International BaccalaureateDP English A: Literature

Part 1: Works in TranslationApproaching the Coursework

Contents

Page

Why Study Works in Translation? 3

The Written Assignment 4

The Written Assignment Process 6

Essentials – Completion of the Essay for Submission by the Student

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Written Assignment Checklist 13

Frequently Asked Questions 14

Assessment Criteria 16

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Why Study Works in Translation?

The study of Works in Translation is primarily intended to expose students to works from cultures and literary traditions different from their own. Translation can be a linguistic bridge into another culture and may illuminate understanding of aspects of other cultures.

Different translations of the same work will differ; when exploring the “literariness” of the work it is worth keeping in mind that the translator has used craft in finding equivalent words and art in working to convey literary elements such as the style and tone of the original author.

The study of Works in Translation highlights important issues for consideration in this unit of study, such as:

What is translated?

How it is translated?

How it is received in translation?

What is lost in translation?

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The Written Assignment

At SL and at HL students are required to complete an assignment of 1,200–1,500 words, with a reflective statement of 300–400 words, based on a work studied in part 1 of the course and assessed externally. Reflection on an interactive oral is part of the assignment and some of the writing is completed during supervised class time.

If the word limit is exceeded, the assessment of the reflective statement will be based on the first 400 words and the assessment of the essay on the first 1,500 words.

Guidance and authenticityThe written assignment submitted for external assessment at SL and at HL must be the student’s own work. However, it is not the intention that students should decide upon a title or topic and be left to work on the task without any further support from the teacher. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that students are familiar with:

the requirements of the type of work to be assessed

The assessment criteria (students should understand that the work submitted for assessment must address these criteria effectively).

It is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that all students understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Teachers must ensure that all student work for assessment is prepared according to the requirements and must explain clearly to students that the work must be entirely their own.

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.

All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher, and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed malpractice. Each student must sign the coversheet to confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work to a teacher for assessment, together with the signed coversheet, it cannot be retracted. Authenticity may be checked by discussion with the student on the content of the work, and scrutiny of one or more of the following.

The student’s supervised writing from which the topic has been generated

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The first draft of the written work

The references cited

The style of writing compared with work known to be that of the student

The requirement for teachers and students to sign the coversheet applies to the work of all students. If the teacher and student sign a coversheet, but there is a comment to the effect that the work may not be authentic, the student will not be eligible for a mark in that component and no grade will be awarded. For further details refer to the IB publication Academic honesty and the relevant articles in the General regulations: Diploma Programme.

Written Assignment at a Glance

Weighting 25%

Work submitted

Literary essay 1,200–1,500 words (assessed)Relevant reflective statement 300–400 words (assessed)

Goal To produce an analytical, literary essay on a topic generated by the student and developed from one of the pieces of supervised writing

Assessment A combined mark out of 25 to be awarded for the reflective statement and the literary essay, based on five assessment criteria (A–E)

Process Four-stage process consisting of both oral and written tasks—see below for more details on each stage

Administration

Copies of all reflective statements and supervised writing to be kept on fileCoversheet to be correctly filled out and signed by teacher and student

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The Written Assignment Process

Stage 1: The interactive oral

The interactive oral is a focused class discussion in which all students and the teacher participate. Each student should be responsible for initiating some part of the discussion in at least one of the interactive orals for one work. Students may participate as a group or individually, and teachers may organize the discussion in a variety of different ways.

The discussions should address the following cultural and contextual considerations.

In what ways do time and place matter to this work?

What was easy to understand and what was difficult in relation to social and cultural context and issues?

What connections did you find between issues in the work and your own culture(s) and experience?

What aspects of technique are interesting in the work?

Essential Requirements

At least one interactive oral must be conducted for each work studied.

Each student should have some specific role in one of the orals (across all the works studied).

The prompts that students work with must require them to probe into the cultural and contextual underpinnings of the work and to consider how these considerations affect their understanding of the work.

The suggested minimum time for discussion of each work is 30 minutes.

Stage 2: The reflective statement

The reflective statement is a short writing exercise and should be completed as soon as possible following the interactive oral. Each student is asked to provide a reflection on each of the interactive orals. The reflective statement on the same work as the student’s final assignment is submitted for assessment.

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The reflective statement must be based on the following question.

How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?

