical engagement with an aspect of a text or a topic.
Students complete at least four written tasks, two of which are submitted for external assessment. The maximum mark for each written task is 20. In your 11th grade year, you will write one WRITTEN TASK 1 and one WRITTEN TASK 2.
A Note on Supervision and Teacher Assistance:
As part of the learning process, teachers can give advice to students on a first draft of the task. This advice should be in terms of the way in which the work could be improved, but this first draft must not be annotated or edited by the teacher. After making general comments on the first draft, teachers should not provide any further assistance.
Formal Requirements for Tasks 1 and 2:
• One of the tasks submitted for external assessment must be a critical response to one of six prescribed questions (task 2).
• One of the tasks submitted for external assessment must be based on a literary text studied in part 3 or part 4 of the course. The
other must be based on material studied in part 1 or part 2 of the course.
• Each task must be 800–1,000 words in length; task 1 should be accompanied by a rationale of 200–300 words, while task 2 should
be accompanied by an outline. If the word limits are exceeded, the assessment will be based on the first 1,000 words of the task
for both tasks 1 and 2, and on the first 300 words of the rationale for task 1.
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
A written task demonstrates the student’s ability to choose an imaginative way of exploring an aspect of the material studied in the course. It must show a critical engagement with an aspect of a text or a topic.
Students complete at least four written tasks, two of which are submitted for external assessment. The maximum mark for each written task is 20. In your 11th grade year, you will write one WRITTEN TASK 1 and one WRITTEN TASK 2.
A Note on Supervision and Teacher Assistance:
As part of the learning process, teachers can give advice to students on a first draft of the task. This advice should be in terms of the way in which the work could be improved, but this first draft must not be annotated or edited by the teacher. After making general comments on the first draft, teachers should not provide any further assistance.
Formal Requirements for Tasks 1 and 2:
• One of the tasks submitted for external assessment must be a critical response to one of six prescribed questions (task 2).
• One of the tasks submitted for external assessment must be based on a literary text studied in part 3 or part 4 of the course. The
other must be based on material studied in part 1 or part 2 of the course.
• Each task must be 800–1,000 words in length; task 1 should be accompanied by a rationale of 200–300 words, while task 2 should
be accompanied by an outline. If the word limits are exceeded, the assessment will be based on the first 1,000 words of the task
for both tasks 1 and 2, and on the first 300 words of the rationale for task 1.
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
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OVERVIEW OF TASK 1
Formal Requirements for Task 1:
• The content of task 1 must relate to one of the four parts of the course
• Students are free to choose a text type that is appropriate to the content of the task.
• A rationale must precede task 1.
Note: A formal essay is not an acceptable text type for task 1. Students are required to write an essay in paper 2 (12th grade year) and in written task 2.
Rationale:
The rationale is not included in the word count (800–1,000 words) for the written task and should be 200–300 words in length.
In their rationale students must explain:
• 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 social, cultural or historical context in which the task is set. The rationale should not only include knowledge about the text or topic studied, but also about the formal conventions of the text type produced and how they relate to the aims of the task.
Practical Requirements for Task 1:
Students may include illustrations in support of their work where this is appropriate. These must always be electronically embedded, not separately reproduced and physically attached.
Written tasks submitted for assessment must be word processed and the electronic files must not exceed a maximum size, including any images, of 2 MB.
The task must be written in the language A studied.
Students must acknowledge all sources used. Where appropriate—for example, when the task relies on the reader referring to stimulus material such as a key passage in a literary text, or an illustration, in order to understand what the student is attempting to do—the source material must be clearly referenced in a bibliography. These sources may be referred to by the examiner but will not be taken account of in the assessment; nevertheless they are important information for the assessor. In addition, this promotes good
academic practice on the part of the student.
A Note on the Role of the Teacher:
• Provide guidance to students on the selection of the task, its development and level of challenge.
• Discuss the relationship between the written task and the stimulus material.
• Ensure that the topic is of an appropriate level of challenge and suitable to the length and focus of the task.
Examples of Task 1:
The following are examples of possible written tasks. These are intended for guidance only and are neither exhaustive nor compulsory.
• A short story exploring a minor character’s view of the main action of a literary text
• A public information document explaining the effects of new legislation on a community
• A diary entry in which a character from a work of fiction reveals his or her true feelings about another character or any aspects of the action of a literary text.
