Advice from principal examiners on the individual oral

Advice from principle examiners about the individual oral (literature)

Key features

• As the extracts can be selected from any literary form, it is important that students are exposed to various
styles over the two-year course (and ideally, during the years leading up to the DP).

• Teachers should take care to respect the creative constraints of the exam (10 minutes time allocation,
extracts no more than 40 lines) and guide students to making informed links between both extracts and
the global issue.

• As global issues are locally and globally significant as well as transnational, students should be
sensitized to the impact of culture and context on all texts taught.

• Students should be guided to recognize the complex relationship between culture and context and how
these are represented through conventions specific to each literary form and the intricacies of language.

• Issues relating to translation should be explored in class discussion.

• While teachers are encouraged to guide their students in finding an appropriate topic and relevant
extracts, the responsibility for analysis and interpretation lies mainly with the student. Too much input
from the teacher is inappropriate.

• Providing numbered extracts is an integral part of the process. This allows the examiner to trace the
logic of the oral.

• Teachers should carefully consider the five minutes of follow up questions. Be prepared to ask students
to flesh out their ideas.

Tips and recommendations

• As well as exposing students to varied texts from different contexts and cultures, students should be
encouraged to think carefully about the implications of the keywords used in the global issues. Students
should avoid a simple description or summary, as this will not provide the necessary depth or insight
required for a successful oral.

• The new individual oral format has moved away from a straightforward commentary that explores the
relationship between author and reader, as mediated by literary elements—it now examines a more
complex interrelationship that includes culture and context. Students cannot be expected to consider all
of the possible implications in the ten minutes allocated but they should be encouraged to select extracts
wisely. Extracts should allow students to establish clear links provide compelling examples and develop
a consistent structure.

• Students should be encouraged to find personal meaning in the activity. Those students who engage
authentically and with a sense of ownership are not only more likely to experience success in the activity,
but enjoyment and relevance.

Comments concerning the assessment criteria

Criterion A: Knowledge of the texts is essential and will serve as the basis for any convincing presentation,
understanding, and interpretation confirmed through their ability to establish meaningful links between both
extracts and then again, to the global issue. The interrelationships are numerous, and there should be a focus
on narrowing in on those relationships that have specific meaning for the students.

Language A: literature assessed student work 1

 Advice from principal examiners on the individual oral

Both knowledge and understanding will come out of a clear appreciation of how the texts are written, and an
ability to articulate this carefully will undoubtedly serve as the basis for a successful oral. Similarly, being able
to confirm relationships through carefully selected quotes is essential. Quotes can also serve the purpose of
establishing the connection between global issue and the two chosen extracts as well as providing the oral
with focus and organization.

Criterion B: The focus of the activity is for students to provide an appraisal of common literary elements with
links to how they intersect with the global issue. Merely listing elements or conducting a literary element hunt
will not confirm a nuanced understanding nor prove to be relevant or insightful. Instead, students should seek
to carefully consider the effects of authorial choice with a mind to discuss how they are a product of context,
culture, and genre-specific and sensitive to the audience/reader.

Criterion C: The keywords here are well balanced and coherent, so this means being able to find an
organizing principle and developing upon it as the oral progress. Finding links between the extracts, which
focus on authorial choice while simultaneously underscoring the global issue will provide the oral with focus
and organization.

Criterion D: students who articulate ideas convincingly by relying on the correct terminology and using an
appropriate register are likely to be more convincing and persuasive. Students should not feel that they need
to sound like professors, incorporating impressive vocabulary to seem insightful—those students who worked
on developing their voice, through practice, risk taking and extensive reading most certainly sound more
authentic and engaging. With this particular activity, personal engagement is impossible to fake.

Language A: literature assessed student work 2