IB English Lang Lit SL case studies
IB English Lang Lit SL · Put your knowledge to work in context.
IB English A: Language and Literature SL is a two-year Diploma Programme course for students who want to study how language works in real-world texts and how literature shapes meaning. It suits candidates who enjoy close reading, argument, and discussing how context, audience, and purpose shape what a text does. You study a range of non-literary texts - journalism, advertising, speeches, graphic works, digital media - alongside literary works in several genres, and you learn a shared toolkit of concepts (audience, purpose, context, style, point of view) that you apply to both. Assessment has three components: a guided textual analysis of unseen non-literary texts, a comparative essay on two literary works you have studied, and an individual oral linking one literary work and one non-literary body of work to a global issue. The IB English Lang Lit SL case studies are 5 cases and about 3,096 words.
1The Autobiographical Trap in a Narrator Study
In a Grade 11 SL class of 22, students are finishing a formative commentary on a short story whose first-person narrator describes a family evacuation. The back cover says the author drew on childhood memories.
521 words, about 3 min2Timelessness Claim in a Comparative Plan
A Paper 2 mock planning session: 24 SL students have 40 minutes to produce a comparative essay plan on two works, one published in 1897 and one in 2018. One student's plan says both texts show 'the same timeless struggle against patriarchal expectation' and lists three similarities, but gives no dates, settings, or publication contexts.
559 words, about 3 min3Superficial Intertextual Pairing for an Oral
Individual oral practice: a student has 10 minutes to present and 5 minutes for teacher questions. They pair two works studied in class: a novel and a graphic novel, both involving a journey.
548 words, about 3 min4Summary Drift in Paper 1
Paper 1 mock: 90 minutes, two unseen texts. Text A is a 500-word corporate sustainability report excerpt; Text B is a 450-word satirical column about corporate language.
731 words, about 4 min5Parallel Paragraphs in a Comparative Essay
A 1,400-word Paper 2 draft compares two works on the theme of loyalty. The essay has an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
737 words, about 4 min