Individual Oral Commentary
Part 2: 15% (20 minutes)
For HL this is now a two part process. This is a continuous recorded assessment and cannot be stopped once commenced.
At HL the commentary will be based on a poem or an extract from a poem. Students present a
10-minute commentary and this is followed by a 10-minute discussion on one of the
other part 2 works.
Individual oral commentary and discussion (30
marks)
o Preparation time 20 minutes (for preparing the commentary;
there is no preparation time for the discussion) This will be undertaken in a separate room.
o Total delivery
time 20 minutes (10 minutes
of oral commentary followed by 10 minutes of discussion)
Breakdown of delivery time
o Oral commentary: 8 minutes of presentation
followed by 2 minutes of subsequent questions from the teacher
o Discussion: 10 minutes
TOTAL Duration: 20 minutes
Individual oral commentary: 10 minutes POEM
o The individual commentary is a literary
analysis of a poem, or an extract from a poem, selected by the teacher
from the poetry studied in part 2 of the syllabus.
o Students must not know on which poem, or
extract from a poem, the commentary will be based until the start of the
preparation period.
o The poem must be accompanied by one or two
guiding questions set by the teacher.
Discussion: 10 minutes ANOTHER PART 2 WORK (of
the 3 remaining)
o The discussion is conducted by the teacher and
follows immediately after the individual oral commentary without stopping
the recording.
o The work on which the discussion questions are
based must be one of the part 2 works that was not used for the
commentary.
o The student must not know on which work the
discussion questions will be asked until the time of the discussion (that
is, after the commentary).
Focus and structure
Students should aim to identify and explore all significant
aspects of the extract. These include:
o situating the extract as precisely as possible
in the context of the poem from which it has been taken (or in the body of
work, in the case of a complete poem)
o commenting on the effectiveness of the
writer’s techniques, including the use of stylistic devices and their
effect(s) on the reader.
The commentary should focus on the extract itself, relating it
to the whole poem (or body of work when a complete poem is used). It
should not be used as a springboard for a discussion of everything the
student knows about the work in question.
A commentary should be sustained and well organized. It should
neither be delivered as a series of unconnected points nor take the form
of a narration or a line-by-line paraphrase of the passage or poem.
Students should talk up to, but not beyond, 8 minutes, with 2
minutes for subsequent questions. When students do not speak for up to 8
minutes, the remainder of the 10 minutes must be filled with
subsequent questions.
Choice of extract
o The length of the extract will depend on its
complexity, but should be 20–30 lines. Tutors may use a single complete
poem, or a significant extract from a longer poem. Shorter poems may be
suitable for commentary if there is sufficient material for comment.
o Students must be given a clean copy of the
extract without page numbers, headings, annotations or notes.
Number of extracts
o The number of different extracts to be
selected will depend on the number of students in the class.
The acceptable minimum number of different extracts to use in relation to
the number of students in the class.
Guiding questions
o Teachers should set one or two questions for
each extract.
o Guiding questions should relate to some of the
most significant aspects of the extract, and should help students to focus
on their analysis. They should suggest areas for discussion, but students are
free to use the guiding questions or not, as they choose. Students are not
penalized if their commentary does not directly address the guiding
questions.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
o What is the relationship between the title and
the poem itself?
o How are sound effects employed in this poem?
o How does the progression of ideas contribute
to the development of the theme(s)?
o How is the character of the speaker revealed
through the diction employed?
o How does this poem seek to create an emotional
response in the reader?
o How does stanza structure reflect the
development of the poem’s subject?
o In what ways does the final line/stanza change
your understanding of the poem as a whole?
o How does the figurative language used by the
poem aim to stimulate the reader’s imagination?
o How does the punctuation used influence how
the poem is read/heard?
o To what effect is rhythm used in this poem?
o In what ways does the tone shift throughout
the poem?
o What might be considered ambiguous in this
poem?
o How does this extract reveal the
thoughts/feelings of the persona?
o How is figurative language used to convey the
content?
Conduct of the individual oral commentary
o The time and place are chosen by the tutor,
provided they are consistent with IB deadlines and regulations.
o Tutors may, if they wish, conduct all
individual oral commentaries and discussions on one day or over several
days. Students must be given adequate notice of when the oral will take place.
Preparation (20 minutes)
During this time students are supervised. They are expected to:
o read the extract and accompanying guiding
questions carefully
o identify and analyse closely all the
significant aspects of the extract
o make notes for the commentary
o organize the structure of the commentary.
Delivery (8 minutes)
Students must be allowed to deliver their commentaries without
interruption and teachers must not distract students or attempt to
rearrange their commentaries. Teachers may only intervene if a student panics
and needs positive encouragement, or if a student is off target or is
finding it difficult to continue.
Subsequent questions (2 minutes)
Teachers must engage in a discussion with students to probe
further into their knowledge and understanding of the extract or complete
poem. In the case of less confident students, teachers must draw them out
on the original guiding questions to give them the opportunity to improve or
expand on doubtful or inadequate statements.
Teachers must be satisfied that students have understood
specific words, phrases and allusions, as well as appreciated their
importance within the extract or poem. They should also be satisfied that
students understand the significance of the extract within the whole poem
or, in the case of a complete poem, the relationship between the poem and
other poems by that author that have been studied.
Teachers must satisfy themselves that students understand, and
can comment on, the writer’s technique.
Transition from the commentary
After the 10-minute commentary and subsequent questions, the
teacher informs the student that the discussion is commencing (note that
the recording device is not switched off).
The aim of the discussion is to engage the student in a literary
discussion of the work. Prepared questions will be a starting point for
the discussion, but the discussion need not be limited to those questions.
Students should be given an opportunity to demonstrate their
independent understanding of the work under discussion.
Sample discussion questions
Prose: Novel and short story
o Which fictional character did you find most
interesting? Can you account for that effect based on some choices you see
that the writer has made in constructing the character?
o Did you observe any contrivances in the novel
that were in some way distracting, such as coincidences, or unresolved
questions, unconvincing resolutions, chance meetings and so on?
o How powerfully—or not—would you say the
setting affected the events or action of the novel?
o How emotionally or intellectually satisfying
did you find the conclusion of the novel or short story?
o How enthusiastic were you about the novel or
short story in the opening pages or paragraphs?
Drama
o Did you find the dramatist using different
kinds of tension in the play in order to engage and hold the audience?
o What for you was the most riveting or
satisfying moment in the play? Can you account for how the playwright
managed to achieve that effect?
o What do you consider the strengths and
weaknesses of the protagonist, and what effect do you think these have on
the believability of the play?
o Who was your favourite or least favourite
secondary character in the play? Can you see how the playwright elicited
such a response?
o Do you think any profound human truths are
being considered in this play or do you see its main purpose as keeping an
audience interested in human behaviour?
Prose other than fiction
o What cultural aspects of the context do you
think had the strongest impact on the writer’s story?
o Is there any person in the work, other than
the writer, whose presence you found to be forceful or memorable?
o Were there some aspects of life that you found
significantly omitted in the writer’s story of experience?
o What features of the work most attracted you,
for example, the history or the geography, the encounters with people, or
the personal reactions of the writer?
o What is the role of anecdote in the work and
how well do you think this writer handled that feature?
o Do you have any reservations about the
writer’s responses or attitudes to the places/people/ideas?
o What human issues form the subjects of the
work? Did you find any of them particularly well handled?
o Did you find the essayist skilled in bringing
the work to a particularly satisfying conclusion?
For the marking criteria please refer to your Handbook.
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