“Context” refers to all possible contexts. It is intended to embrace the cultural underpinnings of the works by looking at specifics such as:

the time and place in which the work was written

information about the author (particularly as it relates to the way in which the author’s ideas as presented in the work do, or do not, accord with situations in the contemporary society)

philosophical, political and social contexts

Ideas that the students themselves bring to the work.

“Developed” is the other key word in the question. It is a personal statement that is most likely to be written in the first person, and should be an honest account of the evolution of understanding. If the student feels that they have not really learned anything, then they should reflect on what they still do not understand.

The aim is to ensure the focus of discussion is sufficiently challenging so that students will be stimulated to think more deeply about some aspect of the work.

Essential Requirements

It must be written as soon as possible following the interactive oral.

Students need to take notes during the interactive oral discussion to assist them in writing the reflective statement.

Each student must write one reflective statement on each work studied. Where there is more than one interactive oral on a work, which is likely, writing on each interactive oral is advised, but optional.

Students must know that the reflective statement on the work on which the essay is written will be assessed, along with the essay.

The criterion by which students are assessed uses the same words as the question on which the reflective statement is based. Answer this honestly and fully and you should be able to achieve the three points.

The question that must be addressed has to be written at the top of the reflection; the title and the author of the work used are also clearly stated.

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Length 300–400 words. If the limit is exceeded, assessment will be based on the first 400 words.

Submission

The reflective statement about the work used in the student’s final assignment (essay) is submitted together with the assignment.

Assessment The reflective statement is awarded a mark out of 3 using assessment criterion A.

Administration All reflective statements must be kept on file at the school.

Stage 3: Developing the topic—supervised writing

Supervised writing is intended as a springboard to elicit ideas from the student. From these ideas the student develops a topic and the final essay. The ultimate goal of this stage of the process is to help students to produce good essays with appropriate topics. To this end students are required to respond to each of the works studied in a written exercise undertaken during class time.

For each work studied (two at SL, three at HL) one piece of writing produced during class time is required. The recommended time for each piece of writing is 40–50 minutes and the writing must be in continuous prose. At the end of the lesson the writing must be handed to the teacher and an unedited copy kept on file until the end of the examination session.

Teachers need to provide three or four prompts for each work studied. There must be no opportunity for students to prepare beforehand, so it is essential that students are not given the prompts prior to the lesson.

The aim of the prompts is to encourage independent critical writing and to stimulate thinking about an assignment topic. The prompts may be selected from the list below, from those given in the teacher support material, or teachers may devise their own.

The students will choose one of their pieces of supervised writing and develop that into the essay required for submission. There must be an apparent connection between the supervised writing and the final essay, but students are encouraged to provide their own title and to develop the chosen prompt in an independent direction.

Essential Requirements

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It must be in continuous prose.

At this stage, it is no longer important to consider the cultural or contextual elements of the work.

The students complete three pieces of supervised writing and their essay topic must be generated by one of them. The link between the final choice of title and the supervised writing does not have to be direct, but there must be a recognizable germ of an idea that can be tracked.

When students are deciding on which work to write (and hence which piece of supervised writing to use as a starting point), it is not the quality of the supervised writing that counts, but the link with the essay.

Teachers must play a key role in helping the student to develop from the supervised writing a tightly focused title for the essay.

The examples below demonstrate how prompts for the supervised writing can lead to a precise title for the essay.

Prompt: In what ways are the voices of history and tradition present in the work? Work: God’s Bits of Wood by Sembène Ousmane Essay title: Age and wisdom: The significance of Ramatoulaye in God’s Bits of Wood

Prompt: To what extent is the natural landscape important for the impact of the work? Work: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh Essay title: How the landscape affects the outcome for Kien in The Sorrow of War

Prompt: How does the writer convey a sense of time passing in the work? Work: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Essay title: The significance of time for Shukhov in One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Prompt: How are different voices used to express thoughts and feelings? What effect do these have on your responses to the poems? Work: Selected poems of Derek Walcott Essay title: Allegiance and identity in the poems of Derek Walcott

Prompt: In what ways is memory important in the work? Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Essay title: The significance of memory for Jane in Jane Eyre

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Prompt: How do external and internal structures work together? Work: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Essay title: Conveying a sense of purpose in Waiting for Godot

Prompt: Which minor character plays the most significant role? Work: A Doll’s House by Henrik IbsenEssay title: Mrs Linde as role model in A Doll’s House

Prompt: Do you think there are some characters in the work whose chief role is to convey cultural values?Work: Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García MárquezEssay title: The Vicario brothers as champions of honour

Prompt: Identify one or more symbol, motif or strand of imagery. What role do they play in the work?Work: Dr Zhivago by Boris PasternakEssay title: The contrasting roles of ice and snow in Dr Zhivago

Length There is no specified length.

