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Many of us are now in the final stages of finalizing the final round of authenticating and submitting our students' final Written Assignments ... (at least, those of us who live by the northern hemisphere IB deadlines).
Finally ! Finally ? A lot has been said and written recently about the 'demise' of the Language Ab Initio and the Language B Written Assignment - or is it the Written Task ? A number of reasons have been given as to why this external assessment has had to go, with the main one being that across the Diploma Programme the IB is doing away with assessments that are not conducted under examination conditions and that are not full research essays. As far as I am aware, the only DP course that will keep a Written Assignment for coursework is the Literature A Higher Level course. The Extended Essay and the ToK essay also persist ... for now ... We may or we may not agree with the reasons that we are aware of, it doesn't really matter. However, the question arises whether the concept of the Ab Initio and the Language B Written Assignment has a place in the new curriculum, whether as a formative internal assessment, a summative internal assessment, a cultural task or a practice and revision tool. Different educators will have different views on this but in my humble opinion, the concept of a Written Assignment that focuses on a comparison between the student's home culture (or the culture in which they live) and one of the target language cultures is a valid way of developing international mindedness and an open mind towards 'foreign' (in every sense of the word) cultures, world views and behaviors. There are a thousand topics that lend themselves to a comparative Written Assignment and we all know that the content of the courses hasn't really changed all that much. Cultural awareness remains not only a strong component of the course, but also one of the main reasons why anyone would acquire a new language in the first place ! I will continue to speak up on behalf of the Written Assignment as a tool to develop cultural understanding, to expose the students to relatively small parts of the target language cultures, to broaden the students' horizons in a fun and creative manner, and to hold on to something good that has been turned into a little ugly duckling for all the wrong reasons. True, I won't insist on some of the formatting, but as far as my courses are concerned, the Written Assignment shall not rest in peace. Let me know which side of the fence you are on !
3 Comments
Gillian Cowie
2/28/2019 07:59:36 am
I suspect it is following the trend of examination boards who have scrapped all controlled assessment in favour of formal written exams. It would be possible to set a research project comparing home and TL countries as part of the course and test it by incorporating it into the writing Paper 2?
Chandra Gair
2/28/2019 12:39:33 pm
I agree that the exercise of doing a written assignment is a valid and important one. I don't think the short answer format, however, is useful in terms of teachig them how to organise a written piece so it was a bit of a misnomer in that sense. I do believe that exploring culture, making comparisons and analyzing the whys and hows is an extremely important component in language learning so I will definitely be incorporating this idea into my future courses, somehow. I am thinking of a portfolio type assignment perhaps (though I don't have the details worked out yet) with the idea that students would do regular short presentations in which they would have to explain an aspect of culture as illustrated in a photo or other visual. The idea is that they would be practising for the new requirements of the oral at the same time.
Razia sultana
3/7/2019 08:43:58 am
I totally agree with Ronny what he says. I think students are serious in doing this task and also because it will be assessed and it will effect their final grades for diploma program. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRonny Mintjens is a practising Language Ab Initio teacher, examiner and workshop leader for the International Baccalaureate. He is the author and publisher of the “Language Ab Initio Student Workbook” and the various Language Portfolios (for Ab Initio, B and MYP). He is also a language acquisition and mother tongue consultant, the Head of Languages at a world-renowned IB school and a tireless advocate for mother tongue entitlement in international education. Beyond his life as a linguist, Ronny is a world traveller, a published novelist and photographer, a former professional football coach, a serial writer and an avid reader. Archives
April 2019
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