Scope and prerequisites
IB Language A literature first assessment 2021; English focus. This supplemental reference covers only the listed preparation outcomes. School selections, full-guide procedures and required live or recorded performance are separate.
- Select a focused issue across original-language and translated works
- Analyse extracts and whole works in a supervised oral
Prerequisites: Close reading 细读; original language versus translation 翻译; whole-work evidence 证据.
Explain and choose the method
The oral connects one work originally written in the language studied and one studied in translation through a global issue 全球性问题.
Balance detailed extract analysis with the issue's treatment across both whole works.
The Literature oral connects one eligible work originally written in the studied language and one studied in translation . Record the translator and edition, and discuss the language actually available to you. A focused issue can connect extracts, but the analysis must also reach both whole works. These two original English classroom texts are not an eligible original/translation pairing; use them only to practise selection and qualification.
Existing worked example: For a focused issue about exclusion through naming, compare the chosen extracts' labels, narrative positions and consequences. Record the translator and edition, and avoid unsupported claims about wording in an original language you cannot read.
Complete original context
Original classroom texts, written for this supplement. They are not school-selected assessed works.
Text A — The label Every morning I polished the brass plate beside the door. It carried my father's name, and visitors asked for him even after I took charge of the shop. I answered their questions, found the parts, and wrapped each purchase. Still, at the door, they thanked the name on the plate. One afternoon I put a small card below it: “Ask for Leila.” The next visitor read the card aloud, hesitated, and then asked me where the hinges were. I left the brass plate shining. The card stayed too.
Text B — A space on the shelf (original poem) I cleared a place beside the cup, not where the cup had been. The shelf kept its old circle; the new wood still looked clean. By evening, two rings darkened it. I did not rub them out.
Context supplied for this exercise: both texts are contemporary original classroom writing in English. No author biography, translation history or evidence about a real society is supplied. Compare what the wording permits; do not invent historical facts. A real course comparison must use the school's eligible studied works.
Independent practice and checked reasoning
Transfer 1
Form a focused issue about recognition using Text A, identify two useful extract details, and name what evidence is absent for an assessed Literature oral pairing.
Reasoning: An issue such as “Inherited names and recognition of new workers” can use visitors thanking the plate and the “Ask for Leila” card. The exercise supplies no studied translated work, translator or edition, and no approved whole-work pairing. It cannot certify the assessed oral requirement.
Transfer 2
A student claims a translated adjective proves exactly what the source-language author intended. Write a more careful analytical sentence and explain the missing evidence.
Reasoning: “In this translation, the adjective presents the speaker as hesitant; this wording supports a cautious reading of the scene.” Assessing the original word or the translator's intervention requires the original text, linguistic competence and reliable comparison. A translation can be analysed without pretending access to unavailable wording.
Transfer 3
Plan how to balance an extract detail 细节 with a wider-work claim, then give a follow-up that tests the claim. Explain the live evidence still required.
Reasoning: Identify a recurring choice in the approved extract, connect it to a different scene in the same work, and test whether an ending or contrasting voice complicates the issue. A follow-up is “Where does the work resist your interpretation?” The school must verify the two eligible works, procedures and notes; teacher-supervised discussion and recording are separate from written planning.
Limits and next use
This literature oral does not pair a literary work with an advert. School verifies text choices, reuse rules, extract length, notes and authenticity against the full guide.
All tasks here are public original practice with authored guidance. They are not official questions or fresh diagnostics. Existing protected tests and mocks remain separate.