IB Lang Lit HL case studies
IB Lang Lit HL · Put your knowledge to work in context.
IB Language A: Language and Literature HL is the higher-level course in the IB Diploma Programme's studies in language and literature group. It is built for students who want to study how meaning is made in language and literature, not just to read texts. The IB Lang Lit HL case studies are 5 cases and about 3,202 words.
1Intention, Evidence and the Individual Oral
An HL student is preparing a 10-minute individual oral on a graphic memoir about a childhood during a civil war. The extract is a two-page sequence: six panels, a recurring image of a school desk, and a caption in the child's present-tense voice.
525 words, about 3 min2Context as Lens, Not Excuse in Paper 2
A Paper 2 mock gives the question: 'Compare how two works use physical settings to explore social change.' A student plans to compare Work A, an 1840s realist novel whose central scene is a shabby drawing room, with Work B, a 2018 novel whose central scene is a border detention centre. The student has 90 minutes and four quotations per work.
672 words, about 3 min3A Source Text in the HL Essay: Lens or Crutch?
An HL candidate proposes a 1,350-word essay: 'How does a 2022 novel rewrite the Bluebeard story to explore consent?' The novel is about a woman who moves into a restricted house; it contains an epigraph from a fairy tale, a locked study, and a repeated key image. The candidate has read one Victorian version of 'Bluebeard' and wants to quote it in the introduction, then argue that the novel 'updates' the tale's misogyny.
668 words, about 3 min4Two Texts, Two Hours Fifteen: Paper 1 Triage
In a Paper 1 mock, HL candidates receive two unseen texts. Text A is a 650-word opinion column arguing that city streets should be pedestrianised; it includes a bar chart showing traffic accidents before and after a pilot scheme.
649 words, about 3 min5Translation, Minor Characters and the Comparative Thesis
A Paper 2 practice question reads: 'In what ways do two works use minor characters to challenge authority?' A candidate chooses Work A, a novel translated from Arabic, and Work B, a novel originally written in English. The candidate has one quotation from each work about a minor character: in Work A, a janitor says, 'The corridor belongs to those who count the doors'; in Work B, a school secretary says, 'I only write down what the headmaster forgets.' The candidate's plan argues that both minor characters 'represent resistance to oppressive systems.' The teacher points out that the Work A quotation is in translation and that the candidate does not read Arabic; the candidate also has no page numbers for Work A, only an e-book location.
688 words, about 3 min