Note: first assessment 2021, from the IBO Language A Literature guide. There is no specific guide for Turkish, as with any other Language A subject.
Hello everyone! In this article we will go through the Turkish A Literature course. Even though Turkish is my mother tongue, it is one of the hardest courses I take. But if you understand the curriculum and grading, there is nothing to be afraid of.
The Aim
Like every Group 1 course, Turkish A Literature aims to create students who can evaluate literary works in detail, express their thoughts clearly both in writing & orally, and make literary criticisms independently.
1. Literary Works
In two years, SL students read 9 and HL students read 13 literary works. These works contain novels, stories, poetry, scripts and essays. Novels are the most popular ones, at least they are for my school. Turkish Literature students are required to analyze these works in three fields: interpretation of the literary work, relating it with date/location/culture/globalization, intertextuality.
Interpretation of the literary work is basically forming a thesis. By examining a writer’s choice of language, technique and style, we relate our findings to the book’s context.
Relation is actually about the main issue the book discusses and explaining how it is portrayed in the sense of the setting.
By finding intertextuality in the book, we dig deeper into how the author formed connections between their book and other literary work they mentioned in their book.
2. How your Grade is Calculated
Your final grade will be calculated from several components. There are two exam papers that form 70% of your grade for SL students and 60% for HL. The first paper is a guided essay with given passages about one of the chosen literary works from your school. HL students will write for two passages, whereas SL students only write for one. The second paper will be a comparative analysis of two literary works that are a response to 1 chosen question of the 4 available. An essay which is only written by HL students and consists of 20% of their grade.
Additionally, the HL written assignment should be an academic article which is 1,200 – 1,500 words about one of the given literary works. There is also an individual oral assessment (IOA), which takes up 30% of the grade for SL students and 20% for HL. The goal of the IOA is to link a literary work that belongs to Turkish literature and a translation work to global issues backed by quotes from the text.
3. Class Style
How do my Turkish A Literature online lessons work? We exchange our findings about the books we have read in class. While reading, we pay attention to intertextuality, how the writer portrayed the characters, the significance of time and location, and the overarching themes. Quotes are especially important here to back up your claims! After determining solid statements in class, we write a Paper-1-type analysis about each book. These articles will then be graded using Paper 1 criteria. Whenever we don’t write a paper, we make presentations instead. These presentations last approximately 15 minutes and are, essentially, Paper 1 essays conducted orally. Instead of writing, you verbally explain your statement with examples.
As you might notice, I haven’t linked any official IB Turkish A Literature guide in this article. It is because we don’t have one. At least, this is the case for my school. Our teachers provided us presentations on how this class is structured and explained how the grading system works. The lack of a specific Turkish A Literature guide makes proceeding with the course harder, but certainly not impossible!
Pro-Tip for Paper 1
For me, Paper 1 is basically a mathematics formula. First, you explain the literary work. Then, you state your thesis, support your ideas with evidence (mostly with quotations and symbols), and conclude with a summary. It can be written as:
| Introduction: Description + Thesis |
| Body Paragraphs: Supporting Evidence (Findings from the Literary Work) for Statements |
| Conclusion: Paraphrasing Summary & Finalizing Sentence (Evidence + Thesis) |
| = Paper 1 |
Overall, Group 1 courses are considered challenging because they expect you to use that language professionally. They also accept few mistakes, as it is a language you are (supposedly) native in. If you understand the expectations and act accordingly, there is no need to feel overwhelmed. For students who are taking this course, I hope this helps!
You may also like…
- Tra Huynh’s article on How to Effectively Learn a Language
- Bianca’s Article on How to Choose an EE Topic in Language and Literature
Hi, I would like to ask questions about Turkish IOC. What are the key points that we need to pay attention to get a high mark and what do you advise?
Thanks for the question! In my opinion the most important thing is to not list the findings and instead have a coherence throughout the presentation. Try to blend the main idea of the passage with the whole literary work and bind them with literary devices. If you have more questions, you can write me on Slack or email IBlieve!
Hi, I am looking for private tutoring for HL Turkish. Are you currently tutoring if so I am interested. How can I contact you?
Hi Selin, thank you for your comment! I am not sure if IBlieve offers tutoring for Turkish HL, or even Turkish at all. However, you can sign up with the form on https://iblieve.org/mentoring/ and you can email hello@iblieve.org for any questions you have too! Hope this helps, and best of luck with your IBDP years!