IB Literature SL flashcards
IB Literature SL · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Guided textual analysis
- The Paper 1 task: an unseen text is analysed for authorial choices, meaning and effect, with no prior study of the text allowed.
- Global issue
- A transnational concern with local and everyday relevance that is explored through two works and two extracts in the individual oral.
- Paper 2 comparative essay
- A 1 hour 45 minute exam in which the candidate answers one of four questions, referring to at least two works studied.
- Individual oral
- A 15-minute SL assessment: a 10-minute presentation on a global issue and two extracts, followed by 5 minutes of teacher questions.
- Criterion A (Paper 1)
- Understanding and interpretation: how well the candidate grasps the text's meaning and offers a plausible, supported reading, marked out of 5.
- Criterion D language
- Marks clarity, register, vocabulary and accuracy of expression in written and oral responses, appearing in every assessment component.
- Authorial choice
- A deliberate decision by the writer about diction, imagery, syntax, structure, register or form whose effect the candidate analyses.
- Learner portfolio
- An informal, non-assessed record of responses, comparisons and explorations kept throughout the course to support assessment preparation.
- Interpretation versus summary
- Summary restates what happens; interpretation explains how authorial choices produce meaning and effect for a reader.
- Area of exploration
- One of three organising lenses in the course: readers, writers and texts; time and space; intertextuality: connecting texts.
- Literary work definition
- The guide's criterion: a text that is fictional, imaginative or creative in nature and considered to have literary merit.
- Context of production
- The circumstances in which a text was written: the writer's biography, historical moment, language community, publication conditions and intended audience.
- Context of reception
- The circumstances in which a text is read: the reader's time and place, translation history and shifting critical or cultural readings.
- Works in translation
- Works originally written in a language other than the language of study; SL requires at least two such works.
- Three forms requirement
- Across the course, works studied must span at least three literary forms, such as poetry, prose fiction and drama.
- Three periods requirement
- Works studied must span at least three historical periods, encouraging comparison across different moments of production.
- Three regions requirement
- Works studied must come from at least three countries or regions, supporting discussion of place and cultural context.
- Narrative time
- The order, duration and frequency of events as presented, including flashback, foreshadowing, ellipsis and stream of consciousness.
- Setting as space
- The constructed geography of a text, including interior versus exterior spaces and their symbolic or social significance.
- Cyclical structure
- A form in which the ending returns to the opening situation, often implying repetition, entrapment or seasonal renewal.
- Anachrony
- A disruption of chronological order, such as analepsis (flashback) or prolepsis (flash-forward), that shapes the reader's understanding.
- Historical moment
- The political, social and cultural conditions at the time of writing that inform a text's themes, references and assumptions.
- Translation effect
- The shifts in register, rhythm and cultural reference introduced when a text is rendered into another language.
- Intertextuality
- The relationship between texts created through allusion, quotation, parody, pastiche, genre convention, adaptation or shared theme.
- Explicit intertextual link
- A named reference, epigraph or direct quotation that visibly points the reader to another text.
- Implicit intertextual link
- A connection signalled through genre conventions, structural echoes or shared motifs rather than direct reference.
- Criterion E comparison
- The Paper 2 criterion, marked out of 5, rewarding sustained and purposeful comparison rather than separate description of works.
- Genre convention
- Recurring features of a category such as tragedy or the bildungsroman against which a text can be read and compared.
- Adaptation
- A reworking of a source text into another medium or context, revealing shifts in emphasis, audience and cultural framing.
- Parody and pastiche
- Imitative modes that either mock a source's style or imitate it respectfully, both producing meaning through comparison.
- Motif
- A recurring image, phrase or idea whose repetition across one or more texts creates pattern and thematic resonance.
- Epigraph
- A short quotation placed at a text's opening that frames reading through an explicit intertextual gesture.