• An episode from a literary text rewritten to place the action in another setting
• An opinion column that emphasizes the pervasiveness of female stereotyping in advertising and how these stereotypes are promoted for the purpose of raising company profits
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
OVERVIEW OF TASK 1
Formal Requirements for Task 1:
• The content of task 1 must relate to one of the four parts of the course
• Students are free to choose a text type that is appropriate to the content of the task.
• A rationale must precede task 1.
Note: A formal essay is not an acceptable text type for task 1. Students are required to write an essay in paper 2 (12th grade year) and in written task 2.
Rationale:
The rationale is not included in the word count (800–1,000 words) for the written task and should be 200–300 words in length.
In their rationale students must explain:
• 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 social, cultural or historical context in which the task is set. The rationale should not only include knowledge about the text or topic studied, but also about the formal conventions of the text type produced and how they relate to the aims of the task.
Practical Requirements for Task 1:
Students may include illustrations in support of their work where this is appropriate. These must always be electronically embedded, not separately reproduced and physically attached.
Written tasks submitted for assessment must be word processed and the electronic files must not exceed a maximum size, including any images, of 2 MB.
The task must be written in the language A studied.
Students must acknowledge all sources used. Where appropriate—for example, when the task relies on the reader referring to stimulus material such as a key passage in a literary text, or an illustration, in order to understand what the student is attempting to do—the source material must be clearly referenced in a bibliography. These sources may be referred to by the examiner but will not be taken account of in the assessment; nevertheless they are important information for the assessor. In addition, this promotes good
academic practice on the part of the student.
A Note on the Role of the Teacher:
• Provide guidance to students on the selection of the task, its development and level of challenge.
• Discuss the relationship between the written task and the stimulus material.
• Ensure that the topic is of an appropriate level of challenge and suitable to the length and focus of the task.
Examples of Task 1:
The following are examples of possible written tasks. These are intended for guidance only and are neither exhaustive nor compulsory.
• A short story exploring a minor character’s view of the main action of a literary text
• A public information document explaining the effects of new legislation on a community
• A diary entry in which a character from a work of fiction reveals his or her true feelings about another character or any aspects of the action of a literary text.
• An episode from a literary text rewritten to place the action in another setting
• An opinion column that emphasizes the pervasiveness of female stereotyping in advertising and how these stereotypes are promoted for the purpose of raising company profits
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
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OVERVIEW OF TASK 2
Aims of Task 2:
Task 2 takes the form of a critical response and is a requirement of the HL course only. The aims of task 2 are as follows:
• to consider in greater detail the material studied in the four parts of the language A: language and literature course
• to reflect and question in greater depth the values, beliefs and attitudes that are implied in the texts studied
• to encourage students to view texts in a number of ways
• to enable students to give an individual response to the way in which texts can be understood in the light of the prescribed questions.
Formal Requirements for Task 2:
There are two prescribed questions for each of the areas of study listed below. Task 2 is a critical response to one of these six questions. The prescribed questions are designed to be as open as possible and are intended to highlight broad areas within which students can explore and develop their responses to the texts. The prescribed questions remain the same from session to session.
The critical response is based on material studied in the course. This material could be a longer work such as a novel or a group of poems. It could also be a shorter text or texts such as a newspaper article or a sports blog. A rationale is not included with task 2. Instead, students are expected to complete an outline. This outline is submitted with the task for external assessment.
This outline must be completed in class time and must include:
• The prescribed question that has been chosen
• The title of the text(s) for analysis
• The part of the course to which the task refers
• Three or four key points that explain the particular focus of the task.
Where appropriate, task 2 must reference, in a bibliography, the relevant support documentation such as the newspaper article or magazine advertisement on which it is based.
Where a complete shorter text is chosen (for example, a newspaper article or an advertisement from a magazine) students may refer to other texts to support their response.
The critical response is in the style of a formal essay and must be clearly structured with an introduction, clearly developed ideas or arguments and a conclusion.
Practical Requirements for Task 2:
In addition to these noted for task 1, students are required to do the following:
• Include, where appropriate, bibliographic reference to the text(s) on which the critical response is based when submitting the assessed work.
