Text: “Princess Diana.” People Weekly
Before you read the “spoiler” bullet points below take a careful look at the text. Imagine it is a text you are using for your DP Language A Language and Literature assessments ( Paper 1, the individual oral, the HL essay,) and analyze it accordingly. This text would not be appropriate for Paper 2.
Paper 1: first take a careful look at criteria A and B . Then, consider how you would approach this particular text in light of the requirements of criteria A and B.
Individual oral: Start by looking at criteria A and B for the IO. There are some similarities between the criteria in the individual oral and those in Paper 1. However, the individual oral also requires students to make connections between extracts from a work and body of work. The individual oral must make connections with the global issue that the student has chosen. Consider how this text is linked to different global issues.
HL essay: The HL essay is an in-depth analysis of a non-literary body of work or a literary work the student has studied in class. Imagine this text is from a non-literary body of work and consider possible approaches you could take with the 1200-1500 word HL essay. This could include evaluating connections between this text and the seven central concepts in DP Language A Language and Literature.
Some elements of this text to consider:
- The DP Subject Guide does lists 30 text types and “photographs” is one of them. It is unlikely that the IB would put a photograph with no text on a Paper 1 but it is possible. It is perhaps more likely that the IB would use a text like the main image in this post: a text with a dominant image an a minimal amount of text. This could a magazine or book cover, an infographic, an ad etc.
- The lack of text (other than the bare essentials). There is, for example, no text used to indicate who the subject of the photo is.
- The effect of black and white on the viewer.
- The somewhat informal pose. A traditional royal portrait would probably not have the small, the small tilt to the shoulders and head that this photo does. Also, Princess Diana is leaning into the camera which make her seem more approachable which fits her image and contrasts with the rest of the royal family.