Submission The original piece of supervised writing is not submitted.

Assessment Supervised writing is not awarded a mark but may be used to authenticate the individuality of a student’s work.

Administration

The task is “open book” and students should have access to the literary works being used for the writing. Annotations are acceptable, but students should not have access to secondary material.

All pieces of supervised writing must be kept on file at the school.

Stage 4: Production of the essay

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Each student is required to produce an essay of 1,200–1,500 words in length on a literary aspect of one work. The essay is developed from one of the pieces of supervised writing completed in class, with the guidance of the teacher.

Essentials - The role of the teacher

To provide guidance on the development of the essay topic - the teacher should assist the student to develop a suitably challenging topic that will allow him or her to show insight into the work chosen for the assignment.

To discuss the connections between the supervised writing and the essay.

To ensure that the topic is suitable to the length and the focus of the task.

Read the first draft of the essay and provide feedback to the student. This may take the form of a conversation and/or a written response on a piece of paper separate from the draft essay. The teacher may not annotate the essay nor assist with subsequent drafts.

Essentials - Presentation

The essay should be a formal piece of writing with a title and a developed argument. The main references are likely to be to the literary work chosen for the essay. It is essential that a recognized reference system is used consistently throughout and that the bibliography includes the full provenance of the work used, including the edition. Secondary sources may be used, although they are not essential, and they must also be referenced using the same system and included in the bibliography.

Students are assessed on their ability to organize and develop their ideas, and to integrate examples from the works used. Before they begin to write their essays, it is important that they have had plenty of practice in using quotations from literary works to support and further their arguments.

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Essentials - Completion of the Essay for Submission by the Student

After receiving feedback on the first draft, the student must complete the written assignment without further assistance.

Note: The assignment must be the independent work of the student. Statements on the coversheet declaring that the assignment is the independent work of the student must be signed by the student and by the supervising teacher.

Length 1,200–1,500 words. If the limit is exceeded, assessment will be based on the first 1,500 words.

Submission

The final essay is submitted for assessment along with the relevant reflective statement. The essay should be a well-presented, formal piece of work.

Assessment The final essay is awarded a mark out of 22 using assessment criteria B, C, D and E.

Administration The relevant reflective statement must be submitted with the final essay.

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Written Assignment Checklist

1. Has an interactive oral been completed by the class on each work?

2. Has each student written their reflective statement?

3. Has each student done supervised writing on each of the works?

4. Does the topic of the essay derive from one of the pieces of supervised writing?

5. Is the reflective statement 300–400 words in length and the essay 1,200–1,500 words?

6. Have the student and teacher signed the coversheet?

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Frequently Asked Questions –FAQs

The written assignment (part 1—works in translation)

Q: Can HL and SL students participate in the same discussion?A: Yes, if the text discussed is common to both.

Q: Can students choose their own topic for the interactive oral?A: Yes, providing the topic deals with cultural and/or contextual considerations in regard to the work.

Q: Do I have to follow the stages for writing the part 1 assignment?A: Yes. The interactive oral must precede the supervised writing and the essay must be developed from the supervised writing. The process is intended to support students in becoming active readers and independent thinkers.

Q: Does the reflective statement have to follow immediately after the interactive oral?A: Yes. The reflective statement must be completed as soon as possible following the interactive oral

Q: Is the interactive oral assessed?A: No. It is the reflective statement that is marked as part of the assignment.

Q: Do students have their books with them when they do the supervised writing?A: Yes.

Q: Can dictionaries be used in the supervised writing?A: Yes, but no other material such as articles or secondary sources may be used. Students must not have access to the internet.

Q: Should the teacher mark the supervised writing?A: No. The writing is to help the student develop ideas for their essay.

Q: What happens if not all students are in the class when the supervised writing is being done?A: Teachers need to arrange for an alternative, supervised writing session.

Q: Can supervised writing be done as homework?A: No. It must be supervised by a teacher in class.

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Q: What happens to the supervised writing once the essay is completed?A: Supervised writing is not submitted but could be requested by the IB and needs therefore to be held securely by the school until the assessment session is complete.

Q: At what point do you explain the assessment criteria to the students?A: Students should be familiar with the assessment criteria well before they begin the written assignment process.

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