Areas of Study for Task 2:
In preparation for task 2, students must address one of the following areas of study, which correspond to the
topics and material studied in the four parts of the course.
Reader, Culture and Text
Students are encouraged to consider that a text’s meaning is determined by the reader and by the cultural
context. The interpretation of a text is dependent on various factors, including:
• The reader and producer’s cultural identity or identities
• Age
• Gender
• Social status
• The historical and cultural settings of the text and its production
• Aspects of language and translation.
Power and Privilege
Students are encouraged to consider how and why social groups are represented in texts in particular ways.
In addition, consideration may be given to who is excluded from or marginalized in a text, or whose views
are silenced. Social groups could include:
• Women
• Adolescents
• Senior citizens
• Children
• Immigrants
• Ethnic minorities
• Professions.
Text and Genre
Students are encouraged to consider the genre in which a text is placed. Certain textual features belong to
a particular genre and can be identified by a particular reader or audience. Writers make use of, or deviate
from, particular conventions of genre in order to achieve particular effects. Students may also explore how
texts borrow from other texts, and how texts can be re-imagined or reconstructed.
Examples of conventions of genre include:
• Structure
• Storyline
• Characterization
• Stylistic devices
• Tone, mood and atmosphere
• Register
• Visual images and layout.
Task 2—Questions: Note: Literary texts used can be any of the texts studied in the course and may be from the prescribed literature in translation (PLT) list.
Reader, Culture and Text:
1. How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of possible readings of the final pages of part 1 of the novel The Outsider by a French and Algerian reader at the time of the Algerian war of independence
• The study and analysis of possible readings of an extract from the screenplay of La Grande Illusion by a French public in the early 1930s and late 1930s
• The study and analysis of a political speech by a world leader that excludes references to certain groups or issues (those excluded will read the speech differently)
• The study and analysis of different views of an article on obesity (this article may be viewed differently by someone from a country with problems of poverty and famine and by someone from a wealthy consumer society)
2. If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• An article from a newspaper and how it would be written in a different newspaper
• A comic book or graphic novel for teenagers in the 1950s rewritten for teenagers in the 21st century
• The study and analysis of a literary work on the theme of prejudice that highlights different assumptions about race, religion, and so on.
• The study and analysis of an article about social class from a country that has a very hierarchical class structure (the significance of language that identifies class distinctions is of primary focus)
Power and Privilege:
1. How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of an article in which an urban tribe is represented in a negative way
• The representation of social groups in the novel The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany
2. Which social groups are marginalized, excluded or silenced within the text?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• Chinese fiction in which the figure of the intellectual is either revered or condemned
• Representations of the Roma in the contemporary popular press
Text and Genre:
1. How does the text conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a particular genre, and for what purpose?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of an author’s reworking of fairy tales
• The study and analysis of a novel that uses dramatic dialogue, poetry, letters, accounts of journeys
• The study and analysis of media texts with a particular format, style and register
2. How has the text borrowed from other texts, and with what effects?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• The study and analysis of how a particular character from a work of fiction is re-imagined in a song lyric
• The study and analysis of religious imagery and references in political speeches
• The study and analysis of one of the stories from Borges’s Ficciones
• The study and analysis of the use of the courtly love tradition in Romeo and Juliet
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
OVERVIEW OF TASK 2
Aims of Task 2:
Task 2 takes the form of a critical response and is a requirement of the HL course only. The aims of task 2 are as follows:
• to consider in greater detail the material studied in the four parts of the language A: language and literature course
• to reflect and question in greater depth the values, beliefs and attitudes that are implied in the texts studied
• to encourage students to view texts in a number of ways
• to enable students to give an individual response to the way in which texts can be understood in the light of the prescribed questions.
Formal Requirements for Task 2:
There are two prescribed questions for each of the areas of study listed below. Task 2 is a critical response to one of these six questions. The prescribed questions are designed to be as open as possible and are intended to highlight broad areas within which students can explore and develop their responses to the texts. The prescribed questions remain the same from session to session.
The critical response is based on material studied in the course. This material could be a longer work such as a novel or a group of poems. It could also be a shorter text or texts such as a newspaper article or a sports blog. A rationale is not included with task 2. Instead, students are expected to complete an outline. This outline is submitted with the task for external assessment.
This outline must be completed in class time and must include:
• The prescribed question that has been chosen
• The title of the text(s) for analysis
• The part of the course to which the task refers
• Three or four key points that explain the particular focus of the task.
Where appropriate, task 2 must reference, in a bibliography, the relevant support documentation such as the newspaper article or magazine advertisement on which it is based.
Where a complete shorter text is chosen (for example, a newspaper article or an advertisement from a magazine) students may refer to other texts to support their response.
The critical response is in the style of a formal essay and must be clearly structured with an introduction, clearly developed ideas or arguments and a conclusion.
Practical Requirements for Task 2:
In addition to these noted for task 1, students are required to do the following:
• Include, where appropriate, bibliographic reference to the text(s) on which the critical response is based when submitting the assessed work.
Areas of Study for Task 2:
In preparation for task 2, students must address one of the following areas of study, which correspond to the
topics and material studied in the four parts of the course.
Reader, Culture and Text
Students are encouraged to consider that a text’s meaning is determined by the reader and by the cultural
context. The interpretation of a text is dependent on various factors, including:
• The reader and producer’s cultural identity or identities
• Age
• Gender
• Social status
• The historical and cultural settings of the text and its production
• Aspects of language and translation.
Power and Privilege
Students are encouraged to consider how and why social groups are represented in texts in particular ways.
In addition, consideration may be given to who is excluded from or marginalized in a text, or whose views
are silenced. Social groups could include:
• Women
• Adolescents
• Senior citizens
• Children
• Immigrants
• Ethnic minorities
• Professions.
Text and Genre
Students are encouraged to consider the genre in which a text is placed. Certain textual features belong to
a particular genre and can be identified by a particular reader or audience. Writers make use of, or deviate
from, particular conventions of genre in order to achieve particular effects. Students may also explore how
texts borrow from other texts, and how texts can be re-imagined or reconstructed.
Examples of conventions of genre include:
• Structure
• Storyline
• Characterization
• Stylistic devices
• Tone, mood and atmosphere
• Register
• Visual images and layout.
Task 2—Questions: Note: Literary texts used can be any of the texts studied in the course and may be from the prescribed literature in translation (PLT) list.
Reader, Culture and Text:
1. How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of possible readings of the final pages of part 1 of the novel The Outsider by a French and Algerian reader at the time of the Algerian war of independence
• The study and analysis of possible readings of an extract from the screenplay of La Grande Illusion by a French public in the early 1930s and late 1930s
• The study and analysis of a political speech by a world leader that excludes references to certain groups or issues (those excluded will read the speech differently)
• The study and analysis of different views of an article on obesity (this article may be viewed differently by someone from a country with problems of poverty and famine and by someone from a wealthy consumer society)
2. If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• An article from a newspaper and how it would be written in a different newspaper
• A comic book or graphic novel for teenagers in the 1950s rewritten for teenagers in the 21st century
• The study and analysis of a literary work on the theme of prejudice that highlights different assumptions about race, religion, and so on.
• The study and analysis of an article about social class from a country that has a very hierarchical class structure (the significance of language that identifies class distinctions is of primary focus)
Power and Privilege:
1. How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of an article in which an urban tribe is represented in a negative way
• The representation of social groups in the novel The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany
2. Which social groups are marginalized, excluded or silenced within the text?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• Chinese fiction in which the figure of the intellectual is either revered or condemned
• Representations of the Roma in the contemporary popular press
Text and Genre:
1. How does the text conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a particular genre, and for what purpose?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 1:
• The study and analysis of an author’s reworking of fairy tales
• The study and analysis of a novel that uses dramatic dialogue, poetry, letters, accounts of journeys
• The study and analysis of media texts with a particular format, style and register
2. How has the text borrowed from other texts, and with what effects?
The following are examples of texts that may be studied for student responses to Question 2:
• The study and analysis of how a particular character from a work of fiction is re-imagined in a song lyric
• The study and analysis of religious imagery and references in political speeches
• The study and analysis of one of the stories from Borges’s Ficciones
• The study and analysis of the use of the courtly love tradition in Romeo and Juliet
Taken from http://www.ibo.org/programmes
Spring Valley HS is a certified DP high school.
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